Air Combat Effectiveness Assessment of Military Aircraft Using a Fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS Methodology

Air combat is the basic operational means of Air Force. This paper models the air combat effectiveness assessment problem as a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem and proposes a two-step evaluation model, combining the technique of fuzzy AHP (fuzzy analytic hierarchy process) and TOPSIS (technique for order performance by similarity to idea solution). This study applies the fuzzy AHP method to determine the relative weights of multiple evaluation criteria and to synthesize the ratings of candidate aircraft. Aggregated the evaluators' attitude toward preference; then TOPSIS is employed to obtain a crisp overall performance value for each alternative to make a final decision. To illustrate how the approach is used for the air combat effectiveness assessment problem, an empirical study of a real case involving seven evaluation criteria, six initial military aircraft assessed by 15 experts is conducted. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed evaluation procedure.