MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Future conflict will not slow down to allow time for perfect decisions, and it will not unfold as planned. At Air University, that reality is shaping how the institution prepares leaders to think, decide and act when conditions are unclear and timelines are compressed.
Air University is not built around theory. It develops decision-makers and works real problems that shape how the joint force plans and fights. Wargaming supports that effort by giving leaders a place to work through complex situations before they face them in real-world operations.
Lisle Babcock, director of the Air Force Wargaming Institute, said it comes down to something often limited once operations begin: time to think.
“We’re working to provide a hands-on environment where you can actually think through the process,” Babcock said. “You’re not in the cockpit, you’re not trying to avoid threats. You’ve got the time to work through decisions and understand what drives outcomes.”
Inside Air University, that time is used to build judgment under conditions that reflect how the joint force operates. Scenarios shift, assumptions break down and the answer is not obvious. Leaders work the problem and see how decisions carry forward.
“I can change the environment you’re in and look at new and different ways of doing business that you just can’t do in a real-world exercise or in war,” he said.
That ability to adjust the setup forces leaders to think beyond a single course of action. It shows how early decisions shape what follows and how actions in one domain affect outcomes in another.
“There’s so much flexibility in how we build scenarios that you can work through a wide range of joint warfighting problems,” Babcock said. “You’re learning how to think about the problem from different angles.”
Air University applies that work beyond its classrooms. It contributes to wargames across the services, helping shape how the joint force works through problems before they become real.
“A large portion of my staff serve as adjudicators not just for the Air Force, but for the Army, the Marines and the Navy,” Babcock said. “When we go into those environments, we make sure the airpower perspective is understood as part of the larger joint, all-domain fight.”
That exchange also informs Air University’s work. Lessons from those environments are fed back into how the institution develops warfighters and approaches future problem sets.
“We bring back what we learn from the Army, Marines, Navy and Space Force and apply it here,” he said. “That keeps us focused on the joint fight, not just a single-service view.”
Wargaming is not designed to produce a single answer. It builds a way of thinking that holds up when plans change and conditions do not match expectations.
“The wargame will never give you the solution,” Babcock said. “What it gives you is the thought process to solve similar problems going forward.”
That is where Air University contributes. It connects education, analysis and applied problem-solving so leaders are better prepared to make decisions when the situation is unclear and the stakes are high.
“How we think about airpower, how we employ joint force capabilities, how we approach command and control, those are things we work on all the time,” he said.
For senior leaders, the value appears in application. Concepts developed in a controlled environment begin to show up in how the force plans and executes.
“Seeing those ideas play out in the real world is validating,” Babcock said. “It shows that the reps and sets matter, that we understand how to approach these problems before we’re forced to solve them for real.”
That connection between preparation and application reflects Air University’s role in developing joint warfighters and contributing to how the force thinks, plans and fights before decisions are made and when they matter most.
“For those of us who’ve spent time in the warfighter community, it’s heartening,” Babcock said. “You can see that this work is helping build the foundation for how the force will operate going forward.”