Estimation of expected casualties using aliveness adjustments

Alternate Titles

• NPS-55-87-009.

Description

In military operations research, it is often desired to estimate the expected casualties that would accrue to each side in a battle between opposing forces. One way to obtain credible estimates is to use field tests in which battles with engagements between battle units (such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and ground-to-ground missile systems) are simulated. One common feature of such simulated battles is the use of real time casualty assessment to determine the outcome of each engagement. Real time casualty assessment uses pre-set probabilities of kill, or Pk values; a Bernoulli trial with a Pk appropriate for the conditions of the engagement determines whether the battle unit fired upon is killed and thus removed from further play in the battle. For various reasons, it may be desired to estimate the expected numbers of battle units of given types that would be killed for Pk values different from those used in the experiment. This can be accomplished, using adjustments to the estimates obtained for the original experiment. Such estimators can be based on the computed aliveness of surviving battle units. We discuss two formulations of the aliveness concept, and compare the resulting estimators.

Subjects