Methodology for the Selection of Countermeasures for a Combat Platform Embedded in a System-of-Systems

摘要

Historically, the combat platform or countermeasure designer has only been interested in optimizing the survivability of stand-alone platforms. This required the selection of a suite of countermeasures that would provide the best protection against the threats most lethal to the platform under consideration. However, if a platform is embedded into a system-of-systems, then the lethality of each individual threat against the platform could be altered, since the system-of-systems into which the platform is embedded will counter at least some portion of the threats to the platform. Given altered lethalities, the suite of countermeasures required to optimize the platform's survivability might also be altered. This paper has two goals. The first goal is to estimate the level of survivability required from the system-of-systems when a heavy combat platform is replaced with a lighter, and more agile, combat platform. The second goal is to determine the threats most lethal to an embedded platform, and then to select the appropriate suite of countermeasures to optimize the survivability of the platform. The authors first outline their methodology and then apply it to two examples: a 70-ton tank and a group of tanks.