A multimodal spatiotemporal aerial target threat assessment method based on layered operational capability grids

Aerial target threat assessment is a critical component of command decision-making in air combat operations. In scenarios where multiple aerial targets coexist, the spatial distribution of targets and their spatiotemporal interactions play an important role in threat formation, making traditional single-target–centered threat assessment methods difficult to apply directly. To address this issue, this paper proposes a threat representation method for spatial relationship modeling in multi-target scenarios, termed Layered Operational Capability Grids (LOCGs). By representing different operational capabilities in a layered manner on a unified spatial grid, LOCGs enable unified modeling of the spatial influences of operational capabilities and their superposition effects under multi-target conditions. Based on the LOCGs representation, a multimodal threat assessment model is further developed by jointly modeling spatial operational capability distributions and target-level structured state information, achieving complementary fusion of multimodal information and a more comprehensive characterization of threat formation mechanisms in complex multi-target scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves superior performance in threat assessment tasks under multi-target scenarios, while also exhibiting good applicability and robustness, thereby validating its effectiveness in complex air combat environments.