JUDGE: A value-judgment-based tactical command system☆

Abstract This paper reviews work completed on a value-judgment-based tactical air command system intended to dispatch missions from a limited supply in response to requests for immediate close air support. A Judged Utility Decision Generator (JUDGE) assumes that value judgments can be made explicitly and in real time by appropriately trained personnel, and that decision systems should maximize expected utility. Its inputs include demand forecasts, numbers of aircraft available, and turnaround time distributions. As each request is received, JUDGE makes a dispatching decision based on the judged utility of destroying the target named in the request, kill probability data, number of sorties remaining before resupply of aircraft, and the time. In a war-game situation using experienced military subjects, JUDGE was considerably superior to a simulated current system in amount of expected utility gained. Concluding sections of the paper identify characteristics of judgment-based command systems, and discuss logical implications of such characteristics for system evaluation.