Date of Award

9-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

David K. Vaughan, PhD

Second Advisor

Gordon D. Wishon, PhD

Third Advisor

Michael A. Morabito, PhD

Abstract

This study modeled the USAF unit-level Air Combat Mission Planning (ACMP) process and developed a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of changes to the process. The study also reports relevant mission planning lessons learned from Desert Storm and demonstrates application of the developed evaluation methodology. An exploratory multidisciplinary literature review builds a research foundation for the evaluation methodology. Foundation areas reviewed include unit-level operations, command and control, planning, decision theory, decision aiding, and model-based problem solving. The conceptual model of the planning process defines sixteen functions starting from receipt of tasking and concluding with execution departure. For each of the sixteen functions, objectives, decisions, data requirements, and products are defined. Within the developed model-based evaluation methodology, the conceptual model eases development of specific models that are used to evaluate effectiveness of changes to the mission planning process. The methodology separately evaluates mission and behavioral vectors of plan quality. The demonstration applied the methodology to an Air Combat Command requirements evaluation management issue, and confirmed the reasonableness of the ACMP evaluation methodology. The study highlights the difficulty of evaluating the effects of behavioral factors and recommends further research.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GSM-LSR-92S-10

DTIC Accession Number

ADA258417

Comments

The authors' Vita pages are omitted.

Presented to the Faculty of the School of Systems and Logistics

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