Operations research (OR) is a core discipline in military and defense management. Coming to the forefront initially during World War II, OR provided critical contributions to managing supply chains and strategic simulation, as well as enabled superior management for Allied forces. Since these early days, OR has grown to include analytics and many applications, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and big data, and is the cornerstone of management science in manufacturing, advertising, telecommunications, and many other fields. In Handbook of Military and Defense Operations Research (MDOR), we will present the voices leading OR and analytics to new heights in security through research, practical applications, and lessons learned in the field.
No longer constrained to printed tables and traditional optimization problems, OR and analytics support a dynamic problem space that has applications to national security, policing, cyberspace, foreign policy, terrorism, and homeland security. Because of this, there is a critical need for students, practitioners, military, and security analysts to understand the problem space, best practices, and lessons learned from actual problems. Contextual milieu is key to supporting cutting edge analysis that transforms national security and supports both traditional and emerging military operations research and analytics applications.
Instructors will benefit from this text through examples and case studies that can be utilized directly in an OR classroom. Students will benefit from access to hands on and practical experience from writers in the field. Regardless of background, readers of MDOR will find solutions for problems facing the security and defense space every day.