[smarm52]

I thought this was common knowledge?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002

> The Red force, led by retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, used numerous asymmetrical tactics unanticipated by the Blue force; a pre-emptive cruise missile attack sank sixteen Blue warships and led to the exercise's suspension. The simulation was restarted with Blue forces fully restored, and Red forces heavily constrained from free-play "to the point where the end state was scripted"

More of a political exercise than anything else. But this has been cited as an indication of the effectiveness of modern drone-based warfare.

[cwillu]

Because the point of the wargame is that it's a training exercise for everyone involved, right down to the crews of the ships involved, not an nfl game. If the free-play portion ends up not exercising a bunch of expected scenarios because of an unexpected tactic, it would be monumentally wasteful to not make a note of the lesson and then reset with a script.

[AnimalMuppet]

Right.

Did they make a note of the lesson? Did anything change?

I mean, I guess they noticed enough to classify the results for 25 years...

[jjk166]

Well in the recent Iran war they kept their major ships far from Iran and didn't try to do any major operations in the area where small Iranian boats like those used in the wargame would be a threat. Indeed none of the vulnerabilities exposed by the Millennium Challenge were actual issues in the recent conflict. Whether that means the lesson was learned or the red team tactics were exploiting issues specific to the wargame is not clear.

[cwillu]

They have sang lalalala with their fingers in their ears instead of noting the lesson, and it still would have been a monumental waste to not reset and continue the exercise.

[paleotrope]

It gets endlessly recycled whenever it's needed for political reasons.