Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) as an Information Duel

Mathematical models are furnished for a situation in which Red missile-shooting air defense forces engage attacking Blue striking aircraft. Red may either employ extensive electronic emissions when firing at Blue, which renders it more effective but more vulnerable to Blue counterattack, or operate more covertly less emission which makes it less effective but also less vulnerable to Blue retaliation. Simple decision rules dictate the optimal, or near- optimal, policy for Red to follow. This then indicates to Blue her maximum opposition. In simple cases the optimal Red strategy is the same for both a deterministic and quite different stochastic model.