Dreamcatcher: Logistics Planning in a Contested Environment
Abstract
Military supply chains delivering critical supplies such as food, fuel, and ammunition to deployed military troops are paramount for the success of their operations. However, military logistics in contested environments are inherently vulnerable to strategic attacks. In the proposed research, we will develop a framework to improve the security of military logistics operations. Specifically, we will determine how to preposition, dispatch, and protect logistics assets to maximize operational capabilities under risks of strategic disruptions. To address this question, we will investigate the following tasks:(i) How to design logistics plans when facing strategic interdictions.(ii) How to secure and defend logistics assets to mitigate interdictions.(iii) How to preposition logistics assets when facing risks of future conflicts.As part of this research, we will develop a fully integrated decision support tool to more accurately account for the impact of strategic interdictions while designing logistics plans. In particular, we will develop large-scale optimization and game-theoretic models to preposition logistics assets in anticipation of future conflicts, reallocate operational assets to defend logistics assets during an active conflict, and design logistics plans when facing risks of interdictions bythe adversary. Due to the combinatorial and logistical nature of the problems, methodologies developed in the game-theoretic and optimization literature cannot be used to solve the proposed large models. Thus, we will leverage the structure of these models to design and tailor heuristic algorithms for fast and good solution performance. We will also analytically investigate special instances of the problems to derive new methodologies and contributions to the literature of logistics interdiction, which will also serve to improve the heuristics performances. Our analysis will provide valuable insights regarding the impact of interdictions on logisticsplanning. We expectto quantify the vulnerability of every asset in a logistics plan, and determine how to adjust the coordination of assets to mitigate the impact of interdictions. The designed solution approaches will be validated using extensive computational studies involving conflict scenarios provided by ONR.Approved for Public Release.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 24, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412047
Entities
People
- Mathieu Dahan
Organizations
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy