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A promotional screen from LEAP showing different game screens.

Land Engagement Adjudication Platform (LEAP)

Organization:

USAF Academy and AFRL Gaming Research Integration for Learning Laboratory (GRILL) for the Multi-Domain Laboratory at USAF Academy Strategy & Warfare Center

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LEAP was developed by Cadets at the USAF Academy as part of a summer research and challenge problem submission. LEAP provides cadets the ability to apply operational level tactics to a capstone wargame. Using questions designed to lead cadets toward critical elements of force employment, LEAP leverages basic operational design research to provide realistic results to force-on-force engagements. LEAP is able to send and receive DIS (Distributed Interactive Simulation) message traffic allowing it to communicate with other software systems used by the larger DoD M&S ecosystem. Communicating through USAFA’s custom-built application, Modular Effects-based Transmitter for Integrated Simulations (METIS), LEAP can pull real-time data from the Multi-Domain Laboratory (MDL) infrastructure to assign and modify force statuses.

Game Overview

Operational planning, military strategy, strategic thinking, deliberate action, coordination among groups/individuals

Operational Research concepts can be complicated and overly detailed, but random chance does not effectively teach cadets that decisions about force employment can dramatically affect the success or failure of combat operations. LEAP introduces operational research concepts to cadets at an undergraduate level and allows them to immediately experience the effects of decisions, such as successful intelligence collection or the application of combined arms, have on the outcomes of battles between similarly sized forces. Forcing cadets to consider the effects of their decisions and coordinate with other teams and individuals during their capstone wargame teaches participants about the roles and responsibilities of the services in a joint fight and how each service complements the other to provide the most effective force projection.

USAF Academy Cadets enrolled in the MSS 251 core course (Air and Space Power and Joint Operations Strategy). Over 1,000 cadets take this course each year, and they will engage with LEAP as part of a semester wargaming exercise.

The game assesses player performance based on the effectiveness of their tactical decisions and how these impact engagements. Success affects both their immediate outcomes and the larger wargame in the course, linking individual decisions to broader strategic impacts.

Game Specs

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Game Video

Play the video below to learn more about Land Engagement Adjudication Platform (LEAP)

A promotional screen from LEAP showing different game screens.
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