A multicriteria decision-making approach to classify military bases for the Brazilian Navy

Abstract

The Brazilian Navy (BN) has its combatant force concentrated in an area with only one exit to the sea. Brazil has an extensive coast that needs to be patrolled and, in case of any kind of conflict, the BN must be able to defend the sovereignty and interests of the country. For this purpose, it is necessary a robust and decentralized naval force, which allows the fulfillment of its mission. This paper aims to classify the most suitable cities in Brazil to be established as naval bases, through the application of the ELECTRE-MOr hybrid method. Seventeen cities were analyzed, which have an opening to the sea and have a pre-existing minimum port structure. The alternatives were evaluated by specialists from the BN, with more than twenty years of active service, in the light of operational, economic and strategic criteria. As a result, five alternatives were classified as the most indicated to be headquarters for the decentralization of the naval power: Belém/PA, São Luis/MA, Fortaleza/CE, Recife/PE and Aratu/BA. This article presents relevance to academia and society, as it represents the application of a method in the state of the art to support the decision-making process in a significant problem for the sovereignty of Brazil, presenting a methodology that can be applied in problems of tactical, operational, strategic and political levels.