AN OPTIMIZATION APPROACH FOR ROUTING MILITARY AIRCRAFT

The optimal solution for military aircraft bombers routing model is developed. The proposed mathematical model simulates a military mission in which our missile carrying aircraft located in several airfields have the task to destroy different enemy targets to specified damage percentages and within a given time window. The problem is to determine the sequence of routing for each aircraft formation and to satisfy the battle objectives. The objectives may be one or more of the following: to minimize the total number of aircraft, to minimize the risk of mission failure, and to minimize the total time for fulfilling the task. A multi-objective zero-one integer linear programming model is formulated. The proposed algorithm for model solution is a two-phase one. In the first (Feasibility Phase), the enumeration of all possible target combinations is determined. For each possible pair (aircraft formation/target sequence) the following feasibility constraints are examined: the compatibility of aircraft to mission, the fuel range, and the time window. In the second phase (Optimality Phase), the decision variables are determined for the feasible missions, and the formulation of the multi-objective zero-one integer linear programming model is performed. One of the methods for solving such a model is the iterative approach for goal programming. Finally, an implementation plan for incorporating the proposed algorithm into a sample numerical problem is presented.