Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. –
JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – At times the most effective approach to fixing a problem is coming up with a creative solution.
For the U.S. Air Force finding the solution to some of those problems requires the input and ideas of countless Airmen.
U.S. Air Force Capt. Nathaniel Flack, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering student at the Air Force Institute of Technology, created a game called Battlespace Next, Multi Domain Operations, that can be used as a tool to facilitate creative thinking to solve modern day military issues.
“It's a strategy based card game designed to teach people about multi-domain operations,” Flack said. “I was looking for a research project and this game looked really interesting.”
Flack is finishing his thesis at AFIT and has been working with both the Center for Cyberspace Research and the Air Force Cyberspace Technical Center of Excellence to get this project started.
“Someone else built the original game with the air and ground domains,” Flack said. “I added in the maritime domain, space domain, electronic warfare information operations cards and the concept of the multi-domain operations center.”
Flack has been doing surveys of different education and training courses to see which direction the Air Force will be taking training in the future and any improvements that can be made.
“It's really about getting the conversation started,” Flack said. “Some people are already talking about multi-domain operations, but we are going to be hearing a lot about it in the next few years.”
Flack has also written guides for instructors to use in a formal classroom setting or in a unit training environment so they can play the game with people and then have a discussion about what multi domain operations means and how it can be implemented in the Air Force.
“Research has shown that someone playing a game versus sitting through a PowerPoint is going to have better long-term learning associated with the hands-on game,” Flack said.
According to Flack, understanding joint capabilities and how they fit together is imperative when it comes to real-life situations.
“It's going to help people associate terms such as electronic warfare and information operations and cyber capabilities to real-world capabilities and assets,” Flack said. “That's going to take some of the ambiguity, or magic dust as we say about cyber capabilities, and really ground that into something that's real.”
The next step Flack is looking into is creating a digital version of the game.
For anybody interested in getting the game themselves or if they have any ideas for improvement or feedback, they can contact AFIT.
For more information visit, www.afit.edu