COG Network Model for Military Planning Based on Improved Analysis Network Process

Center of Gravity (COG) analysis is an integral and cognitively demanding part of developing the course of action (COA) in military operational planning. However, the COG may be an abstract concept, or directly assaulting the COG is not feasible. Therefore, the critical vulnerabilities (CV) which influencing the COG must be determined. To do so, this paper proposes a COG network model based on the improved ANP. The importance of this work is that it augments the ANP to support rapid decision-making and overcome the subjectivity of human, and it uses the coordination theory to identify the dependencies of targets. Finally, a case study is conducted to show how this model is used to analyze the COG and generate corresponding actions.