By B. A. Batchelder
Communications of the ACM,
February 1961,
Vol. 4 No. 2, Page 114
10.1145/366105.366191
Comments
ADAM is a computer routine designed to do a Monte Carlo simulation of a one-sided air battle. ADAM requires as input plans for bombing missions (including targets) the initial condition of defense installations (missile sites, radar sites, and fighter bases) and bomber bases, and parameters determining aircraft characteristics and weapon effectiveness. Time is broken into short intervals (15 minutes as presently coded), and during each time interval ADAM carries out the action called for by the plans and computes the consequences, thus setting up a new set of conditions for the next time period. During this cycle the functions performed include: (1) flight following—the movement of aircraft is directed in accordance with the route specifications; fuel consumption, altitude, and distance traveled are computed; airborne operations such as refueling, air release of deception devices, the dropping of bombs, and communication of mission results are carried out; (2) attrition—radar detection of bombers and attacks by fighters and missiles are simulated; (3) targeting—designated ground zeros for bombs dropped over target are selected and the amount of information obtained by reconnaissance missions is determined; (4) damage—blast damage to bomber bases and defense installations is computed, as well as their restricted operation as a result of radioactive fallout from ground bursts. The output from ADAM consists of the final status of bomber bases and defense installations, a time history of all bombing missions, counters (these include such quantities as the number of aircraft killed by missiles or fighters, the number of bases and defense installations destroyed or rendered inoperable because of radiation), the actual ground zeros (from bomb drops at target points or attrited bombers), and the fighter engagements. A strike of 312 bombers against 71 bomber bases and 1158 defense installations takes about 15 minutes of 704 time.
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