Thursday, April 03, 2014

Must have been the Tiddledeewinks of Wargames II - Electric Boogaloo

I was just going to add this on to the post from a few days ago, but decided to bump it as a standalone instead.

Slightly modified from the original with parts redacted to protect both innocent and guilty, the below was sent along to me by an exceptionally reliable and trusted source.

If you have not already, read the original post for context, then come back.
... a few comments on the recent LCS wargame. ...

Rowden discussed the NWC wargame on LCS in the Aviation Week article, but if you look, there was also a wargame at NPS on LCS as well led by retired Army Col. Jeff [redacted] under Jeff [redacted]. Two things are noteworthy about the two wargames.

First, ... Rowden's claims about LCS from the NWC wargame is very misleading, and he distorts the results. The game tested the modules as currently envisioned under the assumption they would work as expected, and they did find new roles for LCS within the context of a very large wargame that didn't focus on LCS at all, but they also found a lot of shortcomings with LCS even as envisioned. I've been told the NWC report from the wargame will be out in 6 weeks and will likely not match up well with what Rowden said to the press. 
Second, the NPS wargame came to very different conclusions, indeed the conclusions are almost opposite what Rowden claimed from the NWC wargame.

For example. At NWC - based on Rowden's comments:
- LCS plays well in open water.
- LCS needs to be bigger.
- LCS sensing and ASW could be used for CSG operations.
- LCS is a replacement for DDGs, freeing them for other things.

At NPS,
- Littoral Ops benefit from smaller ships, LCS being a step in the right direction DOWN from a frigate sized vessel.
- LCS should not be thought of as a destroyer or frigate.
- LCS is best used in dispersed squadrons, networked over an area for dominating space vs sending in larger task forces to dominate space.
- LCS would focus on single module tasking vs a destroyer that leverages multipurpose tasking.
- LCS should not be tied to CSG formations.

It has really bothered a lot of people that Rowden ran off to the press and intentionally gave misleading and distorted comments related to the NWC wargame. It is also important to note that his claims regarding the NWC wargame findings on LCS - which was part of a big wargame not focused on LCS - are exactly opposite what NPS concluded in their wargame that was more focused on Littoral Warfare with the LCS playing a featured role.
Par for the course of the worst in the not-so-finest traditions of the LCS program.

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