SOME MILITARY APPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY OF GAMES

Abstract

Many military problems are concerned with the allocation of forces in space and/or time in a competitive environment. We shall give some examples of the application of the theory of games to such problems. The examples are from three general military fields: strategic air war, tactical air war, and target prediction. An important problem in strategic air war is the target selection problem - the choice of targets for attack and defense. This problem is formulated both as a finite game and an infinite game. In each case the optimal allocations are described. In the tactical air war example we view the tactical air war game as consisting of a series of strikes, or moves, each of which consists of simultaneous counter-air, air defense, and close support operations by each side to accomplish a given theater mission. We give some general properties of the optimal allocations. Finally, the problem of scheduling the launching of missiles is described as an example of target prediction. The optimal launching schedules are described for both sides.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 10, 1959
Accession Number
AD0616413

Entities

People

  • Melvin Dresher

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Close Support
  • Counterair Operations
  • Department Of Defense
  • Ground Support
  • Kill Probabilities
  • Launching
  • Mathematics
  • Military Applications
  • Operations Research
  • Probability
  • Probability Distributions
  • War Games
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Game Theory.
  • Theoretical Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers