Optimal attack against an area defense protecting many targets

Norman T. O'Meara, Richard M. Soland

ResearchPublished 1989

Many separated targets, of only a few differing values, are subject to a simultaneous attack. The area defenses considered have impact point prediction (IPP) and full coordination, or no IPP and full coordination, or no IPP and partial coordination. For a given attack, the defense wishes to allocate its interceptors to maximize the expected total survival value of the targets. For a given attack size, and with knowledge of the defense's capabilities, the offense seeks a strategy to minimize expected total survival value against best defense. This paper presents algorithms to determine optimal attack and defense strategies and the optimal value of the minmax problem, and shows how to take computational advantage of the relatively few unique target values. It also provides illustrative computational results.

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  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 1989
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 22
  • Paperback Price: $20.00
  • Document Number: P-7567

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RAND Style Manual
O'Meara, Norman T. and Richard M. Soland, Optimal attack against an area defense protecting many targets, RAND Corporation, P-7567, 1989. As of September 5, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7567.html
Chicago Manual of Style
O'Meara, Norman T. and Richard M. Soland, Optimal attack against an area defense protecting many targets. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1989. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7567.html. Also available in print form.
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