Effects-based Evaluation of Logistics Capabilities

Logistics capabilities are essential for the outcome of military campaigns, yet they often remain difficult to assess and integrate in the operational decision-making process. In response to this challenge, we propose a framework for the Effects-based Evaluation of Logistics Capabilities, which will quantify critical logistic factors based on their effect at the operational level. Specifically, we will conduct a detailed domain analysis and knowledge acquisition to describe current processes, methods, and criteria used to convey the availability of logistic capabilities to operational decision-makers, we will uncover difficulties encountered by logistics planners in making operational commanders aware of critical constraints and opportunities, and we will analyze the terms under which operational leaders and planners would be able to easily assimilate and integrate logistic criteria into their decisions. We will then assess a range of qualitative decision-support formalisms which support the assessment of logistic decisions and capabilities in operational dimensions under incomplete and/or uncertain information conditions specific to military engagements. We will propose visualization techniques to make the logistic effects easy to assimilate by operational planners, and we will present a functional architecture to implement the overall approach. The feasibility will be assessed based on the implementation of selected functional components.