Mathematical Modeling Helicopter Antisubmarine Operations                                                  

Summary

The purpose of this report was to determine whether the effectiveness of the antisubmarine warfare helicopter would be enhanced if an additional torpedo would be added to its payload. As of now, the helicopter carried two torpedoes for its missions. 

It was found that in developing the model, an estimate of the probability of killing a submarine was based on the distance to contact datum and the number of torpedoes carried. Limiting the size of the problem to fifty and seventy-five nautical miles, the question became how many torpedoes the helicopter carry should.

It was found to be more effective for the SH-60 anti-submarine helicopter to carry two torpedoes. Simply put, the kill probability drops too significantly at long ranges with three torpedoes. An 87% drop in kill probability between two and three torpedoes is undoubtedly very significant. However, kill probability at short ranges differ by only 17%, and remain high while carrying both two and three torpedoes. 

Unfortunately, our naval forces cannot always count on enemy submarines appearing within the fifty nautical mile range, so it's important to have an anti-submarine platform that retains its mission outside of this range. If an SH-60's payload could be increased to carrying three torpedoes and twenty son buoys, the SH-60 loses this mission ineffectiveness.