SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- More than 70 armed forces players, analysts and data collectors returned to the Joint National Test Facility here to participate in Phase II of the Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense Organization's Joint Theater Ballistic Missile Defense wargame, dubbed JTBMD WG 00.

The first phase of the game was held here in July, and was designed to assist warfighters from each U.S. military service refine the concept of operations as well as the tactics, techniques and procedures that will guide the U.S.'s theater missile defense programs in the future. JTBMD WG 00, Phase II, built on the decisions and lessons learned from Phase I.

"JTBMD WG 00 demonstrated just how important a single-integrated air picture, or SIAP, is in terms of our ability to defend against theater ballistic missiles," said Army Maj. Gen. Larry Dodgen, JTAMDO's director. "It also gave us valuable insights into the role an automated battle manager can play in theater missile defense.

"I was really impressed with how quickly the JNTF was able to design and implement an automated battle manager for Phase II, based on what was learned in the first phase of the wargame," Dodgen said.

"JTBMD WG 00 is a multi-phase operator-in-the-loop wargame," explained Navy Lt. Cmdr. Alan Jacobs, the JNTF's chief of wargames. "The game is designed to allow the participants to examine, through computer simulations, just how a family of TMD systems might operate and to give them an opportunity to provide input, from a user's perspective, on how to make those systems most effective.

"Phase I looked primarily at concepts of operation," Jacobs said, "while Phase II focused on acquiring insights into JTBMD interoperability requirements."

Phase II of JTBMD WG 00 consisted of one day of training, followed by three days of scenario-driven exercise play. The scenarios examined a variety of possible threats the United States might face in the future and postulated a family of TMD systems to defend against them. "The 'operators' in this game demonstrated what I already knew," Dodgen said. "They can always find a way to get the job done. The problem is that this takes time, and time is something we will have less and less of in future conflicts.

"This phase of JTBMD WG 00 illustrated just how important an accurate single-integrated air picture is," Dodgen said. "We've got to keep improving our ability to model this in wargames like JTBMD WG 00, so we can make appropriate recommendations to the U.S. Joint Forces Command who will be presenting the TMD operator's perspective at various key acquisition and funding meetings scheduled later this year and next year."