Vehicle Routing Considering defence Criteria Using Innovative Combined Methods of TOPSIS Hierarchical analysis Case study: Transportation category of a defense logistics organisation

One of the areas that plays an important role in improving transportation planning is the issue of vehicle routing. Choosing the best route makes the best use of available resources; but the best route, especially in the defense and military fields, is not just the shortest route, and considering the appropriate criteria and goals of each organization in different situations, along with finding the shortest route, is a vital matter in routing. In this research, with a new two-step approach, in addition to meeting the traditional goal of routing, this is to reduce costs by reducing the total distance traveled by vehicles, other goals of a defense organization to prioritize the delivery of goods to the applicant categories, to be fulfilled. In the first stage, using Clark & ​​Wright's innovative saving algorithm, load groups of load applicants will be created where the usual routing constraints (distance, vehicle capacity, etc.) apply. In the second stage, with a combination of multi-criteria decision-making topics (including hierarchical analysis and TOPSIS method) and based on defense criteria, the priority of delivery of goods to the categories of cargo applicants in each category will be determined. The results of the experts' opinions were entered in the Expert Choice software and finally the weight of each criterion was determined. The criteria considered in this research, with a case study of a defense logistics organization, are in order of importance:the degree of security (location of the category),necessity of delivery(requirement of the applicant category),the degree of being difficult to pass(road leading to category),Distance of the category (location in a deprived area),Lack of refueling facilities (around the category) and bad weather conditions (around the category) as well as the validity and reliability of the criteria through field research with the help of questionnaires and expert opinion. The formula of Lauche and Cronbach's alpha were proved.