A procedure to evaluate surface-to-air missile battery placement patte
rns for air defense is presented. A measure of defense effectiveness i
s defined as a function of kill probability of the defense missiles an
d the nature of the surrounding terrain features. The concept of cumul
ative danger index is used to select the best path for a penetrating h
ostile aircraft for any given pattern of placement. The aircraft is as
sumed to be intelligent and well-informed. The path is generated using
a dynamic programming methodology. The software package so developed
can be used off-line to choose the best among a number of possible bat
tery placement patterns.