Marines to bridge info gaps in '04 wargame: Olympic Dragon experiment will focus on command and control, on the move.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

The Marine Corps is refining plans for a large-scale wargame scheduled for 2004.

In the experiment, called Olympic Dragon, live forces will probe new concepts of operations designed to improve the command and control of Marine units as they disembark and prepare for combat inland. Marine combat planners, for example, will attempt to figure out how the forces should employ advanced over-the-horizon communications technologies in ways that will help bridge the "digital divide" between commanders and troops on the front lines.

The point of the exercise is to shape future training and doctrine for the conduct of what is known in Marine parlance as "ship to objective maneuver." Specifically, the Marines want to enhance their capabilities to plan operations on the move. To make that happen, commanders from various segments of a Marine Expeditionary Unit--air and ground forces--need to be able to share data, in real time, about the status and location of all the MEU elements, as well as robust communications networks, so they can coordinate their efforts.

Spearheading the Olympic Dragon effort is the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, a $40 million organization responsible for planning wargames and for developing and testing new technology.

The lab's commander, Col. Frank A. Panter Jr., said that Olympic Dragon is part of a "transformation roadmap" designed to improve Marine tactics, training and equipment, so they can gain "speed, precision and stealth" in combat operations.

The Corps' new commandant, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, seems enthusiastic about future wargames and the idea of experimenting with new technology, said Panter, who recently briefed Hagee on Olympic Dragon.

The notion of "on the move, over-the-horizon command, control and communications" is at the core of the transformation that the Marines are seeking in future warfare tactics, Panter explained. The end result, he said, would be for every Marine to share a "common operational picture" of the battlefield and to "be able to talk to each other and have operational situational awareness of what everyone is doing.

"If I were going to pick one thing, it's 'command and control,"' Panter said. "How can we get this common operational picture that would benefit all elements of the MAGTF [Marine air ground task force]?"

Shortly after Panter spoke with National Defense, he was on his way to Okinawa, Japan, to visit Marines stationed there. He wants to stay in touch with the "operational forces," Panter said, "to get their opinions on the way ahead for the war-fighting lab."

Future wargames, additionally, will tackle the Navy's new concept of expeditionary strike groups and how they would interact with the Marine air-ground task force.

An expeditionary strike group is a modified, more heavily armed version, of the...