APPLICABILITY OF THE LANCHESTER MODEL TO THE MANY-ON-MAMY DIRECT-FIRE ENGAGEMENT

The Lanchester equations are widely used for modelling the direct-fire land battle. However, it is recognized that the Lanchester based models are less applicable to direct-fire land combat when the battle size is small, the forces are near parity or the inter-firing times of the combatants do not follw a negative exponential distribution. A comprehensive investigation has been conducted to establish the circumstances under which the Lanchester based models are applicable.