• The HAF Wargaming Toolkit was developed to teach and familiarize warfighters  with tactical and operational knowledge in an engaging and gamified way. 

• The game mode teaches the differences between aircraft, provides key decision-making considerations (such as fuel management), and gives context on tactical situations.  

• Each mission uses learning-based approaches to build foundational knowledge and incrementally challenge warfighters to apply tactics as they upgrade their capabilities. 

• Mastery of skills learned in the game mirrors the rigorous training and quick adaptability required of actual fighter pilots, including air-to-air combat and air-to-ground operations.

• Both the AFRL and warfighter find themselves at two different levels of understanding when discussing the same theorized capability. The lab needs to understand how a capability is intended to be utilized and (without testing it) the warfighter often does not fully understand how to utilize a capability that has never existed.

• Foxhound utilizes the Unreal Engine COTS game engine and links warfighter applied TTPs to current/future capabilities in order to determine a potential capability’s effectiveness/value.

• Foxhound provides a real-time playable COTS sandbox for: AFRL's capability model, the wargame designer’s distributable operations plan, the warfighter’s TTP development, and the data analyst’s repository of capability attributes applied to weighted objectives.

• The desktop wargame features NATO symbology, units that engage in different environments, configurable parameters (ex. health, actions, speed), and an after action report.

• The team replicated and existing tabletop wargame for Air University's LeMay Center. The game lets students explore the limitations and capabilities in different engagement types in the Indo-Pacific theater.

• The two-player game is accessible on desktop and virtual reality. Students play through multiple campaigns exploring many different engagement types.

• Digitizing the game allows for on-demand training, rapid setup and gameplay, tactical learning outside the classroom, and building strategies in an engaging and gamified manner.

Interested in learning more?

• Maxwell Air Force Base released information on the initiative in 2024 (click to go to external site). 

• A press release from the Pacific Air Forces on the tabletop game was published in 2024 (click to go to external site).