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Military to buy new supercomputer

"We do not have the latest figures in our data bank. In the simulation of amphibious landing, for instance, we still rely on data dating from the Normandy landing in World War II."

Anonymous defense official

The military is to buy a new supercomputer from the US next year for use in computer-assisted war games, which are becoming increasingly important in the absence of real combat experience, defense sources said yesterday.

The new supercomputer is to be provided by US-based Dell and will replace a similar system that the military has used for several years. The system to be replaced was made by another US company, IBM.

The software currently being used will also be replaced. The current system was developed by the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), based on a US program.

With the new Dell supercomputer the military is planning to use software developed in the US without letting the CSIST have any part in it.

The new system will cost US$3.5 million (NT$119 million), which does not include maintenance or upgrades of the hardware and software involved in the package.

The system is expected to become operable before next year's Hankuang No. 20 exercise, Tai-wan's annual large-scale war simulation and demonstration of live firepower.

Over the past few years, the annual Hankuang exercises have produced some shocking results from the war simulations run on the old system. In last year's Hankuang No. 18 exercise, in which the military simulated a war with China in 2005, four Kidd-class destroyers that the navy has yet to receive but were imagined to have joined service in the simulated war were sunk one after the other under saturation attacks from China's fighter planes.

These results had been widely reported by the press at the time, with some newspapers ridiculing the Kidd-class destroyers' alleged vulnerability to attacks from the air.

The navy explained that the results of the computer-assisted war gaming were just for reference, but it admitted that the software had not been fed the right data for some weapons systems used in the simulation.

With a new supercomputer and operating software, the military might be able to avoid making the same mistakes again, but no definite answer was available.

A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there are both advantages and disadvantages to the introduction of the new computer system and its software.

"The current software still has room for improvement. It could produce very realistic simulation results, as long as it has the right input," the official said.

"We do not have the latest figures in our data bank. In the simulation of amphibious landing, for instance, we still rely on data dating from the Normandy landing in World War II," he said.

"What is important is the data, not the computer system or its operating software. We need to get the latest data from the US. If not, what is the use of buying new hardware and software?" the official said.

He cautioned against a possible scenario in which the military might become too dependent on the US because both the hardware and software for its war simulations are provided by the US.
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