Small footprint,small payoff: The military effectiveness of security force assistance

After 15 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, many now see ‘small-footprint’ security force assistance (SFA) – training, advising and equipping allied militaries – as an alternative to large US ground-force commitments. Yet, its actual military efficacy has been little studied. This paper seeks to fill this gap. We find important limitations on SFA’s military utility, stemming from agency problems arising from systematic interest misalignment between the US and its typical partners. SFA’s achievable upper bound is modest and attainable only if US policy is intrusive and conditional, which it rarely is. For SFA, small footprints will usually mean small payoffs.     

A nation-in-the-making,in arms: control of force,strategy and the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions

At the core of waging war and strategy is the creation, control and use of force. This article investigates the volunteer battalions that mobilized in Ukraine during the spring of 2014. It contextualizes the volunteer phenomenon and focuses on the state strategies to establish control over these militias. As ambiguous entities arising from a situation characterized by rapid social change – revolution and war – the volunteer battalions threatened existing hierarchies and questioned state authority. The situation was exacerbated by the war, which deviated from the expectations of Ukrainian combatants and Western military observers alike. The state nevertheless enjoyed a modicum of success in reining in the militias through four strategies of undermining, co-option, incorporation and coercion. While predominantly integrated into a more rigid category of paramilitary forces, the volunteers continue to play a role in both the Ukrainian society and security sector to the unforeseeable future.     

舰船轴频电场产生机理及控制技术

为了减小舰船轴频电场信号,在深入分析尾轴结构的基础上,建立轴频电场等效电路模型,明确碳刷和滑环接触电阻的波动是轴频电场产生的主要因素。在对主动式轴接地(Active Shaft Grounding,ASG)系统原理进行分析的基础上,研制了原理样机,并进行了实验室船模试验和海上实船试验。试验结果表明:所研制的ASG系统能有效抑制滑环和碳刷接触电阻变化所引起的轴频电场信号,抵消效果可达90%以上,且当轴地等效电阻在回路中的比例较大时,ASG系统开启后,将导致静电场信号增加。对ASG系统输出电流的影响因素进行分析,结果表明:ASG系统的最大输出电流与阴极保护状态密切相关,与航速关系不大。     

雾霭图像实时处理算法加速策略

为仿真前视红外导引头实时匹配导引过程,完成目标实时跟踪性判断,针对限制对比度自适应直方图均衡和归一化互相关算法开展加速策略研究,提出基于统一计算设备架构(Compute Unified Device Architecture, CUDA)的雾霭图像实时处理加速方案,并进行设计参数寻优,得出线程块、线程网格设计参数存在最优尺寸,需实验测定的结论。实验结果表明,引入CUDA加速优化后,较未进行CUDA加速前时间指标提高5~20倍,能够满足目标跟踪实时性要求,可为红外导引头目标实时跟踪系统设计提供参考。     

Spaghetti: systems thinking and the US Army

In the mid-2000s, the United States Army was embroiled in counterinsurgency missions in Iraq and Afghanistan that required deeper understanding of local social systems. The Army turned to systems thinking and design thinking to model and understand the world, define problems, and develop approaches to strategic and operational challenges. However, the Army’s approach as expressed in publications and doctrine encourages the development of complicated, unsupported, and unfalsifiable hypotheses. The risk is that the Army will act on incorrect assumptions and develop plans that are fragile.     

From show of force to naval presence,and back again: the U.S. Navy in the Baltic, 1982–2017

This article discusses roles and missions of the United States Navy with a particular focus on the Baltic Sea. That particular sea has gained renewed political and military attention following Russia's resurgent and increasingly hybrid-offensive foreign policy. Baltic nations, uncertain of what the future holds, ought to look at sea power and maritime missions in the Baltic, as well as US naval presence in Europe, to draw lessons for future posture.     

China’s Search for a ‘Strategic Air Force’

Once dismissed by many outside observers, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has undergone an impressive transformation over the past two decades, emerging as one of the world’s premier air forces. As it continues to modernize, it is focused on becoming a ‘strategic air force.’ PLAAF strategists suggest this means it should play a decisive role in protecting Chinese national interests, field modern capabilities commensurate with China’s standing as a major power, and enjoy the institutional status befitting its role as a ‘strategic service,’ an important consideration given the historical dominance of the ground force in China’s military.     

Moving Beyond Population-Centric vs. Enemy-Centric Counterinsurgency

Historically, insurgency is one of the most prevalent forms of armed conflict and it is likely to remain common in the foreseeable future. Recent experiences with counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan offer many lessons for future counterinsurgents, but the discourse on the subject continues to be mired in a traditional dichotomy pitting population-centric approaches to counterinsurgency against enemy-centric approaches. Historical analysis suggests that this traditional dichotomy is not a sufficiently nuanced way to understand or plan for such operations. Instead, discussions of counterinsurgency should focus on two dimensions: actions (use of physical force vs. political or moral actions) and targets (active insurgents vs. insurgent support). This perspective divides the space of possible counterinsurgency efforts into four quadrants, suggesting that effective counterinsurgency campaigns find a balance of effort across the four quadrants that is well matched to the specific context.     

交流感应电动机精确解耦的自抗扰控制

为了实现交流感应电动机高性能调速,快速跟踪变化的负载转矩,对静止两相αβ坐标系中的电动机数学模型精确反馈线性化,实现转速和转子磁链系统的完全解耦。针对解耦的转速和磁链子系统的设计2个结构完全相同的自抗扰控制器,实现对转速和磁链的完全独立控制。实验研究表明:电动机转速和磁链分别大约在0.7 s和0.3 s时达到参考值;负载转矩的变化将引起转速7 rad·s~(-1)范围内的变化,但磁链仍保持给定值;当转速稳定时,电磁转矩在1 s时间内能快速跟踪变化的负载转矩,其超调量不超过20 N·m;控制系统能适应转子电阻±10%和定子电阻+10%范围的变化。     

Implementing the Global Strategy where it matters most: the EU’s credibility deficit and the European neighbourhood

The EU Global Strategy (EUGS) is a broad and ambitious document in terms of its geographic scope and thematic priorities. However, the EU cannot devote equal attention to all aspects of the EUGS; so there is still scope for more clarity regarding the EU’s core strategic aims. This article argues that in addition to fostering internal cohesion, the EU’s strategic priority must involve stabilizing its own neighbourhood. This task has challenged the EU for decades because of an inherent credibility deficit regarding the EU’s own capabilities, yet the EUGS does not diagnose and remedy this problem as effectively as it could have. Therefore much more work will need to be done in terms of reforming EU institutions and developing common capabilities if the EU hopes to achieve its central internal and external security goals as outlined in the EUGS and related policy statements.