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WIRED 1.1
War Is Virtual Hell
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The Cold War is over. Military budgets are slashed. But it's still a
cruel, hostile world out there. How to get more bang for the buck? If
you're the US military, the answer is to build ever smarter weapons, and
be prepared to use them by training hard. In cyberspace. How effective is
that strategy? Ask the Iraqis. Or Bruce Sterling, who returns from the
electronic battlefield with a report on the evermore lethal future of war
in the global village.
By Bruce Sterling
The First Company of the 12th Armored Cavalry Regiment prepared for
virtual battle.
At the Combined Arms and Tactical Training Center (CATTC) in Fort Knox,
Ky., the troops prepared to enter SIMNET - a virtual war delivered via
network links. With the almost Disney-like mimicry typical of SIMNET
operations, the warriors were briefed in an actual field command-post,
with folding camp-stools, fly swatters, and stenciled jerry cans. The
young tankers wore green- and-brown forest camouflage fatigues, black
combat boots, and forage caps.
Their command-post canvas tent was pitched inside the giant CATTC barn,
right in the midst of silent rows of plastic tank simulators.
The Americans listened to a British officer on NATO exchange, Maj. Rogers,
a two-year veteran of Fort Knox's simulator network. The major wore
British olive-green, with rolled sleeves and gold-crowned epaulets and a
Union Jack at the shoulder. He swiftly explained the tactical situation
with deft scribbles on the plastic overlay covering a large topographical
map.
Today's engagement would take place in a digital replica of California's
Mojave Desert, the bleak, much-mangled terrain that is the heavy-armor
stomping grounds of the US Army's National Training Center. Thanks to the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Mapping
Agency, and the Army's Topographic Engineering Center, the US military's
vast Mojave acreage had been replicated virtually. The virtual Mojave is
now available for daily use even in distant Fort Knox (and in an
increasing number of other simulation centers around the planet).
