The Weapons Mix Problem

A Math Model to Quantify the Effects of Internetting of Fires to the Future Force

Christopher G. Pernin, Louis R. Moore

ResearchPublished 2005

For the Army’s future force, what is the appropriate mix of weapons to provide a given outcome, and how might these weapons be employed? This research offers some initial observations into the internetting of fires (IOF) process and a foundation for understanding its relationship to combat outcome. IOF is “the ability to engage a particular target using any number of potential firers who are able to engage due to being on the network which provides targeting information.” A key problem with implementing the IOF concept is to determine how to allocate fires among a collection of shooters on a network. The authors describe and demonstrate an analytic tool based on a mathematical optimization to determine that allocation. The authors also describe how the project sponsor used this tool to screen for good mixes of weapons, munitions, and sensors for the Army future force.

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Pernin, Christopher G. and Louis R. Moore, The Weapons Mix Problem: A Math Model to Quantify the Effects of Internetting of Fires to the Future Force. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2005. https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR170.html.
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The research described in this report was sponsored by the United States Army and conducted by the RAND Arroyo Center.

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