Insights from the Plan Blue 21 Game: Examining the Role of Sensing and Partner and Allied Contributions to Competition with Russia in the Arctic
Abstract
In 2016 the Chief of Staff, United States Air Force, established the Plan Blue series of war games as one means of building familiarity and expertise within the service regarding the demands of challenging future conflicts. Plan Blue was modeled on the War Plan Orange series of wargames conducted at the Naval War College prior to World War II.1 Those games we redeemed to have been highly successful in preparing leaders of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps for the challenges that they faced following Japans surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Both sets of games feature iterative plays of a small number of wartime scenarios efforts to develop and test alternative, innovative approaches to projecting power against highly capable adversary states direct involvement by flag-level officers from throughout the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and from other services. Hand-picked Blue teams of general and flag officers have played a Plan Blue game every year since 2016. Since their inception, the Plan Blue games have explored scenarios that depict large-scale war fights against highly capable state adversaries. The main goal of these efforts has been to help DAF leaders to better understand the demands of these potential war fights, to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of programmed forces to meet those demands, and to test new approaches to projecting power.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1216744
Entities
People
- Abbie Tingstad
- Alyssa Demus
- Brien Alkire
- Bruce Mcclintock
- Clint Reach
- David A. Ochmanek
- David R. Frelinger
- Elizabeth M. Bartels
- Emily Ellinger
- Gabrielle Tarini
- Hannah J. Byrne
- James Bonomo
- John J. Drennan
- Julia Brackup
- Katherine Anania
- Mace Iv Moesner
- Melissa Shostak
- Michael Bohnert
- Michelle Grise
- Nathaniel Edenfield
- Rachel Costello
- Russell Hanson
- Sarah W. Denton
- Stephanie A. Pillion
- Stephanie Pezard
Organizations
- RAND Corporation