Defense of cities by antiballistic missiles

Journal Article · Thu Mar 31 19:00:00 EST 1977 · SIAM Rev.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1137/1019040· OSTI ID:5061708

Haaland, C M ^[1]; Wigner, E P

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN

Given a number of short-range anti-ballistic missiles (ABM), one would like to distribute them among the possible targets in such a way as to minimize the fatalities which an attacker can cause. This mini-max problem is solved by an elementary mathematical method. There is an optimal distribution of the defending missiles which remains optimal independent of the size of the attack, provided the total number of defending missiles and the number of targets are reasonably large. Calculations for the U.S. indicate that the number of fatalities can be further reduced by a factor of 4 to 7 by means of passive defense, i.e., blast shelters, similar to those under Chinese cities.

• OSTI ID: 5061708
• Journal Information: SIAM Rev.; (United States), Journal Name: SIAM Rev.; (United States) Vol. 19:2; ISSN SIREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
990500* -- Civilian Defense-- (-1987)
CIVIL DEFENSE
MISSILES
NATIONAL DEFENSE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
URBAN AREAS
WEAPONS