Heuristics in Global Combat Logistics Force Operational Planning

Abstract

The United States Navy (USN) globally deploys to protect and sustain a peaceful international system of interdependent trade, information and social networks through a spectrum of capabilities, including humanitarian aid missions, multinational engagement, maritime domain awareness, and combat operations. In order to sustain maritime forces at sea, the Combat Logistics Force (CLF) provides logistical support via Underway Replenishments (UNREP) that maximizes deployed battle group on-station-time and endurance. We present an operational planning tool that uses a heuristic algorithm to plan Combat Logistics Force shuttle ship schedules to support forward deployed U.S. Navy battle groups operating globally. This algorithm prioritizes each battle group's replenishment requirements based on supply and determines an effective Combat Logistics Force shuttle ship pairing to execute at-sea replenishment. This determination is based on a variety of factors including range between shuttle ship and battle group, on hand commodity levels, and shuttle availability. The Replenishment-At-Sea schedules provided by the heuristic are face-valid, and can be used as initial feasible solutions for more complex and time-consuming algorithms.