A Link-Based Attacker-Defender Game Model of Combat Networks

Abstract

Under the condition of the information age, military operations are shifting from platform-centric warfare to network-centric warfare. Link is an essential part of combat networks that present the relative between two nodes like information transmit, transfer, transport, et. The offensive and defensive game of combat network links are of great significance for identifying the enemy's vulnerable segments and improving the efficiency of our planning and decision-making tasks. From the perspective of network science, this paper proposes a link-based attacker-defender game model of combat networks to provide link protection strategies and analyze the attacker's actions. First, the combat network model is built considering cooperation between equipment called kill web. Then, a link based on the attacker-defender game model of kill web is established to accurately describe both the attacker's and the defender's game activities. And the solution method is introduced, which can find at least one solution in a limited time. Finally, an example of the presented game model is conducted to verify the method's validation and feasibility of our proposed model. The Nash Equilibrium under two typical strategies is calculated, and the influence of the different number of edges on the Nash Equilibrium is analyzed. The results reveal that the defender chooses a deliberate defense strategy, and the attacker's choice is influenced by cost; the Nash Equilibrium under entire strategies is calculated, which shows that the defender often chooses more essential links to defend with a higher probability.