Knowledge-Based Effector Planning for Advanced Threat Engagements

The Navy’s current Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) employs an explicit weapon-target assignment algorithm to assign one or more defensive missile interceptors to each incoming threat target. This explicit assignment approach may become ineffective in the future, as advances in threat technologies result in reduced accuracy in the estimates of threat count and threat location, attacks are composed of increasing numbers of threat targets, and engagement timelines shrink because of increased threat speeds. To enable effective defense under these future conditions, Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) will develop and evaluate real-time algorithms to rapidly compute dynamic weapon assignment and schedule plans to maximize performance (probability of raid annihilation) under uncertain threat target conditions. The PSI algorithms will accommodate on- and off-axis swarmed attacks consisting of multiple waves of multiple threat vehicles, where available sensor and intelligence data may not provide accurate threat target counts, types, and intended targets or trajectories. These algorithms will be designed to continuously update the weapon employment plan as new threat targets are detected and as intercept success or failure is observed. They will operate as an ensemble of real-time microservices deployed within the SSDS, compatible with the architectural standards of the Integrated Combat System.