The Army Training Command signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gandhinagar-based Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to develop a ‘Wargame Research and Development Centre (WARDEC)’ in New Delhi.

What is Project WARDEC?

• The project ‘WARDEC’ will be a first-of-its-kind simulation-based training centre in India that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to design virtual reality war-games.
• The Wargame Research and Development Centre will be used by the Army to train its soldiers and test their strategies through “metaverse-enabled gameplay”.
• The wargame models will be designed to prepare for wars as well as counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations.

Where will the centre come up and when?

• The centre will come up in a military zone in New Delhi, confirmed RRU officials privy to the development.
• The RRU will join hands with Tech Mahindra to develop the centre in the coming three to four months.
• The RRU, an institute under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), specialises in national security and policing.
• Located in Gandhinagar’s Lavad village, it is an “institute of national importance” – a status granted to it by an Act of Parliament.

How will these simulation exercises play out?

• Soldiers will test their skills in the metaverse where their surroundings will be simulated using a combination of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
• In metaverse, the players will get a realistic experience of the actual situation.
• If a weapon weighing 5 kg drops or the air pressure falls, they will feel it like anyone would in a live situation, real-time.
• The game would play out player versus player, player versus computer or even computer versus computer.

How will the centre help the Army?

• The Army intends to use the war-game centre to train its officers in military strategies.
• Indian Army will provide data to set the backdrop of the gameplay, so that participants get a realistic experience.
• In Army, it is often said that the enemy can ambush you from 361 directions, where 360 sides are around the soldier, and one is above in case there is an airdrop.
• So, wargame simulation helps the Army think of all possible scenarios.

What promise does AI-based wargame simulation hold?

• Apart from the armed forces, the BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB can also use the metaverse-enabled simulation exercises for better training.
• The use of AI can provide a totally immersive training experience as it can simulate a battlefield close to reality and map several eventualities in the probable event of a war.

How many countries use such wargaming drills?

• Since the 9/11 attacks, use of information technology-enabled wargaming is preferred by several countries like the US, Israel, the UK to prepare for possibilities in case of terror attacks or war.
• In March 2014, several world leaders, including former German chancellor Angela Merkel, former US president Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping had played a war simulation game.
• It was during the Hague Summit about how to react in case of a nuclear attack.
• In that case, the target of the nuclear attack was a fictional country named Brinia.

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