When Complexity Outpaces Traditional Optimization
Every mission architecture begins with a series of decisions. Together, those decisions create an expanding set of possible solutions.
Why Historical Context Matters in Strategic Competition
Digital wargaming is gaining momentum across defense and beyond.
What Questions Are Wargames Designed to Answer?
A simulation and a wargame may examine the same problem. They are unlikely to answer the same question.
Preparing for the Predictable: Why Familiar Acquisition Risks Continue to Resurface
Listen to this article: 00:00 The acquisition community has spent decades studying schedule delays, cost growth, technology maturity challenges, and industrial capacity constraints. Yet many of the same issues continue to resurface across programs. If these challenges are so familiar, why do they continue to disrupt outcomes? SPA Cost Analysts Gwenevere Tirpak and Russell McCawley […]
Gaming to Win: Expanding the Role of Digital Wargaming
Digital wargaming is gaining momentum across defense and beyond.
Wargaming at the Edge of Reality: What Modern Conflict Now Demands
Wargaming is no longer a step removed from conflict. It is operating inside it.
Reassessing Two Risky Assumptions in US Defense Planning
Seeing Bottlenecks Before They Become Readiness Gaps One of the key benefits of modeling is early identification of bottlenecks. These bottlenecks often appear in unexpected places. Examples include: Training courses that become chokepoints due to limited instructor availability Mid-career transitions that introduce delays into mission-critical roles Assignment processes that generate mismatches between qualifications and needs […]
In, From, and To Space: What It Takes to Fight in the Ultimate High Ground
This is part 4 of a 4-part series. Read the previous posts here and subscribe for future updates. Space Power as a Joint Imperative The U.S. Space Force was founded to secure national interests in, from, and to space. These three prepositions are more than mission statements—they define how we compete in today’s high-stakes, “Space […]
From the Ground Up: Ensuring Combat Readiness through Space Modeling, Testing, and Futures Planning
This is part 3 of a 4-part series. Read the previous posts here and subscribe to get the final post when it’s published. Testing space systems on orbit is costly, constrained, and risky. Yet readiness in space cannot be theoretical. In a contested domain where launch cycles are long and failure is costly, the United […]
Space Warfare: How the U.S. Can Stay Ahead in the Orbital Arms Race
This is part 2 of a 4-part series. Read the previous posts here and subscribe to get the final post when it’s published. From Congested Orbits to Contested Battlespace The space domain has transformed in scale, scope, and strategic consequence. What once was a benign operational backdrop is now a contested warfighting domain. China and […]