An Integrated Approach for Ammunition Depot Location Selection and Ammunition Distribution Network Design Based on P-Median and Vehicle Routing Problems

Abstract

During the war, the safe provision of the required ammunition at the desired place and time can affect the fate of the war and even the country. Determining the number and locations of ammunition depots needed in the war is as important as planning their distribution. Ammunition supply has always been a force multiplier for military units. Although the timely delivery of ammunition to the unit is not sufficient for success on its own, it is an important factor. These two issues are directly related to each other. This study presents a two-stage methodology to solve the problems in question. In the first stage, it was decided which of the 3 different types of depots, whose establishment locations were known with the p-median model, would be opened, and the unit-depot assignments were determined. In the second stage, the distribution network design for the distribution of ammunition from the ammunition depot to the deployed artillery units was realized with the Capacity-Constrained Vehicle Routing Problem (CCVRP) model. This methodology was tested for a fictitious situation where the geographical location and numerical information of the depots and artillery batteries were generated generically. By solving the mathematical model in the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) program, it was determined which depot should distribute how many vehicles to which artillery batteries, and the results were presented visually.