Balance of investment in armoured combat support vehicles: an application of mixed integer programming

Abstract

Operational analysis techniques are used extensively by the Ministry of Defence to inform their decision-making process. One particular type of OA study frequently undertaken is a balance of investment study. This paper focuses on a recent BoI study whose aim was to identify the optimum mix of vehicles that should be procured to fill a large number of identified requirements/roles. There will be a description of the methodology employed, highlighting the formulation and application of mixed integer linear programming techniques, alongside a brief discussion of the impact of the results and the influences made on the decision-making process. In this paper, we stress the degree of information that can be built into processes to aid decisions concerning the suitability of vehicles to perform a variety of different roles.

Keywords:

• allocation
• government
• defence
• cost benefit analysis
• integer programming
• multiple criteria programming

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the help and guidance offered by Dr. George Cran and Mr Gavin Jessup (both Dstl Land Systems Department) in the development of this work. In addition, we wish to acknowledge the support of the MoD ARP customer for providing the funds, through its Applied Research Programme (ARP), to present this collaborative piece of work between Dstl and QinetiQ to a wider audience.