Four good decades of OR in the Canadian Department of National Defence

The first half of the period between 1950 and 1990 offered ideal circumstances for the development of operational research in the Canadian Defence Department. Rapid change and the continuous progress in technology provided great opportunities for military OR. Experience demonstrated the value of a dispersed organisation, with its personnel managed centrally but its projects selected by the unit to which they were attached. Frequent movement of scientists enhanced their versatility. Much of the OR dealt with the technical performance of equipment and the determination of the procedures and tactics to best exploit its capabilities. Examples are given of OR projects conducted on operational problems of the air force, the navy, and the army, and of problems in logistics, in personnel, and in strategic, social and economic questions. When downsizing struck, it was the original types of OR which survived.