BY MARTY GRAHAM
It’s an exciting video game , Future Force Company Commander puts the player in control of 18 weapons systems, an encyclopedia of battlefield information and an army of manned and unmanned tools.
Sleek tanks roll on night missions, analyzing information about enemy positions and movements sent by unmanned probes on the ground and flying in the sky. The strategies are sophisticated and the weapons simulate battle conditions.
And it’s real.
SAIC Inc.’s Future Force Company Commander game , 24,000 copies have been given away , is a sample of what SAIC (formerly known as Science Applications International Corp.) really does. Partnered with the Chicago-based Boeing Co., San Diego-based SAIC is the lead integrator of the U.S. Army’s network centric warfare of the future.
SAIC is one of about a dozen San Diego-area defense contractors thriving on the Army’s net-centric warfare concept that links communications and networking systems with soldiers, platforms, weapons and sensors. Introduced several years ago, and evolving with the lessons learned in Iraq , a ground war lacking a uniformed opponent fought in cities and villages , the military has $161 billion in contracts developing the components and an integrated system during the next 25 years.
But the game is a surprisingly public show of just how it could work.
“It’s about approaching the battlefield of the future , it gives you an idea of how networked battle command works,” said SAIC spokesman Regen Wilson. “It’s meant to serve as a familiarization tool for the typical soldier.”
Free Access Online
SAIC spent about $1.5 million building the game that’s being handed out for free at defense industry shows and on the U.S. Army’s Web site. Built in less than a year, the game lets a soldier sit in the driver’s seat and manage the 18 systems and dozens of sensors, probes and programs that do everything from flowing terrain information and sensing the tiniest movement underfoot to blowing up ships and cities.
“The game isn’t a profit enterprise for us,” said Chris Hulick, SAIC project manager for communication, video and Web applications, calling Future Force Company Commander a promotional tool. “It’s meant as a familiarization tool for the typical soldier to get a better handle on F2C2.”
Mark Long, co-chief executive officer of Seattle-based Zombie Inc., which built the game, called SAIC’s decision to create a game a “visionary marketing tool.”
“The goal is to communicate something complex to people,” he said. “It’s not a defense contractor mentality, but it’s very smart.”
Zombie, a small company where many of the executives have a military background, also built a game the Army is using as a recruiting tool. The Army game was the brainchild of a West Point colonel whose expertise is in economics.
“For a tiny fraction of the advertising budget (they were spending on recruiting), you can make a video game and give it away and reach exactly who you want to reach , people who like to play Web-based games,” Long said.
Through game play, F2C2 showcases how the Future Combat Systems program can provide the 21st century soldier unprecedented situational awareness and the ability to see first, understand first, act first and finish decisively, an SAIC company press release says.
Locally Made Tools
And it’s based on the real battlefield tools being developed by San Diego-area workers, including those who work on Northrop Grumman Corp.’s unmanned aerial vehicles, employees at L-3 Communications Inc. and San Diego-based ViaSat Inc.’s satellite communication systems employees. BAE Systems’ targeting software, and technologies from General Atomics are also being used.
So players moving the unmanned aerial vehicles get a taste of steering a Predator or a tank full of infantry. They get the feel of guiding an army through an area mined with sophisticated bombs that can be turned on and off , and detonated , remotely.
“There are four classes of unmanned aerial vehicles, manned and unmanned ground vehicles, an infantry carrier, two assault vehicles and reconnaissance and recovery vehicles,” Hulick said. “We made this game as realistic as possible in the regard of using equipment, but we stayed with what’s already widely available about the equipment’s capabilities.
“The point of the 18 systems is supporting the soldier, so explaining to the soldier how this works and what you can do is the most important part,” he added. “When you play the game the soldier is at the center.”
Zombie took the assignment and came back with a list of questions, says Hulick, who’d never built a game before.
“How much of an army experience do we want to create in the game? What’s the scope? What level does the operator have in the game, is it a single soldier, a general?” Hulick recalled. “We decided it would be as a company commander , the commander builds the team.
“We decided against modeling down to a really intricate level,” he added.
For example, no one builds a village, sets up a kitchen or repairs vehicles. Although, said Long, vehicles don’t need much fixing in this game.
“The defense contractors are loathe to do anything that shows the destruction of their expensive equipment,” Long said , much like other manufacturers whose products have been in games. “Most companies go nuts when they find out gamers want to blow up their Jeeps.”
Confidential Limits
One limitation of the game is that it doesn’t allow opponents to explore the strengths and weaknesses of their array of equipment and systems, partly because the amount of information on each is partly classified.
And there’s no system for players telling them how to build a better 2.0 version, he said. Hulick confirmed that SAIC isn’t seeking outside comment.
“We’re not collecting any information about how it works for people and how gamers like it,” Hulick said. “That’s not the goal.”
And, Long said, it could be more fun. With more information about what all 18 systems do, how they work and what their weaknesses are, Zombie could have developed a game that the Future Force Company Commander could lose.
“The FCS units are so lethal that facing off against them isn’t survivable,” he said. “For a better game, I would have made it survivable with enemies that evolve and learn.”
Marty Graham is a freelance writer based in the San Diego region.
