On the Use of Simulation and Optimization for Mission Modules Selection in a Maritime Context

A recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) paper defines mission modularity (MM) in the maritime context as the process of delivering capability in a vessel through the use of standardized modules. Recognizing its benefits, a number of modern navies have developed a growing interest in MM—some of them have already adopted MM by using commercial shipping containers as a ready means of rapidly augmenting or changing a ship's capability. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is no exception. On the cusp of introducing new classes of ships, the RCN is considering embedding MM attributes in the configuration of future platforms. In this paper, we present results from ongoing research conducted by the Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) Centre for Operational Research and Analysis (CORA) to support the RCN in addressing some fundamental questions raised by the MM concept. Specifically, we present a two-fold approach developed to determine optimal number and types of mission modules required by the RCN to meet ambitions and mandate. It makes use of a Monte Carlo simulation to generate the operational demand and a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to determine the optimal mix of mission modules. The approach is illustrated with a few examples.