Defence Gaming is an initiative from Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and Swedish National Defence College (FHS) to study, research and explore the conjunction of computer and video games world and the military.

Swedish Armed Forces are in the midst of a major re-orientation from a structure based on an invasion threat to a structure of more compatible with the new era and the new security policy. The adaptation relies, among other things, on heavy use of civil technologies. Building the defence of tomorrow requires a close integration (both technical and cultural) with the rest of the society. Collaborate efforts between defence sector and the rest of the society is therefore vital for the success of re-orientation.

Swedish defence has grown interest in computer games the last years. The activities vary in purpose and scope. Apart from various different usages of games in military schools there are an increasing anticipation on what games and gaming can do for military overall. This web site is a result of one of the initiatives sanctioned by the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. The web site is a joint effort between Swedish defence government agencies (FMV, FHS and FOI) - all with different focus.

FMV, Swedish Defence Materiel Administration - Game Technology
FMV defines, develops, procures and delivers the materiel systems for the Swedish Armed Forces through the systems complete lifecycle. Expertise on technical systems, their development and contacts to civil industry has long been the focus of FMV.

In the spring of 2002 GameStudio was launched with the support of by the Research & Technology program of the Swedish Armed Forces. The studio is an initiative to create an arena for the commercial gaming community and the defence aiming specifically at network centric warfare. The arena is a place where decisions makers and game developers can meet and exchange ideas and experiences. With gaming studies and new conceptual ideas FMV will find solutions from the civilian development in conjunction with future defence needs.

More specifically the work is carried out by studying the development to building demonstrators aiming at raising the bar of what can be done with the technology today.

Game Studio has a focus to support various military activities with technology from the commercial games industry. One clear example is of course a low-cost alternative to platform simulators like flight and tank simulators. But the technology can be used in so many more ways. One example is to use strategic/building games as urban warfare tactical and operative planning tools. Another example is when developing a new system a game can be built to model that new system. This will not only lead to a clear understanding among the systems engineers of what is being produced (avoiding early mistakes) but the game can also be used as marketing tool and demonstrator.

FHS, Swedish National Defence College - Command & Controll and Wargaming
The task of the Swedish National Defence College is to contribute to national and international security through research and education. FHS does this by training officers and civilians for staff, commander and specialist positions for the defence or for international missions. The research is mainly directed at supporting the study programmes and is to a large extent interdisciplinary. International conflict solving, politico-security evaluations, crisis management and the art of war presuppose that knowledge from many different areas can be analysed and consolidated into a whole.

The work on using computer and video games can be divided into two parts – education and research. For education games are used as pedagogical instruments of future commanders. Game titles like “The Operational Art of War” from Talonsoft and “Steel Panthers” from SSI are modified with Swedish scenarios and used when the operational staffs are trained. More applications are under considerations to be used in different exercises. Gaming is a vital component in the learning process at FHS and there is a strong belief that commercial games can be used to a larger extent in this learning process. If not only for the fact that games (i.e learning games) can be played by students off-duty hours.

The other part is research. A number of research projects are under development aiming at contributing to future command and control concepts such as ROLF [lank här till military science] and AQUA. Within this research there is a focus on Modelling and Simulation (M&S). Future operational staff members are required to make decisions in an information extensive environment in fast pace and in complex situations. This environment can and should be supported by various modelling and simulation activities. Gaming in this context is often defined as operational wargaming where the purpose is to evaluate situations, build and test plans, generate ideas and answer “what-if” questions. The main hypothesis is that there is a huge potential of combining developments from the commercial games world and the military wargaming counterpart. The research is focused on finding these, study and experiment with them.

FOI, The Swedish Defence Research Agency - Behaviour Science and AI
FOI's core activity is research, method and technical development. The research encompasses the entire field of applied science from advanced computer models, physics, aerodynamics and electronics to chemistry, microbiology and medicine, as well as security policy and defence analysis.

Since 1999 FOI conducts studies with modified game titles. The purpose of these studies is two fold:

Evaluate games and entertainment applications by their technical components (artificial intelligence, synthetic environments, architecture and user interfaces)

Evaluate games for their “soft” parts and usage (like game play, command, decision making, situation awareness and other behavioural aspects) as low-cost alternative for training and education of military officers.

In 2001 the games “Delta Force II” (NovaLogic) and “Operation Flashpoint” (CodeMasters) was modified and used to study command and decision making for groups at combat level. Earlier “World War III” (JoWood Productions) were used to study communication and collaboration between company commanders in a typical UN scenario. A study carried out with the tactical unit at the Ground Combat School in Kvarn (with second lieutenants) proved that games and entertainment technology are well suited to be used in training and education.