Survivability design of ground systems for area defense operation in an urban scenario

Abstract

This thesis applies a systems engineering approach to determine significant ground system design factors that impact the mission objectives of an urban area defense operation. The shift in conventional warfare to urban operations changes the determinants of an operationally-effective ground system design. Urban terrain characteristics pose different battlefield conditions and design challenges to ground system in an area defense operation. Limited by engineering constraints, ground systems should be designed to leverage the operational environment to achieve mission success. Drawing reference to performed functions in urban area defense, this thesis identifies four design factors of passive and active survivability measures, mobility, and sensor classification range. Map Aware Non-uniform Automata (MANA) software is used to model an area defense operation against an invading enemy. This thesis utilizes nearly orthogonal Latin hypercubes (NOLH) to determine the design points for simulation. For each identified measure of effectiveness (MOE) of mission success rate, friendly attrition, and loss exchange ratio (LER) during an area defense mission, the effect of respective design factors and its relative contribution are analyzed.