A Fast Heuristic for Tomahawk Land-Attack Predesignation

📖 The Scoop

The Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile (TLAM) is a lethal, accurate, and long-range weapon that has provided the National Command Authority with the ability to respond with force to crises without committing troops or necessitating a large military build-up. When either the National Command Authority or regional Commander in Chief authorizes the use of TLAMs against specified targets, predesignation determines which ship or submarine will fire its missiles at which targets in support of the attack. This thesis presents a fast heuristic to predesignate TLAM target assignments to ships and submarines in multiple battle groups and launch areas over successive time periods. The heuristic allows tasks to be spread or restricted among firing units on a per- target basis, incorporates a variety of task types, and allows all or part of the target list to be manually prioritized. Additionally, the heuristic ensures that better solutions cannot be obtained through a simple, one-complement interchange.

Genre: Technology & Engineering / Military Science (fancy, right?)