The ship-helicopter launch and recovery capability is a core element supporting the diversified missions of amphibious ships. To enhance the timeliness and flexibility of helicopter group operations under deck resource constraints, this study investigates mission planning for multi-pattern helicopter launch and recovery tasks. Firstly, based on analyzing typical helicopter operation patterns and deck workflows for amphibious ships, a flexible operational concept is proposed. The wave-based launch and recovery operations are refined into a six-phase closed-loop process comprising pre-launch transportation, maintenance support, launch departure, mission flight, recovery approach, and post-recovery transportation. By integrating operational logic, spatial-resource constraints, mission time window requirements, and deck operation time optimization objectives, a nonlinear integer programming model for multi-wave helicopter group operations is established. To solve this model, a competitive particle swarm optimization algorithm with hybrid elite mutation strategy is developed, employing three-segment random number encoding and task-decoupled dual-chain serial decoding for coordinated optimization of task sequences and resource allocation. Finally, Simulation experiments on three operation patterns, concentrated, continuous, and flexible, validate the effectiveness of the model and algorithm in optimizing multi-wave launch/recovery missions. Furthermore, comparative experiments under continuous operation pattern with constrained ship support capacity and mission flight duration analyze the impacts of task grouping and wave configuration on operational efficiency, providing targeted references for practical applications.

With the increasing demand for aircraft carrier combat capability in modern naval warfare, the efficiency of carrier aircraft maintenance and support operations directly affects the effectiveness of aircraft carrier combat. To optimize the support operation process and further improve operation efficiency, the scheduling optimization problem for maintenance and service support of carrier aircraft based on variable operation process was studied, and the corresponding scheduling optimization algorithm was proposed. Firstly, the characteristics of the flight deck environment and maintenance and support operations were analyzed, and a transfer path library for personnel and equipment in the deck environment was constructed. Secondly, with the optimization goal of minimizing the completion time of support operations, an scheduling model for maintenance and service support of carrier aircraft based on variable operation process is constructed. The model takes into account the constraints of support personnel, support equipment, and operation process, as well as the collaborative pickup and delivery process of weapons. Furthermore, the problem is conceptualized as an integrated scheduling problem of resource constrained multi-project scheduling and resource delivery scheduling based on variable process operation flow. Based on a serial scheduling generation scheme considering resource transfer and personnel transfer, an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (IPSO) is proposed to optimize and solve the scheduling model. Finally, the effectiveness of the scheduling model and algorithm, as well as the efficiency and robustness of the algorithm, were verified through simulation of typical support task scenarios and algorithm comparisons. Under the same conditions, compared to the fixed process-based scheduling method, the proposed variable process-based scheduling method for maintenance and support operations can effectively shorten the completion time. In the scenario of flight deck operations with weapon delivery operations, the average completion time can be reduced by at least 25.50%; and in the scenario with weapon pick-up and delivery, the average completion time can be reduced by at least 25.96%.

Deck operation scheduling is the key technology to improve the sortie rate of carrier-based aircraft. In view of the multi-stage and high coupling characteristics of amphibious assault ship carrier-borne helicopters operation, an integrated scheduling model and optimization algorithm were proposed, which included warehousing and deck transportation, maintenance service support, and sortie departure. First, an integrated scheduling model of carrier helicopter sortie operation was developed based on the resource and logical restrictions of each stage in order to reduce the duration of the sortie. Then, the problem is abstracted as a resource-constrained project scheduling problem with transition times, and a two-segment genetic-neighborhood search algorithm is designed to solve the problem based on a serial schedule generation scheme. Through simulation experiments conducted on the concentrated sortie cases of 12 shipboard helicopters, the effectiveness of the scheduling model and algorithm in optimizing the sortie process was verified. This significantly reduced the sortie preparation time for the helicopter group. Additionally, it was shown that the entire scheduling is more significantly impacted by decisions made during the maintenance service support phase.

The completion time of the cyclic operation of carrier aircraft usually presents significant uncertainty, which directly affects the development of subsequent mission plans for carrier aircraft by carrier mission planners. To determine the distribution pattern of the completion time of the cyclic operation of carrier aircraft and assist planners in tracking the progress of carrier aircraft mission execution, the time uncertainty analysis method for cyclic operations of carrier aircraft was proposed. Firstly, based on the operation process from dispatching to recycling, the stochastic network model of the cyclic operation of carrier aircraft was established. Secondly, a graphic evaluation and review technique network with Laplace transform as the transfer function was proposed, and the characteristics of its transfer function were studied. It was proven that the stochastic netw ork model of the cyclic operation of carrier aircraft could be solved by utilizing the signal flow graph theory. In addition, the Monte Carlo graphical evaluation and review technique（MC-GERT） method was introduced to simplify the parallel branches with the “AND” relationship in the stochastic network and improve the calculation efficiency of the network solution. By the proposed graphic evaluation and review technique method combined with Monte Carlo, finally, the distribution characteristics of the completion time of the pre-flight preparations, sortie and departure, single wave departure operation, and the periodic operation under the cyclic mode of carrier aircraft were analyzed respectively, which verified the feasibility of the proposed analysis method. The results show that the proposed method can be applied to the online analysis of the planning scheme of the cyclic operation of carrier aircraft and can provide certain scheme implementation expectations for relevant departments of carrier aircraft operation planning.

Airborne landing with shipboard helicopters gradually replaces surface landing to dominate joint amphibious operations. A problem with shipboard helicopter mission planning is conducted in the context of amphibious operations. First, the typical missions of shipborne helicopters in amphibious operations are analyzed. An Amphibious Operational Mission Planning Model for Shipboard Helicopters (AOMPMSH) is established, with the objectives of minimizing the completion time of the amphibious campaign and minimizing troop and helicopter losses, taking the available operational resources and the order of the mission sub-phases into account. Then, a simulation-based amphibious operations effectiveness assessment model is constructed to calculate the optimization objectives of AOMPMSH by simulating the campaign development with an amphibious objective area situation transfer model and simulating the engagement process with a modified Lanchester model. A reference point based multi-objective optimization algorithm is designed to solve the proposed AOMPMSH. The population iteration mechanism employs an initial population generation method and a local search method to solve the problem of vast definition space. The population ranking selection mechanism employs a population distribution based reference point generation method to solve the problem of population irregular distribution. Finally, a simulation case with the background of a battalion-scaled amphibious campaign is presented. The calculation results verify the rationality of the proposed model and the superiority of the designed algorithm and have some reference value for the operational applications of shipboard helicopters in amphibious operations.