ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are asking industry to develop artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to simulate challenging enemy behavior during war games that reaction in ways not easily replicated by human role-players.

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Researchers eye embedding arti cial intelligence (AI) into war games
simulation to beef-up challenges
The idea is to develop several feasible enemy courses of action rapidly, identify optimal
solutions, and provide reasoning to support recommendations.
Author — John Keller
Jun 3rd, 2020
ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are asking industry to develop arti cial intelligence (AI) algorithms to
simulate challenging enemy behavior during war games that reacts in ways not easily replicated by human role-
players.
Of cials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., issued a solicitation last
week (DARPA-PA-19-03-08) for the COnstructive Machine-learning Battles with Adversary Tactics (COMBAT) project.
COMBAT will develop arti cial intelligence (AI) algorithms to generate models of enemy brigade behaviors that
challenge and adapt to friendly forces in simulation experiments.
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2. The project seeks to model how an adversary may evolve from current to future tactics based on friendly force actions
and responses. The idea is to develop several feasible enemy courses of action rapidly, identify optimal solutions, and
provide reasoning to support recommendations.
Related: Air Force considers gaming-developed arti cial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for battle management
In future war games, COMBAT will deliver an arti cially intelligent enemy that can challenge friendly force
participants and stimulate development of new battle tactics.
Army war games today use enemy operators who rely on long-established tactics against their friendly opponents.
COMBAT seeks to disrupt traditional enemy strategy by generating surprising new enemy actions using AI.
This will challenge the preconceptions and require new friendly force tactics. Emerging AI techniques never have
been applied to this before.
Companies selected will model enemy motorized ri e brigade tactics in a force-on-force modeling and simulation
tool of the performer’s choosing. This tool must be able to model several company-size enemy forces in a brigade;
their command-and-control hierarchies; and behaviors at the brigade, operational, and tactical levels.
Related: War Games
Modeling entities at the company-level reduces the effect of terrain on individual units, while still displaying
representative capabilities.
Companies selected will develop their initial enemy AI algorithms and behaviors according to “The Russian Way of
War: Force Structure, Tactics and Modernization of Russian Ground Forces,” published by the Army Foreign Military
Studies Of ce, 2016.
Companies interested should upload responses to the DARPA BAA Website no later than 26 June 2020 at
https://baa.darpa.mil.
Email questions or concerns to DARPA's Paul Zablocky, the COMBAT program manager, at COMBAT@darpa.mil. More
information is online at https://beta.sam.gov/opp/cee2af5112e84688b94a5b3de159048c/view.
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