DECISION AIDS FOR INTEGRATED AIR DEFENSE PLANNING

BATTLEFIELD COMMANDERS ARE CONSTANTLY FACED WITH THE PROBLEM OF HOW TO BEST EMPLOY LIMITED ASSETS TO DEFEND OR ATTACK THE ENEMY. INTELLIGENCE PREPARATION OF THE BATTLEFIELD (IPB) IS THE KEY FOR PREPARING FOR THE NEXT BATTLE. IPB INTEGRATES THE IMPACT OF ENEMY, TERRAIN, AND WEATHER ON OPERATIONS AND GRAPHICALLY PORTRAYS THE OPERATIONS ORDER, WHICH ALLOWS THE COMMANDER TO DICTATE RATHER THAN REACT TO THE BATTLE. THERE ARE PRESENTLY LOW LEVEL TOOLS WHICH ASSIST THE PLANNING STAFF IN EVALUATING PROBABLE COURSES OF ACTION AND PROVIDE THE CAPABILITY TO PERFORM "WHAT IF" ANALYSIS. THESE TOOLS ARE REACTIVE TO THE PLANNING PROCESS, RATHER THAN PROACTIVE. THE COMBINATION OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM UTILIZING A PLANNING PROCESS KNOWLEDGE BASE, MULTIPLE DATA SOURCES, AND PARALLEL PROCESSORS, CAN PRODUCE TACTICAL DECISION AIDS (TDAS) WHICH INTEGRATE IPB PRODUCTS AND DOCTRINAL PHILOSOPHY TO AUTOMATICALLY PRODUCE CANDIDATE SOLUTIONS FOR THE CURRENT MISSION AND BATTLEFIELD SITUATION. THE BASIS OF THIS EXPLORATORY DEVELOPMENT EFFORT WILL BE DESIGN TWO HIGHER LEVEL AIR DEFENSE TDAS THAT WILL RESPOND TO A FOUR DIMENSIONAL COVERAGE MISSION ORDER (CMO) ISSUED BY AN AIR DEFENSE COMMANDER.