Context: Army Training Command has signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with Gandhinagar-based Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to develop a ‘Wargame Research and Development Centre(WARDEC) in New Delhi.

About WARDEC

• WARDEC will be a first-of-its-kind simulation-based training center in India that will use artificial intelligence(AI) to design virtual reality wargames.
• Purpose: The centre will be used by the Army to train its soldiers and test their strategies through metaverse-enabled gameplay. 

How will the simulation exercises play out at the center?

• Soldiers will test their skills in the metaverse where their surroundings will be simulated using a combination of virtual reality(VR) and augmented reality(AR).
• Location: The centre will come up in a military zone in New Delhi.
• Significance: The centre will help soldiers prepare for wars as well as counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations.

How many countries use such wargaming drills?

• Since the 9/11 attacks, the use of information technology-enabled wargaming is preferred by several countries like the US, Israel, and the UK to prepare for possibilities in case of terror attacks or war.
• For instance, in 2014, several world leaders including former German chancellor Angela Merkel, former US president Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping played a war simulation game during the Hague Summit about how to react in case of a nuclear attack. In that case, the target of the nuclear attack was a fictional country named Brinia.

By: Shubham Tiwari