ABSTRACT

Military issues have great relevance worldwide since they affect the security and sovereignty of nations. In this context, the application of Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods is important because accurate decision-making is the deciding factor for success, which can reduce expenses and increase defense capacity. This paper aims to present a literature review on the main applications of MCDA in the military area, considering the tactical, operational and strategic spheres. The methodology includes a bibliometric study and literature review of documents from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The bibliometric study identified the document type, language, year of publication, authors, author network, author’s publications, affiliation, keyword clusters, the field of knowledge, country and the main applied MCDA methods in military problems. The literature review allows us to verify that, as well as in other areas of knowledge, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is the most applied MCDA method in the military area.

Keywords:
multicriteria decision analysis; bibliometric studies; military

1 INTRODUCTION

Complex environments, conflicting criteria, uncertainties and inaccurate information are characteristic of many decision problems that are present in the real world. The Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology contributes to making the decision-making process more rational and efficient (Hatami-Marbini & Tavana, 2011HATAMI-MARBINI A & TAVANA M. 2011. An extension of the Electre I method for group decision-making under a fuzzy environment. Omega, 39(4): 373-386.; Pereira et al., 2017PEREIRA F DE C, COSTA HG & PEREIRA V. 2017. Patent filings versus articles published: A review of the literature in the context of Multicriteria Decision Aid. World Patent Information, 50: 17-26.).

In this context, the expression Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is used to describe a set of formal approaches which seek to take explicit account of multiple criteria in helping stakeholders and groups explore decisions that matter (Belton & Stewart, 2002BELTON V & STEWART T. 2002. Multiple criteria decision analysis: an integrated approach. Springer Science & Business Media.). These decisions almost universally involve multiple conflicting objectives, nebulous types of nonrepeatable uncertainties, costs and benefits accruing to various individuals, businesses, groups and other organizations (Keeney et al., 1993KEENEY RL, RAIFFA H & MEYER RF. 1993. Decisions with multiple objectives: preferences and value trade-offs. Cambridge university press.).

Despite the diversity of MCDA approaches, methods and techniques, the basic ingredients of MCDA are a finite or infinite set of actions (alternatives, solutions, courses of action, etc.), at least two criteria, and at least one Decision-Maker (DM) (Greco et al., 2016GRECO S, FIGUEIRA J & EHRGOTT M. 2016. Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of art surveys (Vol. 37). Springer.).

Considering a finite set of alternatives, the DM may face three main types of problem: choice problems imply the selection of a subset containing the best alternatives; ranking problems provide the alternatives from the best to the worst; sorting problems distribute the alternatives into pre-defined and ordered categories (Corrente et al., 2016CORRENTE S, GRECO S & SŁOWIŃSKI R. 2016. Multiple criteria hierarchy process for ELECTRE Tri methods. European Journal of Operational Research , 252(1): 191-203.).

An important feature to emphasize is that MCDA methods are not designed to search for the best alternative concerning all criteria. The difficulty of the problem originates from the presence of more than one criterion (Martins et al., 2020MARTINS ID, MORAES FF, TÁVORA G, SOARES HL. F, INFANTE CE, ARRUDA EF, BAHIENSE L, CAPRACE J & LOURENÇO MI. 2020. A review of the multicriteria decision analysis applied to oil and gas decommissioning problems. Ocean & Coastal Management, 184, 105000.).

Increasingly, the methods of support for decision-making, including the MCDA, have been used in the military sphere, because of the sensitivity of these issues, which greatly affect the security and sovereignty of nations (Hamurcu & Eren, 2020HAMURCU M & EREN T. 2020. Selection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Using Multicriteria Decision-Making for Defence. Journal of Mathematics, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/ 4308756
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1155/... ). This requires the analysis of conflicting factors, and, in this context, MCDA may be of great relevance in supporting decision-making (Sánchez-Lozano & Rodríguez, 2020SÁNCHEZ-LOZANO JM & RODRÍGUEZ ON. 2020. Application of Fuzzy Reference Ideal Method (FRIM) to the military advanced training aircraft selection. Applied Soft Computing Journal, 88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2020.106061
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ).

According to Van Hoan and Ha (2020)VAN HOAN P & HA Y. 2020. ARAS-fucom approach for VPAF fighter aircraft selection. Decision Science Letters, 10(1): 53-62. doi: https://doi.org/10.5267/j.dsl.2020.10.004
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5267/... , the application of MCDA methods in the Armed Forces is important because accurate decision-making is the deciding factor for success and can reduce spending and increase defense capacity. These methods are systematic scientific models to help DMs make accurate decisions (Van Hoan & Ha, 2020VAN HOAN P & HA Y. 2020. ARAS-fucom approach for VPAF fighter aircraft selection. Decision Science Letters, 10(1): 53-62. doi: https://doi.org/10.5267/j.dsl.2020.10.004
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5267/... ).

In this context, this research presents a literature review on the main applications of MCDA in the military area, considering tactical, operational and strategic spheres, seeking to answer the following questions:

This paper presents the results of bibliographic research on MCDA and military applications, providing a descriptive overview of the scientific production of both themes. A bibliometric study was performed on the Scopus and Web of Science databases to answer the research questions.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the literature review with some examples of proposals and approaches of MCDA methods in military problems. Section 3 explains the methodology. Section 4 analyzes the results of the bibliometric study on MCDA in the military sector. Section 5 concludes this study.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The academic literature contains many examples of the application of MCDA in the military field. Among the main MCDA methods, according to Santos et al. (2021SANTOS M DOS ;, COSTA IP DE A &GOMES CFS . 2021. Multicriteria decision-making in the selection of warships: a new approach to the AHP method. International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, 13(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v13i1.833
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.13033... ), the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is the most applied method in military problems, such as in ordering and evaluating weapon systems (Mon et al., 1994MON D-L, CHENG C-H & LIN J-C. 1994. Evaluating weapon system using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process based on entropy weight. Fuzzy Sets and Systems , 62(2): 127-134. doi: https: //doi.org/10.1016/0165-0114(94)90052-3
https://doi.org/https: //doi.org/10.1016... ; C. Zhang et al., 2005ZHANG C, MA C-B & XU J-D. 2005. A new fuzzy MCDM method based on trapezoidal fuzzy AHP and hierarchical fuzzy integral (WL. & JY. (eds.); Vol. 3614, Issue PART II, p. 466-474). Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-26944467567\&partnerID=40\&md5=42c5462050765996ac66dd621ccbf823
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ); selecting rough terrain cargo handlers for the U.S. Army (Bard & Sousk, 1990BARD JF & SOUSK SF. 1990. A Tradeoff Analysis for Rough Terrain Cargo Handlers Using the AHP: An Example of Group Decision Making. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 37(3): 222-228. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/17.104292
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1109/... ); scoring and classification of military network sensors (Bisdikian et al., 2013BISDIKIAN C, KAPLAN LM & SRIVASTAVA MB. 2013. On the quality and value of information in sensor networks. ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks, 9(4). doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/ 2489253.2489265
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1145/... ); selecting the best location for the installation of a military naval base (Suharyo et al., 2017SUHARYO OS, MANFAAT D & ARMONO HD. 2017. Establishing the location of naval base using fuzzy MCDM and covering technique methods: A case study. International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, 23(1): 61-87. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85014439577\&partnerID=40\&md5=f46baba391bd10544ce5f43d4b1f7750
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ), sizing the US destroyer fleet (Crary et al., 2002CRARY M, NOZICK LK & WHITAKER LR. 2002. Sizing the US destroyer fleet. European Journal of Operational Research , 136(3): 680-695. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(01) 00031-5
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ), firing position of a guided anti-tank missile battery (Bojanic et al., 2018BOJANIC D, KOVAC M, BOJANIC M & RISTIC V. 2018. Multi-criteria decision-making in a defensive operation of the guided anti-tank missile battery: An example of the hybrid model fuzzy ahp-mabac. Decision Making: Applications in Management and Engineering, 1(1): 51-66. doi: https://doi.org/10.31181/dmame180151b
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31181... ); resource allocation for anti-terrorism in protecting overpass bridge (Li et al., 2016LI Y, WANG T, SONG X & LI G. 2016. Optimal resource allocation for anti-terrorism in protecting overpass bridge based on AHP risk assessment model. KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 20(1): 309-322. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-015-0233-3
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... ); selecting and evaluating a subcontractor firm for a company in defense industry (Can & Arikan, 2014CAN Ş & ARIKAN F. 2014. Multi criteria subcontractor selection problem and its solution for a defence industry firm . Journal of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Gazi University, 29(4): 645-654. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2. 0-84920107363\&partnerID=40\&md5=4157e523e76556ffe301269407d5dc2d
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ); positioning of the surveillance system within a national security project in Turkey (Çarman & Tuncer Şakar, 2019ÇARMAN F & TUNCER Ş AKAR C. 2019. An MCDM-integrated maximum coverage approach for positioning of military surveillance systems. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 70(1): 162-176. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2018.1442651
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/... ); selecting ground vehicles for the provision of military units intended for multinational operations (Starčević et al., 2019STARČEVIĆ S, BOJOVIĆ N, JUNEVIČIUS R & SKRICKIJ V. 2019. Analytical hierarchy process method and data envelopment analysis application in terrain vehicle selection. Transport, 34(5): 600-616. doi: https://doi.org/10.3846/transport.2019.11710
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3846/... ); evaluating naval tactical missile systems (Cheng, 1997CHENG C-H. 1997. Evaluating naval tactical missile systems by fuzzy AHP based on the grade value of membership function. European Journal of Operational Research, 96(2): 343-350. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(96)00026-4
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ), defense simulation packages (Alomair et al., 2016ALOMAIR Y, AHMAD I, ALGHAMDI A, FAZAL-E-AMIN, & ALHAZNAWI SS. 2016. Evaluating defense simulation packages using analytic hierarchy process. Journal of Internet Technology, 17(4): 831-838. doi: https://doi.org/10.6138/JIT.2016.17.4.20160501d
https://doi.org/10.6138/JIT.2016.17.4.20... ) and attack helicopters (Cheng et al., 1999CHENG C-H, YANG K-L & HWANG C-L. 1999. Evaluating attack helicopters by AHP based on linguistic variable weight. European Journal of Operational Research , 116(2): 423-435. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00156-8
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ); selection of the location for deep wading as a technique of crossing the river by tanks (Bozanic et al., 2018BOZANIC D, TESIC D & MILICEVIC J. 2018. A hybrid fuzzy ahp-mabac model: Application in the serbian army -the selection of thelocation for deep wading as a technique of crossing the river by tanks. Decision Making: Applications in Management and Engineering, 1(1): 143-164. doi: https://doi.org/10.31181/dmame1801143b
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31181... ); determining strategy of the Indonesian air force military cargo aircraft in supporting the Global Maritime Fulcrum (Mulia et al., 2018MULIA TF, SUMADINATA WS & DERMAWAN W. 2018. Determining strategy of the Indonesian air force military cargo aircraft in supporting the Global Maritime Fulcrum. Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 12(4): 180-195. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85070460603\&partnerID=40\&md5=b7829cfc08d88d60f48affbaafa08416
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ); and selecting the best advanced military training aircraft for the Spanish Air Force (Sánchez-Lozano & Rodríguez, 2020SÁNCHEZ-LOZANO JM & RODRÍGUEZ ON. 2020. Application of Fuzzy Reference Ideal Method (FRIM) to the military advanced training aircraft selection. Applied Soft Computing Journal, 88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2020.106061
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ).

Another MCDA method widely used in military problems is the Technique for Order Preferences by Similarity To Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), as noted in the classification of the threat of military targets (Zhang et al., 2012ZHANG H, KANG B, LI Y, ZHANG Y & DENG Y. 2012. Target threat assessment based on interval data fusion. Journal of Computational Information Systems, 8(6): 2609-2616. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84861421837\&partnerID=40\&md5=b3bda65a8b9244eff9a6bc3e81f78941
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ); risk management for obsolescence in the U.S. Armed Forces (Adetunji et al., 2018ADETUNJI O, BISCHOFF J & WILLY CJ. 2018. Managing system obsolescence via multicriteria decision making. Systems Engineering, 21(4): 307-321. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/sys.21436
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/... ); target-tracked prioritization to surveille ballistic missiles (Luo & Li, 2009LUO K & LI Y. 2009. Target-tracked prioritization to surveille ballistic missiles. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 20(6): 1198-1206. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77957554444\&partnerID=40\&md5=4dfef66202fed3e0122287cddb65c5e5
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ); evaluating initial training aircraft (Wang & Chang, 2007WANG T-C & CHANG T-H. 2007. Application of TOPSIS in evaluating initial training aircraft under a fuzzy environment. Expert Systems with Applications , 33(4): 870-880. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2006.07.003
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ), abrasive Water Jet machining of military-grade armor steel (Rammohan et al., 2021RAMMOHAN S, KUMARAN ST, UTHAYAKUMAR M & VELAYUDHAM A. 2021. Application of TOPSIS Optimization in Abrasive Water Jet Machining of Military Grade Armor Steel. Human Factors and Mechanical Engineering for Defense and Safety, 5(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41314-021-00039-4
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... ), method of air force attack airline (Chen & Zhang, 2016CHEN Y & ZHANG H. 2016. The evaluation method of air force attack airline. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 13(11): 8142-8146. doi: https://doi.org/10.1166/jctn. 2016.5827
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1166/... ); scheduling algorithm based on heterogeneity and confidence for mimic defense (Zhang et al., 2020ZHANG W, WEI S, TIAN L, SONG K & ZHU Z. 2020. Scheduling algorithm based on heterogeneity and confidence for mimic defense. Journal of Web Engineering, 19(7-8): 971-998. doi: https://doi.org/10.13052/jwe1540-9589.19783
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.13052... ); resource allocation to military countermeasures versus probabilistic threat (Wan et al., 2018WAN C, ZHANG X, ZHAO Q & YANG K. 2018. Operation loop-based optimization model for resource allocation to military countermeasures versus probabilistic threat. Applied Sciences (Switzerland), 8(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/app8020214
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/... ); supplier selection and evaluation in military supply chain and order allocation (Nazeri et al., 2019NAZERI A, SOOFIFARD R & ASILI GR. 2019. Supplier selection and evaluation in military supply chain and order allocation. International Journal of Procurement Management , 12(4): 376-390. doi: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPM.2019.101226
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/... ).

The Borda method was applied by Du et al. (2015DU J, MA Y & LI Y. 2015. The evaluation of military research institutes’ core competence. Harbin Gongcheng Daxue Xuebao/Journal of Harbin Engineering University, 36(5): 736-740. doi: https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1006-7043.201404059
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3969/... ) to evaluate military research institutes’ core competence; Etesamipour and Hammell II (2020ETESAMIPOUR B & HAMMELL II RJ. 2020. Investigation of Ranking Methods Within the Military Value of Information (VoI) Problem Domain. In Communications in Computer and Information Science, Vol. 1237 CCIS, (p. 129-142). doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50146-4\_11
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... ) made a Value of Information (VoI) research and demonstrated outcomes from a military-related experiment using Borda and Condorcet methods; Lee (2018LEE Y. 2018. Economic Interdependence and Peace: a Case Comparison Between the US- China and US-Japan Trade Disputes. East Asia, 35(3): 215-232. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-018-9298-1
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... ) compared cases of bilateral trade conflicts between the US and China and the US and Japan using the Copeland method. This author stated that the increase in bilateral economic interdependence also increased the frequency of conflicts in the two cases.

The Multiattribute Utility Theory (MAUT) method was applied to evaluate modern combat aircrafts (Sundararajan, 2020SUNDARARAJAN V. 2020. Exploring model-based portfolio design optimization for modern combat aircrafts selection utilizing mate and eea methods. AIAA AVIATION 2020 FORUM, 1 PartF, 1-15. doi: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-3117
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2514/... ), based on a decision model for canceling navy ship maintenance availabilities (Williams & Hester, 2017WILLIAMS CM & HESTER PT. 2017. A readiness decision model for canceling navy ship maintenance availabilities. In Applications of Management Science (Vol. 18, p. 147-166). doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0276-897620170000018008
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/... ), anti-terrorism decision aid (Dillon et al., 2009DILLON RL, LIEBE RM & BESTAFKA T. 2009. Risk-based decision making for terrorism applications. Risk Analysis, 29(3): 321-335. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01196. x
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/... ) and a problem in defense systems acquisition (Dewispelare & Sage, 1980DEWISPELARE AR & SAGE AP. 1980. On the application of multiple criteria decision making to a problem in defence systems acquisition. International Journal of Systems Science, 11(10): 1213-1240. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207728008967084
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/... ).

The Analytic Network Process (ANP) was applied to analyze military training security risk assessment (Pan et al., 2021PAN Y, YI W, GAO Y & WANG Y. 2021. Analysis of Military Training Security Risk Assessment Method Based on F-ANP. E3S Web of Conferences, 257. doi: https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202125702052
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1051/... ); evaluation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) contribution degree to an Army aviation combat system (Duan et al., 2020DUAN L, SHI H, LIN Z & ZHOU Y. 2020. Evaluation Method of UAV’s Contribution Degree to Army Aviation Combat System Based on MMF and ANP. Proceedings - 2020 12th International Conference on Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and Cybernetics, IHMSC 2020, 2, 261-264. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/IHMSC49165.2020.10137
https://doi.org/10.1109/IHMSC49165.2020.... ) and airworthiness criteria for military aircraft (Şenol, 2020ŞENOL MB. 2020. Evaluation and prioritization of technical and operational airworthiness factors for flight safety. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, 92(7): 1049-1061. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-03-2020-0058
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/... ).

De Leeneer and Pastijn (2002)DE LEENEER I & PASTIJN H. 2002. Selecting land mine detection strategies by means of outranking MCDM techniques. European Journal of Operational Research , 139(2): 327-338. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(01)00372-1
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... applied the Organ´ısation, rangement et synthe`se de donne´es relarionnelles (ORESTE) method to the selection process of the best combination of landmine detection sensors on an airborne platform. Aloini et al. (2018ALOINI D, DULMIN R, MININNO V, PELLEGRINI L & FARINA G. 2018. Technology assessment with IF-TOPSIS: An application in the advanced underwater system sector. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 131, 38-48. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.07.010
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.... ) presented fuzzy intuitionistic modeling with the TOPSIS method (IF-TOPSIS), applying the model in a case study of a company operating in the military sector (Advanced Underwater System).

Roussat et al. (2009ROUSSAT N, DUJET C & MÉHU J. 2009. Choosing a sustainable demolition waste management strategy using multicriteria decision analysis. Waste Management, 29(1): 12-20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2008.04.010
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ) conducted a case study on the demolition of 25 buildings of a former military camp by applying the ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalite´ (ELECTRE) III method in the context of the choice of a sustainable demolition waste management strategy in the city of Lyon, France. The method was also applied to select an anti-submarine sensor of a helicopter (Ahmadi et al., 2017AHMADI SUMANTRI SH, SUHARYO OS & KUKUH SUSILO A. 2017. Selection anti submarine sensor of helicopter using ELECTRE III method. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 12(9): 1974-1981. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2. 0-85019993994\&partnerID=40\&md5=e0928196354637c810844f92c98464ac
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ).

Gazibey et al. (2015GAZIBEY Y, KANTEMIR O & DEMIREL A. 2015. Interaction among the criteria affecting main battle tank selection: An analysis with DEMATEL method. Defence Science Journal, 65(5): 345-355. doi: https://doi.org/10.14429/dsj.65.8924
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14429... ) applied the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to understand the cause-and-effect relationships between the criteria for the selection of main battle tanks. The method was applied in the primary and secondary criteria separately.

Bahadori et al. (2020BAHADORI M, HOSSEINI SM, TEYMOURZADEH E, RAVANGARD R, RAADABADI M & AL-IMOHAMMADZADEH K. 2020. A supplier selection model for hospitals using a combination of artificial neural network and fuzzy VIKOR. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 13(4): 286-294. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2017.1404730
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/... ) conducted a descriptive study for the selection of the best supplier in a military hospital, using a combination of artificial neural networks and fuzzy VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I KOmpromisno Resenje (VIKOR) methods.

The adoption of a combination of methodologies enables the identification of the variables and a rational analysis of the information. The AHP method is also widely used in conjunction with other MCDA methods. Wang et al. (2008WANG J, FAN K, SU Y, LIANG S & WANG W. 2008. Air combat effectiveness assessment of military aircraft using a fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS methodology. 655-662. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ASC-ICSC.2008.4675442
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1109/... ), for instance, combined the techniques AHP fuzzy and TOPSIS to evaluate the effectiveness of air combat of military aircraft. In the study, the Fuzzy AHP method was used to determine the relative weights of multiple evaluation criteria and to synthesize the classifications of candidate aircraft. TOPSIS was employed to get a crisp overall performance value for each alternative to make a final decision.

Altunok et al. (2010ALTUNOK T, ÖZPEYNIRCI Ö, KAZANÇOĞLU Y & YILMAZ R. 2010. Comparative analysis of multi-criteria decision making methods for postgraduate student selection. Egitim Arastirmalari - Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 40, 1-15. Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77957593455\&partnerID=40\&md5=4b52454f0e8341c8cba15c87e408dc49
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri... ) compared the performance of the AHP, Weighted Product (WP) and TOPSIS methods to select graduate students from the Defense Science Institute of the Turkish Military Academy. According to the study, the AHP presented the best performance in the proposed analysis. Genc (2015GENC T. 2015. Application of ELECTRE III and PROMETHEE II in evaluating the military tanks. International Journal of Procurement Management, 8(4): 457-475. doi: https://doi.org/ 10.1504/IJPM.2015.070743
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/ 10.1504... ) conducted a study to support decision-making in the acquisition of military tanks, through the application of the ELECTRE III and PROMETHEE II methods.

Sánchez-Lozano et al. (2015)SÁNCHEZ-LOZANO JM, SERNA J & DOLÓN-PAYÁN A. 2015. Evaluating military training aircrafts through the combination of multi-criteria decision making processes with fuzzy logic. A case study in the Spanish Air Force Academy. Aerospace Science and Technology, 42, 58-65. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2014.12.028
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... selected military training aircraft for the Spanish Air Force, through hybrid modeling composed of AHP, TOPSIS and Fuzzy Logic. Sánchez-Lozano et al. (2020)SÁNCHEZ-LOZANO JM, SALMERÓN-VERA FJ & ROS-CASAJÚS C. 2020. Prioritization of cartagena coastal military batteries to transform them into scientific, tourist and cultural places of interest: A gis-mcdm approach. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(23): 1-16. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239908
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/... conducted a study to prioritize obsolete military coastal batteries, to transform them into places of tourist interest in Spain, through the application of the GIS, AHP and TOPSIS methods.

To meet the need for military and commercial approaches, Di Bona and Forcina (2017)DI BONA G & FORCINA A. 2017. Analytic Critical Flow Method (ACFM): A Reliability Allocation Method Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process. Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, 17(6): 1149-1163. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-017-0353-9
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... implemented the reliability allocation method called Analytic Critical Flow Method (ACFM), a reliability allocation model for parallel configurations in series, based on the failure analysis of each unit of the system. The approach is based on the critical flow method and its results were combined with the AHP method.

Kiracı and Akan (2020)KIRACI K & AKAN E. 2020. Aircraft selection by applying AHP and TOPSIS in interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Journal of Air Transport Management, 89. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman. 2020.101924
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... applied the Interval Type-2 Fuzzy AHP (IT2FAHP) and Interval Type- 2 Fuzzy (IT2FTOPSIS) methods to choose the most suitable aircraft to be acquired. Hamurcu and Eren (2020HAMURCU M & EREN T. 2020. Selection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Using Multicriteria Decision-Making for Defence. Journal of Mathematics, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/ 4308756
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1155/... ) applied an integrated methodology based on AHP and TOPSIS methods to evaluate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) alternatives in the selection process. First, the AHP was used to determine the weights of the criteria, while the TOPSIS was applied to classify vehicle alternatives in the decision problem.

Van Hoan and Ha (2020)VAN HOAN P & HA Y. 2020. ARAS-fucom approach for VPAF fighter aircraft selection. Decision Science Letters, 10(1): 53-62. doi: https://doi.org/10.5267/j.dsl.2020.10.004
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5267/... evaluated and selected an appropriate combat aircraft for the Vietnam People’s Air Force, using the Full Consistency Method (FUCOM) to obtain the criteria weights and Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) to obtain the final classification of alternatives in light of the criteria.

Sennaroglu and Varlik Celebi (2018SENNAROGLU B & VARLIK CELEBI G. 2018. A military airport location selection by AHP integrated PROMETHEE and VIKOR methods. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 59: 160-173. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2017.12.022
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ) carried out a study to select a military airport location by AHP integrated PROMETHEE and VIKOR methods. Dağdeviren et al. (2009DAĞDEVIREN M, YAVUZ S & KILINÇ N. 2009. Weapon selection using the AHP and TOPSIS methods under fuzzy environment. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(4): 8143-8151. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2008.10.016
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/... ) analyzed weapon systems by applying the AHP and TOPSIS methods under fuzzy environment. A hybrid approach using the AHP and integer programming to screen weapon systems projects was developed by Greiner et al (2003GREINER MA, FOWLER JW, SHUNK DL, CARLYLE WM & MCNUTT RT. 2003. A hybrid approach using the analytic hierarchy process and integer programming to screen weapon systems projects. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management , 50(2): 192-203. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2003.810827
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1109/... ).

Some papers also present military applications of new MCDA methods/approaches and hybrid methodologies, as presented by Di Bona et al. (2016)DI BONA G, FORCINA A, PETRILLO A, DE FELICE F & SILVESTRI A. 2016. A-IFM reliability allocation model based on multicriteria approach. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 33(5): 676-698. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-05-2015-0082
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/... , who proposed an approach based on the Integrated Factors Method (IFM), whose values are adjusted using the AHP method, depending on the importance of each factor and each unit of the system. The reasons that led to the development of IFM-based AHP are the result of a careful analysis of current military and commercial approaches. According to the authors, the result is a dynamic model, which combines the advantages of the allocation method and the multicriteria decision-making technique.

Gigović et al. (2016GIGOVIĆ L, PAMUĈAR D, BAJIĆ Z & MILIĆEVIĆ M. 2016. The combination of expert judgment and GIS-MAIRCA analysis for the selection of sites for ammunition depots. Sustainability (Switzerland), 8(4). doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040372
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/... ) presented a new MCDA technique - MAIRCA (Multi-tax Ideal-Real Comparative Analysis), based on the combined use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and multicriteria techniques. The authors applied the DEMATEL-ANP model for the selection of suitable locations for the installation of ammunition deposits.

Costa et al. (2020COSTA IP DE A, MAÊDA SM DO N, TEIXEIRA LFH DE S DE B, GOMES CFS & SANTOS M DOS. 2020. Choosing a hospital assistance ship to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Revista de Sau´de Publica, 54. doi: https://doi.org/10.11606/S1518-8787.2020054002792
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.11606... ) proposed and applied the THOR 2 method to select the Brazilian Navy’s most suitable hospital care vessel (NAsH) to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreira et al. (2021MOREIRA MÂ. L, COSTA IP. DE A , PEREIRA MT, DOS SANTOS M, GOMES CF. S & MURADAS FM. 2021. PROMETHEE-SAPEVO-M1 a Hybrid Approach Based on Ordinal and Cardinal Inputs: Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Helicopters to Support Brazilian Navy Operations. Algorithms, 14(5): 140. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/a14050140
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/... ) proposed and applied the PROMETHEE-SAPEVO-M1 method to select a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System to be acquired for use in naval warfare by the Brazilian Navy. Costa et al. (2021)COSTA IP DE A, SANSEVERINO AM, BARCELOS MR DOS S, BELDERRAIN MCN, GOMES CFS & SANTOS M DOS. 2021. Choosing flying hospitals in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic: structuring and modeling a complex problem using the VFT and ELECTRE-MOr methods. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 19(6): 1099-1106. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/TLA. 2021.9451257
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1109/... proposed and applied the ELECTRE-MOr method to classify aircrafts to be acquired by the Brazilian Air Force and employed in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The literature review revealed several applications combining MCDA methods to support the decision-making process in military problems, in most cases applying a method to obtain the weights of the criteria and another one to evaluate the alternatives, taking advantage of each method’s characteristics.

Regarding the main themes related to military applications, Khalifa (2021KHALIFA AS. 2021. Strategy and what it means to be strategic: redefining strategic, operational, and tactical decisions. Journal of Strategy and Management. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JSMA-12-2020-0357
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/... ) presents the common hierarchy in the Armed Forces, consisting of three levels: strategic, operational and tactical. Clausewitz defines strategy as “the use of engagements for the object of war”. Tactics in the military literature are actions on the battlefield, executed to defeat the enemy (Clausewitz, 2008CLAUSEWITZ C VON. 2008. On war. Princeton University Press.; Friedman, 2017FRIEDMAN BA. 2017. On Tactics. Naval Institute Press.; Liddell Hart, 2008LIDDELL HART BH. 2008. Strategy (2nd ed.). BN Publishing.). The operational level can be considered as the link between strategy and tactics, being a sequence of tactical actions connected by a unifying idea in service of strategy (Kelly & Brennan, 2009KELLY J & BRENNAN M. 2009. How Operational Art Devoured Strategy. Strategic Studies Institute, Army War College.).

The analysis carried out in this research allowed us to verify that most applications of MCDA methods in the military field refer to the strategic level (about 60% of documents), mainly dealing with logistical, personnel and acquisition problems (Bastian et al., 2016BASTIAN ND, BOGUCHWAL L, LANGHANS Z & EVANS D. 2016. A multi-criteria, network analytic approach to war game participant selection. Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, 13(2): 183-194. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1548512915586883
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/... ; De Almeida et al., 2021DE ALMEIDA IDP, CORRIÇA JV. DE P, COSTA AP DE A, COSTA IP. DE A, MAÊDA SM DO N, GOMES CFS & DOS SANTOS M. 2021. Study of the Location of a Second Fleet for the Brazilian Navy: Structuring and Mathematical Modeling Using SAPEVO-M and VIKOR Methods. ICPR-Americas 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 1408, 113-124. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76310-7\_9
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... ; Jou et al., 2016JOU Y-T, YANG K-H, LIAO M-L & LIAW C-S. 2016. Multi-criteria failure mode effects and criticality analysis method: a comparative case study on aircraft braking system. International Journal of Reliability and Safety, 10(1): 1-21.; Koban & MacDonald Gibson, 2017KOBAN LA & MACDONALD GIBSON J. 2017. Small-unit water purifiers for remote military outposts: A new application of multicriteria decision analysis. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 24(3-4): 146-161. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/mcda.1606
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/... ; Maêda; et al., 2021MAÊDA SM DO N , COSTA IP DE A, CASTRO JUNIOR MAP, FÁVERO LP, COSTA AP DE A , CORRIÇA JV DE P, GOMES CFS & SANTOS M DOS. 2021. Multi-criteria analysis applied to aircraft selection by Brazilian Navy. Production, 31, 1-13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/ 0103-6513.20210011
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1590/... ; K. Wang & Zheng, 2012WANG K & ZHENG YJ. 2012. A new particle swarm optimization algorithm for fuzzy optimization of armored vehicle scheme design. Applied Intelligence, 37(4): 520-526. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-012-0345-0
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/... ). Operational/tactical levels can be represented by threat assessment, military operations planning, war tactics, among others (Frini et al., 2017FRINI A, GUITOUNI A & BENASKEUR A. 2017. Solving Dynamic Multi-Criteria Resource- Target Allocation Problem Under Uncertainty: A Comparison of Decomposition and Myopic Approaches. International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, 16(06): 1465-1496.; Han et al., 2014HAN D-H, KIM Y-D & LEE J-Y. 2014. Multiple-criterion shortest path algorithms for global path planning of unmanned combat vehicles. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 71: 57-69.; Weir et al., 2014WEIR JD, HENDRIX J & GUTMAN AJ. 2014. The triage method: Screening alternatives over time with multiobjective decision analysis. International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making, 4(4): 311-331. doi: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMCDM.2014.066871
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/... ).

3 METHODOLOGY

According to the classification proposed by Creswell and Creswell (2017CRESWELL JW & CRESWELL JD. 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.), this research can be characterized as qualitative-quantitative research, combining both to map the state of the art on applications of MCDA methods in military problems.

The research was carried out in the Scopus and Web of Science databases in August 2021. There were no limits of date, document type, or access type. Figure 1 illustrates the steps used to choose the most relevant documents for the topic, analysis and results obtained with the bibliometric analysis.

This study considered the Webibliomining model proposed by Costa (2010COSTA HG. 2010. Model for webibliomining: proposal and application. Revista FAE, 13(1): 115-126.). The following strategy was tested in the Scopus and Web of Science databases to find documents on applications of MCDA methods in military problems, linking both research themes via the following search parameters:

After a preliminary analysis of titles and abstracts, we selected the relevant articles for this study and merged articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, excluding duplicate documents. After these procedures, we found 685 studies with the themes analyzed (Table 1).

A bibliometric study was developed to identify the year of publication, journals, clusters of keywords, authors, affiliation, country/territory, fields of knowledge and language. VOSviewer and bibliometrix softwares were used to analyze keyword clusters and the author network. They are tools for creating maps, viewing and exploring (Van Eck & Waltman, 2018VAN ECK NJ & WALTMAN L. 2018. Manual for VOSviewer version 1.6.8. CWTS Meaningful Metrics. Universiteit Leiden.). According to Aria and Cuccurullo (2017ARIA M & CUCCURULLO C. 2017. bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4): 959-975.), increasing publication rates and fragmented research streams make the use of bibliometry essential for scientific mapping.

Figure 2 shows the distribution of articles by year of publication.

Distribution began in 1980 with one paper. The number of documents per year did not follow a pattern. Although, from 2004 to 2019, there was a significant increase in the number of articles published with fluctuations from 5 to 71 articles per year. In 2020, there was the highest number of publications (71 articles), which represents an increasing trend of applications of MCDA methods in military problems.

4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

To identify the main studies in the area, we analyzed the 20 papers with the greatest impact. For this, we analyzed the absolute number of citations and the average of citations per year (Table 2).

We observed that the most relevant works deal with the evaluation for the acquisition or choice of high-tech and high-value military assets, such as aircraft, battle tanks, missiles and ammunition. In general, this result corroborates the fact that most applications of MCDA methods in military problems are related to the strategic sphere, as seen in section 2.

This fact illustrates the importance of multicriteria methods in military issues, as these tools support the decision-making process in real problems that directly affect the security and sovereignty of nations. Besides, the costs involved in military technologies are very high, and a wrong decision can lead countries to significant losses, which is why MCDA methods are increasingly being applied in military problems.

The analyzed articles were published in different journals. Table 3 shows the distribution of articles by journal, considering 4 or more works. The European Journal of Operational Research stands out with 11 published articles, followed by Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, with 10. Journal of Military Medicine and Applied Mechanics and Materials published 9 papers each. Therefore, it is noted that the articles are distributed by a wide variety of journals.

Analyzing the words can bring information and knowledge about a certain subject (Ishikiriyama et al., 2015ISHIKIRIYAMA CS, MIRO D& GOMES CFS . 2015. Text Mining Business Intelligence: a small sample of what words can say. Procedia Computer Science, 55, 261-267.). This research used VOSviewer software to analyze keywords, including author keywords and index keywords. The fractional counting method (the weight of a link is fractionated) and the linglog/modularity normalization method were used. The minimum number of occurrences of a keyword was 10, and 81 of 5,291 keywords reached this threshold. Figure 3 shows the clusters of keywords.

The keyword ”decision making” has the highest number of occurrences (o = 169) and the highest total binding force (s = 600), followed by ”analytic hierarchy process” (o = 94, s = 354). The most related military problems are ”risk management”, “location” and “logistics”. Next, we analyzed publishing trends over the last 20 years (Figure 4).

Analyzing the temporal distribution, we observed that the first applications dealt with problems related to military operations and logistical issues. Over time, the issues began to address artificial intelligence and risk assessment. The latest applications seem to indicate a trend in issues of locating and acquiring military vehicles. In addition, the AHP and TOPSIS methods stand out as the most applied in the area. This leads us to believe that the compensatory mentality is present in this type of problem.

Table 4 shows the distribution of articles per author, in descending order according to the number of published articles, considering 5 or more papers. Linkov, I. has the largest number of works published in the area, with 12, followed by Cheng, C.H. (9 papers) and Bahadori, M. (8 articles).

This research also used the VOSviewer software to obtain the authors’ relationship network, considering 4 as the minimum number of articles per author, without limiting the number of authors per article. To create the map, we did not select the author with zero total link strength, and we applied the full counting method and the association strength normalization method. Figure 5 shows the author’s network with 14 clusters.

The largest set of connected items consists of 5 authors: Liu, B.; Liu, H.; Wang, Y.; Zhang, X. and Zhao, J. This cluster is linked to another one, with 2 authors: Yang, Y. and Wang, J., which is the only relationship between clusters. The largest total relationship strength (s = 11) belongs to 3 authors: Linkov, I.; Lambert, J.H. and Karvetski, C.W. The remaining 11 clusters are not connected.

Table 5 presents the distribution of documents by affiliation, with 9 or more papers. Northwestern Polytechnical University ranks first with 13 documents. Beijing Institute of Technology, United States Air Force Institute of Technology and the National University of Defense Technology have 11 articles each. Also, there are 3 institutions with 10 and 3 universities with 9 documents each.

Table 6 presents the distribution of documents by country or territory. China ranks first with 182 documents, followed by the United States, with 148 published articles. These two countries account for approximately 50% of all published documents on MCDA applications in military problems. This result is probably justified by the fact that they are recognized as the greatest military powers in the world, with more investment in research and military resources. This result corroborates the findings of Pessôa and Costa (2020PESSÔA LAM & COSTA HG. 2020. Multicriteria applied to Defence: a panorama of the scientific literature. International Joint Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management- ABEPRO-ADINGOR-IISE-AIMASEM (IJCIEOM 2020), 12.), but with a greater number of articles analyzed, as we included more military terms in the searches in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Besides, we considered all types of documents, not just journal articles.

Figure 6 shows the countries that have scientific articles published in the area (highlighted in blue). We emphasize that most of the developed countries have scientific production in the area, but two of them with great war power - Russia and North Korea - do not have published papers in the area. Probably, this fact is due to the secrecy of military operations maintained by those countries.

Regarding publication by continents, Africa and South America have few countries with publications in the area, probably due to the low investment in research and military equipment when compared to more developed countries. Overall, only 58 of the 193 countries (30%) in the world have work in the area. This result indicates a certain inequality generated by the economic and technological disparity. It could be discussed since almost all countries have Armed Forces, and the use of MCDA techniques would certainly improve decision-making in this field.

Figure 7 shows the distribution of articles by field of knowledge: Engineering (26.4%), Computer science (18.0%), Mathematics (9.5%), Decision Sciences (6.6%), Social Sciences (6.6%) and Business Management (5.8%) are the areas that most attract publications, with approximately 74% of documents.

The English language stands out concerning the other ones, representing 91.4% of the total articles (Table 7).

5 ANALYSIS OF THE APPLIED MCDA METHODS IN MILITARY PROBLEMS

In this article, we analyzed the most applied MCDA methods in military problems (Table 8).

Analyzing the results, we observed that AHP is the most used MCDA method in military problems, corroborating the findings of Vaidya and Kumar (2006). The authors state that the AHP is considered one of the most well-known and widely disseminated decision-making tools, having the greatest number of applications reported in the literature.

Santos et al. (2021SANTOS M DOS ;, COSTA IP DE A &GOMES CFS . 2021. Multicriteria decision-making in the selection of warships: a new approach to the AHP method. International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, 13(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v13i1.833
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.13033... ) state that another important factor that justifies the preponderance of the AHP method in military problems is the modeling that involves concepts of hierarchy and compensatory decision rules, which are in accord with military culture. These features facilitate the analysis by the military experts.

More than 72% of applications use compensatory methods (AHP, TOPSIS and ANP), confirming the priority use of compensatory modeling. According to our findings, the AHP is followed and used in most cases in conjunction with the TOPSIS, widely applied to selection/choice problems, which are the most common in military issues. We emphasize that other MCDA outranking methods widely used in the literature, such as ELECTRE and PROMETHEE, do not have a large number of applications in the themes analyzed in this research.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The bibliometric study provided a descriptive overview of scientific production on applications of MCDA methods in military problems. The research in the Scopus and Web of Science databases showed results with several tactical, operational and strategic applications, presenting many hybrid models, combining the characteristics of different MCDA methods.

The literature review, although not exhaustive, showed several methods and approaches, their concepts, paradigms, steps and applications in different military problems, presenting a strong dual characteristic in the proposed methodologies, as these can also be used to support the decision-making of typically civil problems. It was verified that, in general, the papers are divided by several journals, and there is not one that can be pointed out as the greatest reference in military applications with MCDA.

China and the United States stand out as the countries with the most publications in the area, reflecting their military hegemony, with the highest war power and investments in military technologies worldwide. On the other hand, we found that only 30% of the countries have articles in the area. These applications seem to be directly influenced by economic factors. Among the continents, Africa and South America have the lowest proportions of countries with applications in the area.

The distribution by field of knowledge showed that the articles are spread over several areas. However, Engineering, Computer science and Mathematics concentrate about 50% of the analyzed articles.

The number of articles analyzed is quite large, but it was possible to verify that most applications of MCDA in the military environment refer to the strategic level, notably logistical aspects and acquisitions of military equipment. Regarding the multicriteria methods, there is a considerable dominance of the AHP method, probably because it is the most known worldwide and works with the concept of hierarchy, typical of military culture.

Regarding the importance of decision-making support provided by MCDA methods, it is observed that they are very useful for the success of military operations, in the tactical, operational and strategic spheres, with several applications in the literature. The growing number of applications in recent years seems to indicate that most countries already use these techniques in real military problems, going beyond purely academic applications.

Finally, future works can explore more specifically the tactical and operational levels, since they are the least explored, aiming to verify trends and gaps that can be filled concerning the application of multicriteria applications in the military context.

References

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