THE ROLE OF AIRPOWER IN LIMITED WAR AND COUNTERINSURGENCY.
Abstract
The PATTERN study is a part of an Air Force analysis of the 1972 tactical conflict situation in Southeast Asia and its implications for the weapons system mix requirements. The basic output of the PATTERN study is a calculation of the preferred weapons system mix that maximizes the achievable capability for a given budget. The study employs two fundamentally different types of techniques. The relevance portion is an orderly breakdown of the total problem into small pieces that can be individually analyzed. This is accomplished by constructing a tree-like network of the segments that flow from tactical warfare through the various spectrums of conflict, roles, missions, tasks, and specific objectives to the actual vehicles and their associated payloads. A computer is used to store the tree, criteria, and relevance numbers assigned, enabling calculation of any PATTERN value through the decision network. In this manner, the importance of each factor can be associated with a conflict situation, scenario, intelligence, and operational environment. The basic output is a numerical evaluation of the priority of each target in the conflict spectrum. The second part of the study is the assigning of the appropriate weapons systems to each target and calculating their effectiveness and cost with standard analysis techniques. The optimum force mix is then calculated by combining the relevance numbers with the costs, effectiveness, and requirements matrix, using a standard linear programming model for various objective functions and constraints.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0489523
Entities
Organizations
- Honeywell International, Inc.