Optimal Decision Support for Air Power Potential

Wars of all degrees and intensities have the potential to intensely affect the economic, social, political, and institutional values of a nation. Among air power (AP) , land power, and sea power, AP plays the most decisive role in the outcome of any war. Formation of any air combat unit ( ACU) to encounter hostility is faced with twofold problems. The first one lies in raising the unit taking into account the configuration of various categories of weapons the unit should hold for its functional role and subject to various constraints. Second, any combat unit is interested in selecting the right vendor who can supply the required category of weapons based on budget allocation. In this paper, the selection of alternatives for the procurement of weapons is initially discussed with the help of analytic network process approach. This paper then discusses a hierarchical weapon systems valuation model framework and applies analytic hierarchy process in establishing two major indices used to evaluate AP effectiveness and AP potential. They are termed as air power index ( API) and air power value (APV). Using API and APV as tools, an optimization model for raising an ACU considering several representative constraints, which the unit may come across, is developed. All models are demonstrated with the help of illustrative examples.