Risk assessment for enhanced service provision projects

Project 5 - Improving resource positioning and deployment in conflict situations

The armed forces can be called upon to respond to a wide range of scenarios in varied environments all over the world. With limited time and funding with which to respond urgently to new and emerging conflicts, resources must be allocated and delivered with maximum efficiency. The focus of this project is the development of modelling methods to improve resource positioning and deployment in military situations, to cater for real time movement within the conflict zone.   This will begin by defining what is meant by a ‘conflict situation’, determining what this may involve in terms of resources, investigating the nature of the situations in which the military may operate, and looking at current distribution methods used by the military.

The initial research and literature review investigates current modelling methods, not only those specific to the military but also the emergency response services and general routing problems. The next stage in the literature review is to summarise these findings to allow for clear comparison of models and systems that are currently used. This will include definitions of the characteristics of each model, their objectives and constraints, and the methods they employ, with the aim of using this comparison to identify in which direction this project should progress.

In the short term, the aim is to use findings from the literature review to identify potential areas for development and suitable algorithms for optimising the chosen modelling method. A simple distribution model will also be designed which can be expanded and adapted accordingly. The long term aim for the project is to produce a modelling method which can be shown to be an improvement, in whatever form this takes, on existing models. Ideally this model or modelling method will be compatible with real data and capable of simulating the events and processes of a real conflict situation.