Analytic War Plans
Adaptive Force-Employment Logic in the RAND Strategy Assessment System (RSAS)
Published 1990
The RAND Strategy Assessment System (RSAS) simulates future USSR vs. U.S. armed conflict scenarios by playing Red and Blue Agent programs against each other. These Agents are each headed by a National Command Level, which gives guidance to subordinate Military Command Levels. The programs the latter execute are called Analytic War Plans (AWPs), which use conditional logic to adapt the force orders they issue. AWPs are written in the RAND-ABEL language. They have a hierarchy of functions. A phase is composed of several moves and usually lasts for more than a day. Procedures contain force order tables that issue orders to the various force models. Authorization for plans to take many important actions must be specifically granted through the Authorization variable. This Note describes the structure of AWPs and Control Plans in detail, and provides annotated examples of a Control Plan and two AWPs.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web Only
- Year: 1990
- Pages: 202
- Document Number: N-3051-NA
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Schwabe, William and Barry Wilson, Analytic War Plans: Adaptive Force-Employment Logic in the RAND Strategy Assessment System (RSAS), RAND Corporation, N-3051-NA, 1990. As of October 9, 2026: https://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N3051.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Schwabe, William and Barry Wilson, Analytic War Plans: Adaptive Force-Employment Logic in the RAND Strategy Assessment System (RSAS). Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1990. https://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N3051.html.
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