Response surface method using grey relational analysis for decision making in weapon system selection

A proper weapon system is very important for a national defense system. Generally, it means selecting the optimal weapon system among many alternatives, which is a multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) problem. This paper proposes a new mathematical model based on the response surface method (RSM) and the grey relational analysis (GRA). RSM is used to obtain the experimental points and analyze the factors that have a significant impact on the selection results. GRA is used to analyze the trend relationship between alternatives and reference series. And then an RSM model is obtained, which can be used to calculate all alternatives and obtain ranking results. A real world application is introduced to illustrate the utilization of the model for the weapon selection problem. The results show that this model can be used to help decision-makers to make a quick comparison of alternatives and select a proper weapon system from multiple alternatives, which is an effective and adaptable method for solving the weapon system selection problem.