Page 20 - Australian Defence Magazine July 2019
P. 20

DEFENCE BUSINESS
STRATEGY
Can we reverse-engineer
a war-winning strategy?
THE Pentagon, however, did not stop there. The game was the first in a series known as Sigma, held throughout the 1960s, to create strategies and model pos- sible outcomes for the Vietnam War. The games were so realistic that they predicted numerous events that actually unfolded in the real world, including the capture of an American pilot in June 1964, the in- troduction of American infantry in early 1965 to defend air assets, and the removal from office of General Nguyen Khanh through public pressure.
Almost all the games predicted a com- munist victory. The Sigma simulations (or wargames) were, in the words of US Lieutenant General HR McMaster,
Strategy comes in many forms.
EWEN LEVICK | SYDNEY
It’s February 1962, inside the Pentagon. A team of 45 under the command of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff are preparing to run a game designed to simulate the outcome of growing tensions in Southeast Asia, including a possible American intervention in Vietnam. Two teams were drawn up – blue for friendly, red for enemy – and play commenced. The friendlies lost.
20 | July 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
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