War gaming: maritime security creates new market for user-friendly simulation software.

• Author: Jean, Grace

HUNT VALLEY, Md.--Agencies in charge of port security, such as the Coast Guard, are target customers for a new video-gaming technology that allows individuals to create simulations and rehearse complex missions on desktop computers.

A developer of military simulations, BreakAway Ltd., recently introduced a software package that could allow government customers to custom design their own games to meet their specific training needs.

The software--known as modeling and simulation builder for everyone, or MOSBE--can be described as the "Microsoft Office for simulations," says Doug Whatley; chief executive officer of BreakAway Ltd. Users can create scenarios, play out war games and study ideas and new technology concepts.

MOSBE could help maritime security officials express the complexity of homeland security challenges by allowing them to design ports in a virtual world, populate them with ships and run numerous scenarios and exercises, says Whatley.

"Having this as a tool, where they can show people just how hard it is to do what they have to do, and be able to point out visually; in a real-looking virtual world, the things they deal with everyday will really help them sell their message," he says.

The spectrum of war gaming and exercises has traversed a path from pencil-and-paper to high-end computer simulations. "But in the middle, there's the gap there," says Whatley. The company is seeking to reduce the need for turning to those simulations that require substantial investments in money, manpower and technology.

"They're forced to spend millions of dollars to answer every question. Not every question requires that much horsepower," says Whatley.

Scenarios for those high-end models cost approximately $10 million to develop over 18 months, says BreakAway's Lindsay Riehl, director of marketing. With MOSBE, the same scenario could be developed in approximately two months, at a cost of about $500,000. The price includes MOSBE licenses and scenario development, she says.

Providing time-saving tools that also are accessible on desktop computers can help cut costs for budget-conscious users.

"We're not as poor as we used to be, but we're used to being poor," Vice Adm. Terry Cross, vice commandant of the Coast Guard, told National Defense. "We have a resulting culture and a mindset that we are literally always looking for ways to do a job more efficiently, more effectively."

The bigger war gaming simulations are physics-based models. MOSBE on the...