Network optimization models for resource allocation in developing military countermeasures

Abstract

A military arms race is characterized by an iterative development of measures and countermeasures. An attacker attempts to introduce new weapons in order to gain some advantage, whereas a defender attempts to develop countermeasures that can mitigate or even eliminate the effects of the weapons. This paper addresses the defender's decision problem: given limited resources, which countermeasures should be developed and how much should be invested in their development to minimize the damage caused by the attacker's weapons over a certain time horizon. We formulate several optimization models, corresponding to different operational settings, as constrained shortest-path problems and variants thereof. We then demonstrate the potential applicability and robustness of this approach with respect to various scenarios. © 2012 INFORMS.