- Participants opine
New Delhi. 09 December 2021. The Insighteon war-game aimed to better anticipate the future dynamics influencing India’s submarine acquisition initiatives, by playing out stalemate situations and strategic risks/opportunities, and the findings of the war-game are likely to give the stakeholders an insight into futuristic scenarios affecting development/procurement of naval sub surface capability. By bringing diverse experts in the field onboard, it intended to analyse the dynamics and challenges of submarine acquisition programme.
And what better than understanding the nuances from the participants themselves. This is a feedback from the various players in the war game recently concluded, on Indian Navy’s sunbmarine acquisition programme.
Cmde M Bhargava
The War Game for ” Strategy for Submarine Acquisition” was conducted in the most professional manner indicating robust preparation and research by the Control Room Team. The injection of most realistic and probable requirements during the War Game made it very interesting, engrossing and a great learning experience.
Cmde Subramaniam
The wargame was well planned and conducted professionally. The situations were realistic and injected at appropriate times. The moderators , both Gen Dixit & Col Chib did an exceedingly fine job by keeping the discussions focussed on the issue & did not allow participants to digress and cloud / clutter the issues under discussion. Time management in conduct of the war game was excellent.
There are no suggestions for improving the conduct of the game. However, there were times when members of a particular team had differing opinions, which in a way is not reflective of the institutional view. Realistically, regardless of an individual’s view, organisations have a view which is taken as the institutional stand. Whether it was because team members could not consult each other (since it was on a digital mode & not physical) or because the rules of the war game allowed for different views from a particular organisation, this aspect needs to be resolved. In a war game, only one view, which is the organizational view, should be permitted.
The conduct of the war game was done very professionally & the Insighteon Consulting team did a very fine job in working out likely scenarios (narratives) and tried to elicit responses to likely evolving situations. Also, the conduct was very methodical & discussions well controlled. Time management was excellent.
V Adm Kannan
What I liked was the way control infused situations in a dynamic manner.
The wargame on the Strategic Partnership Model for P 75 I project was conducted by Insighting Consulting website very comprehensively . The discussions which followed the various situations infused by ” control” were lively and thought provoking. The participants selected for playing various roles in the Wargame added immense value to the topics.
Cdr Pankaj Srivastava
One thing what I liked about the wargame was the gradual shift in the rigid views with the changing scenario. It forced people to think about various unforeseen possibilities.
It was my first exposure to participate in a corporate wargame and I found it to be increasingly interesting the way it unfolded a number of possible scenarios. The methodical approach, carefully constructed scenarios and polls brought out gradual but significant change in the perspectives of Subject Matter Experts and the final outcomes of the wargame can be gainfully utilised by the decision makers for more meaningful approach towards the project.
Cmde Sunil Jetly
The Wargame dealt with a very pertinent and contemporary issue that has been languishing for over a couple of decades ( this delay also made participants acquire experience over many issues and hence added to “quality” deliberations). Planning done by the team Insighteon created opportunities for healthy and purposeful debate.
Polls were a very effective way to elucidate the “considered” response, which at times was in variance with the online debate. However, I believe that DPP is ‘GUIDELINES”, though in the deliberations it appeared to be a “cast in stone”.
Insighteon did a marvellous job by identifying the participants with requisite experience/ exposure and by planning the conduct in a very professional manner, virtually covering every aspect. As a participant I found it to be very informative, educative and above all very interesting & challenging.
Alok Perti
(a) The frankness with which participants spoke with all the background experience gave this exercise real value.
(b) If we can get people to use ppts and restrict their spoken part to specifics it would save time . In such meetings the tendency is to express much beyond the requirement mainly because with vast experience this is inevitable. With long disposition one tends to lose focus and even those listening lose track of the main issue.
(c) Insighteon Consulting website is doing an excellent job in engaging themselves in protracted extensive examination of very critical defence procurement issues. It would be good if the outcomes are shared with the authorities.
This idea of identifying Strategic Partners is full of problems. In very specialised items like the submarine or aircraft or even battle tanks this method is not going to be successful. If the issue is essentially to utilize the resources and capabilities present in the private sector then for a country like ours we cannot afford to emulate developed nations like the US. We need to engage PSUs to collaborate with large companies having capabilities to jointly indulge in defence production. A procedure to ensure costs are reasonable can be established without going in for tendering and relying on L1.
Cdr Raghvendra Chaturvedi
I liked that participants were from varied backgrounds but all relevant to the game and with great experience .
Gaming softwares could be used to bring in realism and remove subjectivity. Example – risk analysis immediately could be done based on inputs received and shown to all. This would bring in more impact and credibility to outputs.
