Dstl opens UK's first wargaming centre

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has opened the UK’s first dedicated, purpose designed wargaming centre.

The Defence Wargaming Centre (DWC), located on Dstl’s Portsdown West site near Portsmouth, will host wargames for all three UK services. Wargaming facilities enable participants to experience the rigour and implications of decision making in a ‘safe to fail’ environment, without the risk, expense and disruption of live exercises or real operations.

The DWC has been established to respond to the increasing demand for wargaming as a tool both to support decisions and to develop insight into complex issues faced by defence and security now and in the future.

The facility can be configured to deliver a wide variety of wargames of different types and sizes for a range of purposes. The DWC is also intended to be a focus for research into wargaming methods, tools and techniques.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted the first exercise at the facility, Eagle Warrior 19, in December 2019. The exercise initiated a series of wargames to evaluate warfighting C2 at the operational level and provides a test bed for assessing structural, process and/or technological improvements. Eagle Warrior 19 also demonstrated the ability of the RAF to hold rapid and agile wargames which will be developed further in future years.