ANTI-SHIP TARGETING USING PREDICTION OF ENEMY TACTICS

THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A TECHNIQUE WHICH WILL PREDICT THE LOCATION OF ENEMY SURFACE UNITS BASED ON CURRENT TACTICAL DATA, ESTIMATES OF PROBABLE ENEMY TACTICS, AND THE "NEGATIVE INFORMATION" GAINED FROM UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH FOR THE UNIT. IN ADDITION, WE WILL IMPLEMENT THE TECHNIQUE IN A PROGRAM FOR TEST AND EVALUATION PURPOSES. THE FOUNDATION FOR THIS TECHNIQUE WILL BE THE ALGORITHMS USED IN THE PROGRAM PACSEARCH, WHICH HAVE BEEN USED SUCCESSFULLY FOR PRODUCING ESTIMATES OF THE LOCATION OF TARGETS BASED ON CONTACT DATA, ESTIMATED MOTION, AND UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH AGAINST THE UNIT. IN THE PAST, THESE TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN APPLIED PRIMARILY IN ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE (ASW). THIS PROJECT WILL BE AN ESSENTIAL FIRST STEP TOWARD APPLYING THEM SPECIFICALLY TO ANTI-SURFACE WARFARE (ASUW). IN PHASE I, WE WILL ADD FURTHER ENEMY SURFACE TARGET TACTICS AND IMPROVE AND EXTENSIVELY TEST THE ALGORITHMS USED TO UPDATE THE SYSTEM FOR ADDITIONAL CONTACTS. THESE DEVELOPMENTS WILL PREPARE FOR A PHASE II PROJECT IN WHICH THE TRACKING TECHNIQUE WILL BE FURTHER IMPROVED AND DEVELOPED INTO A PROTOTYPE FULL SCALE ASUW TRACKING SYSTEM. IN PHASE III, IT IS INTENDED THAT THE TRACKING TECHNIQUE BE INTEGRATED INTO AN OPERATIONAL NAVY ASUW SYSTEM.