Helmbold Robert L. Foundations of the general theory of volley fire

Army Concepts Analysis Agency, Bethesda, MD, 1992. — 92 p.Volley fire problems arise frequently in applied military operations research work, and this paper develops a powerful general theory whose systematic application to volley fire problems greatly aids in their solution. This provides US Army and other military analysts ready access to systematic methods whose application can greatly simplify the solution of volley fire attrition models. In the simpler cases, the theory leads directly to elegant formulas for the expectation and variance of the number of survivors. In more complicated situations, it provides algorithms useful for numerical calculations. After sampling previous work on the analysis of volley fire models, the general theory is developed and applied to a number of volley fire situations of practical interest. The theory powerfully unifies and extends previously used methods for solving volley fire problems and often provides simpler and more intuitive solutions than have previously appeared... Attrition, Military operations, Operations analysis, Models.