Coalition-based Planning of Military Operations: Adversarial Reasoning Algorithms in an Integrated Decision Aid
This work addresses the problem of rapid synchronization of heterogeneous assets for military coalition planners, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing knowledge-based tools.
The paper tackles the challenge of planning complex military operations by coalitions in adversarial environments using the CADET knowledge-based system, which can automatically generate detailed battle plans and has performed favorably compared to human planners in experiments.
Use of knowledge-based planning tools can help alleviate the challenges of planning a complex operation by a coalition of diverse parties in an adversarial environment. We explore these challenges and potential contributions of knowledge-based tools using as an example the CADET system, a knowledge-based tool capable of producing automatically (or with human guidance) battle plans with realistic degree of detail and complexity. In ongoing experiments, it compared favorably with human planners. Interleaved planning, scheduling, routing, attrition and consumption processes comprise the computational approach of this tool. From the coalition operations perspective, such tools offer an important aid in rapid synchronization of assets and actions of heterogeneous assets belonging to multiple organizations, potentially with distinct doctrine and rules of engagement. In this paper, we discuss the functionality of the tool, provide a brief overview of the technical approach and experimental results, and outline the potential value of such tools.