Analyzing the Surface Warfare Operational Effectiveness of an Offshore Patrol Vessel using Agent Based Modeling

Abstract

With the increasing emphasis of asymmetric tactics employed by terrorist organizations and extremist militants, the development of fast and capable naval combatants has become the focus of many navies around the world. Predominately aimed at the defense of the littorals, these smaller naval combatants must be able to establish maritime dominance at an affordable price, given constrained defense budgets. The Offshore Patrol Vessel is one such ship type that can meet these needs. This thesis explores the development of a Map Aware Non-Uniform Automata agent based simulation in an Anti-Surface Warfare environment. Insights gained through the models indicate that OPVs placed in a small boat swarm scenario will be hard pressed to successfully defend an object if not sufficiently armed to combat the threat. While the weapon systems placed on OPVs have a significant impact on simulation results, additional factors indicate that interactions between associated OPV systems and outside contributors are also vital.