An ant colony optimization (ACO)-simulated annealing (SA)-based algorithm is developed for the target assignment problem (TAP) in the air defense (AD) command and control (C2)system of surface to air missile (SAM) tactical unit.The accomplishment process of target assignment (TA) task is analyzed.A firing advantage degree (FAD) concept of fire unit (FU) intercepting targets is put forward and its evaluation model is established by using a linear weighted synthetic method.A TA optimization model is presented and its solving algorithms are designed respectively based on ACO and SA.A hybrid optimization strategy is presented and developed synthesizing the merits of AcO and SA.The simulation examples show that the model and algorithms can meet the solving requirement of TAP in AD combat.