Findings on Mosaic Warfare from a Colonel Blotto Game
Abstract
As the U.S. Department of Defense continues to innovate, several approaches to conflict are under consideration to reduce cost and increaseeffectiveness and robustness. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investigating a warfighting construct known as Mosaic warfare, after the analogy of creating a complex image from many small, simple pieces. This approach relies on fractionation of capabilities from large platforms onto multiple smaller ones, the ability to employ heterogeneous mixes of capabilities throughout a battlespace, and, finally, the ability to rapidly compose a set of needed capabilities in a time and place to accomplish a mission. The main focus of this research is on the potential benefits and trade-offs of Mosaic warfare, which can be defined as the degree to which a player can quantize their resources. Researchers studied the benefits of a Mosaic force using a competitive resource allocation problem known as a Colonel Blotto game. The canonical example of such a game involves two military colonels who must each allocate a limited number of troops across different battlefields. The colonel who allocates more troops to a battlefield wins that battlefield, and the goal of each colonel is to win as many battlefields as possible.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1119628
Entities
People
- Jonathan Lamb
- Justin Grana
- Nicholas A. O'donoughue
Organizations
- RAND Corporation