Step 4 JPP is which activity?

• A. COA Development
• B. COA analysis and wargaming
• C. Mission analysis
• D. Planning initiation

Answer: (B)

The main idea is evaluating and testing potential courses of action through a structured wargame. After you’ve drafted several COAs, you don’t just pick the best on paper—you examine how each option would perform in realistic conditions. COA analysis involves examining each option against criteria like feasibility, suitability, and acceptability, identifying required resources, potential risks, and likely outcomes. Wargaming brings the plan to life in a controlled, simulated environment: you run through how events might unfold, how adversaries could respond, and how timing, sequencing, and interdependencies play out. This process reveals gaps, hidden risks, and critical assumptions, allowing you to refine COAs or discard those that won’t hold up under pressure. It’s the step that turns ideas into tested options, setting up a meaningful comparison later on. The other steps either start the process (initiation), define the problem (mission analysis), generate options (COA development), or move to selecting and formalizing a plan (COA comparison and eventual plan development).