The military application of operational research, such as the development of atomic bombs and the design and manufacture of fighter planes, is indispensable.

For example: 19 14, Lanchester completed a paper on the mathematical model of combat, established the battle loss equation, applied the differential equation to analyze the relationship between strength and victory for the first time, and quantitatively demonstrated the correctness of the principle of strength concentration. He used modern mathematics to study the loss of strength between red and blue. After his calculation, assuming that the red side has 100 people and the blue side has 80 people, when the blue side is completely annihilated, the red side should have 60 people left.

Another example: the real application of operational research in actual combat was during World War II, when the Allies set up a combat team. 1 In August, 1940, Brackett, the Norwegian Nobel Prize winner in physics, led 1 1 to set up the first operational research group, in which there was only one officer and the others were natural science scholars, including two mathematicians, two theoretical physicists, 1 sky watcher, 1. They use natural science methods to evaluate combat effectiveness and put forward tactical suggestions. Famous examples include: through the experimental study of ship-borne bombs and aircraft-projected bombs, the explosion depth of deep-water bombs has been deepened from 35 feet to 70 feet, which has doubled the sinking number of German submarines.

Interestingly, because the first logistics team members came from different disciplines, people nicknamed this group "Brackett Circus" at that time.

The allied combat team made great contributions to the allied victory. After the end of World War II, both the victorious countries and the defeated countries were faced with economic reconstruction, and most of these combat teams were transferred to the economic construction department. For example, the combat team of the US Air Force in World War II, after years of changes, has evolved into a famous think tank RAND Corporation.