Configuration and the Effectiveness of Air Defense Systems in Simplified, Idealized Combat Situations - A Preliminary Examination,
Abstract
The reported research is a product of a very limited, initial effort to develop configural theory for application to the design and assessment of ship self-defense and fleet air defense weapon systems and to illustrate its importance to analysis, modeling, and simulation in that context. Configural theory is a mathematical theory for quantifying the relationships between the behavior of weapons in use in combat and their individual characteristics. Its name is derived from its central concept, configuration, which is the mathematical expression of the fact that the disposition in space and time of the targets and weapons of the attacker and the defender is inseparable from the outcome of the engagement and the combat effectiveness of those weapons. Customary mathematical representations usually exclude much that is essential and thus are nonconfigural. Configural and nonconfigural assessments of the relative effectiveness of weapon systems compared in the report for situations that minimize the effects of configuration differ by factors from two to ten and more, and systems that are less effective in combat appear in nonconfigural assessments to be substantially superior to more effective systems. Configural theory can help produce more effective weapons and tactics for their use with no increase in required resources.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 22, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA301576
Entities
People
- Timothy J. Horrigan