A modified crow search algorithm for the weapon-target assignment problem

The Weapon-Target Assignment (WTA) problem is one of the most important optimization problems in military operation research. In the WTA problem, assets of defense aim the best assignment of each weapon to target for decreasing expected damage directed by the offense. In this paper, Modified Crow Search Algorithm (MCSA) is proposed to solve the WTA problem. In MCSA, a trial mechanism is used to improve the quality of solutions using parameter LIMIT. If the solution is not improved after a predetermined number of iterations, then MCSA starts with a new position in the search space. Experimental results on the different sizes of the WTA problem instances show that MCSA outperforms CSA in all problem instances. Also, MCSA achieved better results for 11 out of 12 problem instances compared with four state-of-the-art algorithms. The source codes of MCSA for the WTA are publicly available at http://www.3mrullah.com/MCSA.html.