New Capabilities for Strategic Mobility Analysis

The Joint Staff participates in many aspects of strategic mobility analysis but has primary responsibility for balancing troops, transport, and cost. It seeks to identify the "best" mix of airlift, sealift, and prepositioning required for various contingent scenarios. In previous research the authors found that the models currently used by the Joint Staff were inappropriate for that task and recommended that those broader-based trade-off analyses be addressed using new formulations of traditional mathematical-programming procedures and off-the-shelf software (Schank, Mattock, et al., R-3926-JS, 1991). This document summarizes the prototypical models and procedures the authors developed over the past several years to provide those capabilities. It describes knowledge-based developments the authors believe will eventually enhance analytic capabilities and improve the understanding of transportation operations and planning, and it describes and demonstrates the mathematical-programming formulations the authors recommend for analyzing broader force-oriented mobility questions in the near term. For the future, the authors recommend the integration of the knowledge-based and mathematical-programming procedures.