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Largest Military Experiment to Test Transformation Theories
Thursday, July 18, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

"We need to be smarter and quicker, use our guile, and leverage information technology to get inside the enemy's decision process and affect the operation," Kernan said. He said Millennium Challenge is solely a U.S. experiment, but some information will be shared with allies.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Combat is the wrong place to find out your theories of warfare don't work.

The U.S. Joint Forces Command is about to test U.S. military transformation theories by conducting the largest, most complex military experiment in history. Called Millennium Challenge 2002, the experiment will combine live forces with simulation to test the theories, equipment and doctrine U.S. forces will use.

The experiment will use 13,500 people stretched across the United States in nine live force-training locations and 17 simulation locations, said Army Gen. William "Buck" Kernan, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. It will use 50 models and simulation systems to test U.S. military effectiveness, he said in a Pentagon briefing July 18.

The experiment starts July 24 and will run through Aug. 15. Joint Forces Command and the services have been planning two years for the experiment. The Defense Department and Congress will use Millennium Challenge data to judge the effectiveness of the force and progress in transforming the military to meet the threats of the 21st century.

Kernan said Millennium Challenge will help determine the extent to which U.S. forces are able to establish and maintain knowledge superiority. It will also test the military's ability to assure access to and throughout the battlespace, to leverage all national elements of power and to sustain deployed forces as they conduct operations.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan