Jan Komenda, Dalibor Rozehnal, Ludvik Juricek and Ludek Jedlicka
This article contains an analysis of the effects of shock waves caused by penetration of a small calibre projectile through simulated human tissue and blood-vessel system. Results of experiments that have been carried out at the Military Academy in Brno are shown. A small calibre projectile was fired into a model of the part of the lower limb and the response of the blood-vessel system to a non-complicated injury has been evaluated.
Norazman B. Nor and Kathryn Wand
Weapon scoring has been used widely to determine the strength of combat forces. It can also be used as a basis to determine the strength of an individual fighting element or fighting unit. Weapon scoring is usually done by combining certain weapon characteristics into a formula developed to calculate the weapon score. In this paper we use a Neural Network to determine the weapon scores. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) network is used as an artificial intelligence tool to assist in scoring weapons using available weapon data. The network is trained using available weapon scores determined using Weapon Effectiveness Indices (WEI). By going through the procedure we are able to establish a network that can provide a weapon score for any type of weapon. This procedure can also be utilised to cross validate work done by other researchers in determining weapon score.
Roy Bird
Research has been conducted into the survivability of occupants of military vehicles from landmine detonations. This research has focused on understanding the mechanism of how occupants of vehicles involved in landmine detonations are injured or killed by landmines. Experiments have been conducted using a range of military vehicles with and without additional armour protection. A range of instruments including anthropomorphic test devices (Crashdummies), pressure gauges, accelerometers and the newly developed frangible synthetic leg (FSL) were used in these experiments. This paper concludes that the effects of landmine detonations on occupants of vehicles can be reduced. However, for light vehicles such as Landrovers, little can be done to protect occupants from serious injury. Add-on armour stops lethal fragments penetrating light vehicle floors, but does not protect occupants from injurious blast overpressures and dangerously high translational shock loads. The paper also discusses the mechanisms that caused injuries to occupants and methods to reduce their effects.
David R. Wilton
This paper reviews IT strategic planning and enterprise architectural practice, and compares these two approaches to the planning and management of the IT infrastructure within an enterprise. The paper concludes that the intent and scope of both approaches is very similar, although the detail of the processes used and the outputs differ. Both approaches could beneficially be used in a complementary fashion, which could result in a new IT planning and management paradigm.
J. Marc Widdowson
Digitisation is expected to deliver operational benefits. However, it may prove a three-edged sword. Commanders will be better informed, but so will their subordinates and their enemy. The commander’s greater comprehension of events is an opportunity. The task of leading an information-rich formation is a challenge. The possibility of information transparency is a threat. Some sophisticated and perhaps brave thinking will be required in order to seize the opportunity, meet the challenge and counter the threat. Technology will never substitute for good generalship and human qualities and moral issues will, if anything, be increasingly decisive in this environment. Commanders will need to be able to focus on critical issues in a wealth of data. Roles and responsibilities should change to emphasise leadership over management. Creativity will be rewarded and predictability heavily punished. Experience suggests that armies will be unable to make radical philosophical changes during peacetime. The next major war will teach some hard lessons. Being ready to learn fast is more important than having the answers in advance.
Wayne Hobbs and Kon Mouzakis
This paper describes the design and evaluation of a mobile computer system that has the potential to support the Australian Army’s dismounted infantry command and control functions. Whilst commercial systems have made significant improvements in hardware, it has been observed that current software has not been designed to cater specifically to Australian Army needs. The work described in this paper represents the first step in identifying user and system requirements for this application. A concept demonstrator of the hand-held computer (based on the Apple Newton 2000) was prepared for use during a field exercise in February 1998. The objectives of the study were to identify requirements of the hand-held computer as well as to investigate the methodology for evaluation of such systems. User feedback from the 1998 study is discussed as well as the future directions for this work. This includes the transfer of knowledge to a Windows CE based computer and the planned use of this system in the investigation of human performance and computer interaction issues.
V. Kallmeier, S. Henderson, B. McGuinness, P. Tuson, R. Harper, S. Price and J. Storr
The impending advent of digitization has fuelled interest in all components of military command and control (C2) and there is growing awareness of the importance of human issues relative to C2. A number of human behavioural aspects (such as individual and team decision processes, shared situational awareness, management of information) significantly impact upon the effectiveness of C2 but are, at present, poorly understood. This paper discusses these human aspects of C2 in some detail, assesses their relative impact, and presents a simple model of the interaction between the information, infrastructure and intangible issues associated within a command post.
M. K. Lauren and D. L. Baigent
The increasing presence of electronic warfare devices on the battlefield, combined with doctrine that emphasises the value of manoeuvre, precision strike, and high operational tempo, present the military operations researcher with increasingly difficult problems. Additionally, it is becoming increasingly obvious that traditional OR techniques have serious limitations for describing complex systems with non-linear dependencies, which are common on the battlefield. This paper describes how a cellular automata model can make some headway on the problem of describing the modern reconnaissance environment. The model emphasises the behaviour of the participants rather than the physics of the equipment. This leads to complex interactions between the entities, which go some way towards representing the non-linearities inherent in real-life operations. The value of detection-range advantage and aerial reconnaissance falls out of the model remarkably naturally when one considers the arbitrary way these are represented in conventional models. Moreover, it is seen that for certain ranges of parameters, the survivability of the Recce force is nearly independent of the kill probability of the weapons of its opponents, a result that contrasts with the Lanchester-like nature of conventional models. For these reasons, the results presented should be of great significance to the military OR community.
