In this study, deterministic and robust optimization models for single artillery unit fire scheduling are developed to minimize the total enemy threat to friendly forces by considering the enemy target threat level, enemy target destruction time, and target firing preparation time simultaneously. Many factors in war environments are uncertain. In particular, it is difficult to evaluate the threat levels of enemy targets definitively. We consider the threat level of an enemy target to be an uncertain parameter and propose a robust optimization model that minimizes the total enemy threat to friendly forces. The robust optimization model represents a semi-infinite problem that has infinitely many constraints. Therefore, we reformulate the robust optimization model into a tractable robust counterpart formulation with a finite number of constraints. In the robust counterpart formulation with cardinality-constrained uncertainty, the conservativeness and robustness of the solution can be adjusted with an uncertainty degree, Γ. Further, numerical experiments are conducted to verify that the robust counterpart formulation with cardinality-constrained uncertainty can be made equivalent to the deterministic optimization model and the robust counterpart formulation with box uncertainty by setting Γ accordingly.

Real wars involve a considerable number of uncertainties when determining firing scheduling. This study proposes a robust optimization model that considers uncertainties in wars. In this model, parameters that are affected by enemy’s behavior and will, i.e., threats from enemy targets and threat time from enemy targets, are assumed as uncertain parameters. The robust optimization model considering these parameters is an intractable model with semi-infinite constraints. Thus, this study proposes an approach to obtain a solution by reformulating this model into a tractable problem; the approach involves developing a robust optimization model using the scenario concept and finding a solution in that model. Here, the combinations that express uncertain parameters are assumed by scenarios. This approach divides problems into master and subproblems to find a robust solution. A genetic algorithm is utilized in the master problem to overcome the complexity of global searches, thereby obtaining a solution within a reasonable time. In the subproblem, the worst scenarios for any solution are searched to find the robust solution even in cases where all scenarios have been expressed. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare robust and nominal solutions for various uncertainty levels to verify the superiority of the robust solution.