Operational research in weapon system

Abstract

paper is divided into three parts: (a) The first part deals with what operational research is. (b)The second part gives what we mean by Weapon Systems and discusses considerations that determine the choice of a particular weapon system from a class weapon systems. (c)The third part deals with some aspects of weapon replacement policy.The effectiveness of a weapon system is defined as E=D/C where E is weapon effectiveness (a comparative figure of merit); D is total damage inflicted or prevented and C is total cost, D and C being reduced to common dimensions. During the course of investigations, criteria regarding to choice of weapon or weapons from a set of weapon systems are established through production function and military effect curves. A procedure is described which maximizes the expectation of military utility in order to select a weapon system from the class of weapon systems. This is done under the following simplifying assumptions: (a) Non- decreasing utility function; (b) Constant average cost for each kind of weapons; and (c) Independence of the performance of each unit of weapon. Some of the difficulties which arises when any of these restrictions is relaxed are briefly mentioned. Finally, the policy of weapon replacement and the factors governing the same are described.