ANTI-SHIP MISSLE SYSTEMS USING AUTOMATIC TARGET RECOGNITION

THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP AND EXERCISE A METHODOLOGY TO EVALUTE ALTERNATIVE TARGET RECOGNITION CAPABILITIES FOR ANTI-SHIP CRUISE MISSILES. THE EFFECTIVENSES OF THIS WEAPON SYSTEM IS LIMITED BY MULTIPLE, LARGE ERROR CONTRIBUTIONS WHICH RESULT IN A NEED FOR THE MISSILE TO SEARCH A LARGE OCEAN AREA FOR THE INTENDED TARGET. THIS AREA IS LIKELY TO CONTAIN SEVERAL BACKGROUND SHIPS IN ADDITION TO THE INTENDED TARGET, AND THEREFORE A TARGET RECOGNITION CAPABILITY IS NEEDED TO PERMIT THE MISSILE TO DISCREMINATE THE INDENDED TARGET FROM BACKGROUND SHIPPING. THE PROPOSED METHODOLOGY CONSISTS OF FOUR MODULES. THE TARGET SEARCH AREA MODULE COMBINES TARGETING ERROR SOURCES AND BACKGROUND SHIPPING DENSITY STATISTICS TO COMPUTE THE REQUIRED SEARCH AREA AND NUMBER OF BACKGROUND SHIPS (MODELED STATISTICALLY) WITHIN THAT AREA. THE TARGET RECOGNITION MODULE MODELS ALTERNATIVE TARGET DETECTION\CLASSIFICATION CONCEPTS AND THE INFORMATION GENERATED IN EACH TARGET ENGAGEMENT. THE TARGET ACQUISITION MODULE EVALUATES THE OUTCOMES OF A SEARCH SEQUENCE VIA A PROBABILISTIC DECISION TREE. THE FORCE EFFECTIVENESS MODULE AGGREGATES RESULTS ON A FORCE BASIC. REPRESENTATIVE ANALYSES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY AND BENEFITS OF THE METHODOLOGY.