By MC2 Michael Ehrlich

NPS Program Officer Lt. Cmdr. Eric McMullen tests Strike Group Commander (SGC) Anti-ship Missile Defense Simulator in Watkins Hall, July 12. SGC is the first application of a platform in development by the Office of Naval Research designed to facilitate multiplayer research, training and planning in varied warfare scenarios.

"This is a government-run program that uses virtual technologies taken from the cutting-age gaming industry to build a virtual demonstration and experimentation laboratory," said Phelps. "Strike Group Defender is a platform designed to facilitate multiplayer and single player use of warfare content."

Phelps supports MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, and is the technical lead on the Office of Naval Research program.

"We built an architecture where warfare content could be build and dragged in … this is the first 'app' so to speak, which is anti-ship missile defense," said Phelps. "There are a lot of functional simulators that train you on a specific system. This is not what we are doing, we are working on the cognitive side of using these tools, along with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technology."

National Security Affairs student Janigian offered to assist the team in testing their innovative program.

"I remember seeing an e-mail that went out and I always imagine that there is some poor grad student out there on the other end whose thesis project depends on volunteers," said Janigian.

"But it appeared to be a very helpful tool for something we don't have a lot of training for in the Navy," he added. "I thought this would be a worthwhile thing I could help out with, and by the time the Navy gets the real product, it will be that much better for having a few more hands and eyes on it."