Efficient strategies for transporting mobile forces

During a military operation, it may be necessary to move military units quickly and efficiently from one zone at the theatre of operations to another one. This need is prevalent in particular at the earlier stages of an operation when combat units are accumulating at the threatre of operations. Such mobility missions are carried out by specially designed semi-trailers, called transporters, that carry the armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) of the military unit. In many cases the number of available transporters is smaller than the number of AFVs that are to be carried, thus several tours of the transporters may be needed to transport the entire unit to its destination. In this paper we examine three generic transportation strategies that may apply to such mobility missions: fixed unloading point, variable unloading point and a flexible strategy in which both loading and unloading points may vary from one tour to another. The efficiency of each specific transportation plan, within a given generic strategy, is evaluated with respect to the criterion of minimum accumulation time.