Abstract
Military operations research and combat modeling apply mathematical models to analyze a variety of military conflicts and obtain insights about these phenomena. One of the earliest and most important set of models used for combat modeling is the Lanchester equations. Legacy Lanchester equations model the mutual attritional dynamics of two opposing military forces and provide some insights regarding the fate of such engagements. In this paper, we review recent developments in Lanchester modeling, focusing on contemporary conflicts in the world. Specifically, we present models that capture irregular warfare, such as insurgencies, highlight the role of target information in such conflicts, and capture multilateral situations where several players are involved in the conflict (such as the current war in Syria).
Highlights
Military operations research and combat modeling apply mathematical models to analyze a variety of military conflicts and combat situations, and obtain insights about these phenomena [1,2]
One of the earliest and most important set of models used for combat modeling is the Lanchester equations [3]
A second type of model relates to cases where the two sides of the conflict are profoundly different in terms of their force structures and their associated attritional dynamics
Summary
Military operations research and combat modeling apply mathematical models to analyze a variety of military conflicts and combat situations, and obtain insights about these phenomena [1,2]. Irregular warfare is characterized by asymmetry in the mechanism that provides information, intelligence and situational awareness to the two sides These types of irregular warfare represent most recent conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan and Syria. A second type of model relates to cases where the two sides of the conflict are profoundly different in terms of their force structures and their associated attritional dynamics Such models describe many-on-one situations or scenarios where civilians have a significant effect on the way the conflict evolves. Consider a situation where several sides, Blue, Red, Brown, Green, etc., seek dominance in a region by fighting (or cooperating with) others Such multilateral conflicts lend themselves to game-theoretic situation, which we discuss in this paper.
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