Insights from Mathematical Modeling in Soviet Mission Analysis. Part 1

Abstract

The objective of this project is to examine and assess the extent to which U.S. military policy has effectively interpreted and responded to the military implications of Soviet weapons innovations. The project focuses on the contributions of Soviet weapons innovations to military mission performance, not changes in the technological level of Soviet weaponry. It also examines the ability of the Soviet weapons innovations process to offer a militarily significant breakout option. Accordingly, three related lines of inquiry are being pursued. First, we are examining the Soviet approach to weapons innovation as it is portrayed in their force planning and weapons evaluation literature. This initial work enables us to better understand the preferences, assumptions, and biases that influence the armaments selection process (and hence the weapons innovation process) in the Soviet Union. Second, we are analyzing the Soviet approach to measuring the relative contributions of weapons innovation efforts towards improving mission capabilities, and not the extent to which a given piece of hardware can outperform the previous technological generation. (KR)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA221797

Entities

People

  • Brian Finn
  • Stephen M. Meyer

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anti-Aircraft Missiles
  • Attrition
  • Computational Science
  • Control Systems
  • Databases
  • Detection
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Game Theory
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Mathematical Models
  • Military Applications
  • Military Operations
  • Military Planning
  • Military Science
  • Operations Research
  • Random Variables
  • Statistical Analysis

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Strategic Security Studies