ENHANCING LETHALITY THROUGH MARKSMANSHIP TRAINING MODERNIZATION

Abstract

Every Marine is a rifleman. However, the Marine Corps has failed to leverage technology to improve the art and science of marksmanship training, which has gone unchanged for almost 100 years. Marines score paper targets with pen and paper, wasting valuable time. The data collected is insufficient to precisely measure shooter abilities or evaluate analytically. The result is a lack of infrastructure and programs to leverage data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to aid in coaching Marines. This thesis expands on a previous Naval Postgraduate School thesis by continuing the development of tools to exploit digital marksmanship data to gain meaningful insights. With these tools, Marines would have unparalleled access to their historical shooting data and coaching feedback. Quantifiable measures will be used to provide coaching recommendations to improve rifle employment by providing more focused and effective training. We identify a more accurate method for calculating a probability of hit from observed data, which will allow the Marine Corps to measure lethality more accurately. We also offer recommendations for resource allocation to training facilities for marksmanship modernization and for programmatic requirements for automated data collection, storage, and use in analysis. By harnessing analytics and artificial intelligence, the Marines will more efficiently and effectively train Marines to be riflemen and enhance the lethality of the USMC.