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Maximizing strike aircraft planning efficiency for a given class of ground targets

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Abstract

Strike planning is one of the fundamental tasks of an advanced Air Force and involves the assignment of strike aircraft to ground targets with a maximum level of efficiency. Therefore, planning an optimal strike based on the preferences of the decision maker is crucial. The efficiency of the strike plan in this paper implies attacking the maximum number of targets while considering target priority and the desired level of damage on each target. The other objective is to minimize the cost of the strike plan. This paper develops a methodology that maximizes the efficiency of the strike plan. Given this efficiency, the aircraft and weapon costs plus the distance flown is then minimized. The methodology also considers the capacities for different types of aircraft and weapons at each aircraft base to avoid assigning aircraft to targets from a base where there are insufficient resources to do so. Computational results are presented that analyze the sensitivity of the model solution times to solver optimality tolerance and aircraft and weapon capacities. Results also suggest substantial cost savings are possible while still maintaining the effectiveness of the strike package.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Turkish Air War College, 34334, Yenilevent, Istanbul, Turkey

    Necip Dirik

  2. Department of Operational Sciences, Air Force Institute of Technology, 2950 Hobson Way, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, 45433, USA

    Shane N. Hall & James T. Moore

Authors
  1. Necip Dirik
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  2. Shane N. Hall
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  3. James T. Moore
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Correspondence to Shane N. Hall.

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Dirik, N., Hall, S.N. & Moore, J.T. Maximizing strike aircraft planning efficiency for a given class of ground targets. Optim Lett 9, 1729–1748 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-014-0844-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-014-0844-5

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