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Headquarters Air Force Futures (A5/7) has completed the GE 26 Benchmark Wargame, concluding the two-week event on March 27, 2026, with a first-of-its-kind operational use of the service’s new WarMatrix wargaming environment.
Held at Systems Planning and Analysis in Alexandria, Virginia, the exercise assembled more than 150 participants, including leadership from Pacific Air Forces, the Air Force Warfare Center, joint and allied planners, senior role players, and technical specialists. Organizers designed the fast-moving series to stress-test concepts, capabilities, and force design choices relevant to future conflict scenarios.
The event marked the transition of WarMatrix from development to operational use. Built by the Department of the Air Force, the system pairs human operators with AI-enabled tools to accelerate analysis while keeping human judgment central to planning and adjudication. It is intended to stitch together existing models, data, and workflows, increasing the speed, traceability, and transparency of wargame outcomes so decision-makers can better understand assumptions, results, and trade-offs.
Over the course of the wargame, teams conducted more than six full-day turns, using physics-based modeling and simulation-informed adjudication to ground results in realistic operational conditions. According to the Air Force, the game produced decision-relevant findings for the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff on future concepts, capabilities, and force structure.
WarMatrix’s architecture enabled faster scenario development, repeatable adjudication, and improved collaboration across joint and coalition participants. The game also generated a detailed dataset to support post-event analysis and additional analytical excursions. In parallel, the Air Force used the event to evaluate complementary tools for potential integration into a broader wargaming ecosystem.
Service leaders framed WarMatrix as an incremental evolution of wargaming practice rather than a replacement for established methods, describing it as a force multiplier that blends computational rigor with human insight. They said the approach addresses persistent challenges in large-scale simulations, including transparency, integration, and speed.
As the Air Force refines its approach to operational analysis, officials pointed to GE 26 as evidence that advanced tools, integrated teams, and disciplined wargaming can deliver timely, credible insights to senior leaders and help shape the future force.
