Lights Out and Gridlock: The Impact of Urban Infrastructure Disruptions on Military Operations and Non-Combatants

Abstract

Recent and ongoing military operations in cities and urban areas, as well as the expectation for future conflict and operations in this environment, have led the U.S. military community to focus on improving its understanding of and capabilities in military operations in urban terrain (MOUT). However, despite this interest and the importance of interconnected infrastructure networks to the functioning of a city, there does not appear to have been a corresponding degree of concentration or study with respect to the effects (costs and benefits) of urban infrastructure and its disruption. The study presented in this paper attempts to address this void by expanding the understanding of infrastructure, specifically the power grid and transportation network, and the types of impacts that its disruption can have on a military operation and non-combatants. This study further uses this improved understanding of infrastructure to develop an approach for incorporating a power grid, transportation network, and their impacts into modeling and simulation (M&S).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA384993

Entities

People

  • Christina M. Patterson

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Electric Power Plants
  • Electrical Grids
  • Health Services
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Mass Transportation
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Transportation
  • Transportation Infrastructure
  • Urban Areas
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Effects

Readers

  • Computer Networking
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Urban Planning and Geography.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control