Threat evaluation and weapon assignment decision support: A review of the state of the art

In a military environment an operator is typically required to evaluate the tactical situation in real-time and protect defended assets against enemy threats by assigning available weapon systems to engage enemy craft. This environment requires rapid operational planning and decision making under severe stress conditions, and the associated responsibilities are usually divided between a number of operators and computerized decision support systems that aid these operators during the decision making processes. The aim in this paper is to review the state of the art of this kind of threat evaluation and weapon assignment decision support process as it stands within the context of a ground based air defence system (GBADS) at the turn of the twenty first century. However, much of the contents of the paper may be generalized to military environments other than a GBADS one.