The Amritsar Massacre and the minimum force debate

This article re-examines one of the most infamous incidents in British imperial history: the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, and analyses it within the context of the British Army's minimum force philosophy. The massacre has long been regarded as the most catastrophic failure of minimum force in the history of the British Army. This article reconsiders the arguments over the shooting at Amritsar and the role of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, and questions the accepted view that the massacre was such a failure of minimum force. It argues that the circumstances surrounding the massacre must be understood before judging the incident and given these factors it is possible to see it within a minimum force framework.     

British operations among the people and civilian risk

ABSTRACT

Debates on military intervention and small wars often include the claim that soldiers should operate among civilians in order to avoid civilian casualties and to protect civilians against third-party violence. This article, by contrast, points at negative unintended consequences of military operations taking place in close proximity to local populations: it argues that also risk-tolerant militaries cause civilian casualties and that their presence triggers third-party violence against civilians. The British military, in particular the British Army, exported risk-tolerant practices from Northern Ireland to the Balkans, with sporadic success. But in southern Iraq and in Helmand, British ground operations harmed civilians. The findings suggest that the chances for protection are better in operations where levels of violence are relatively low than in counterinsurgency where troops face ruthless and well-endowed enemies operating among civilians.     

‘Troops were then forced to fire’: British army crowd control in Palestine,November 1945

In November 1945, British army shooting during street riots and search operations in Palestine resulted in the death of 13 Jews and the injuring of dozens. The most costly in casualties caused by army fire during the whole Jewish insurgency, these incidents have nevertheless not received detailed attention in literature on the British army's counterinsurgency campaign in postwar Palestine. This article outlines British military use of firepower to control civilian crowds and the difficulties involved during these incidents, contributing to the debate on the army's principal of ‘minimum force’. It also highlights the serious problem of legitimizing opening of fire on unarmed protestors, epitomized in the army's fabricated account justifying shooting at a large crowd rushing a military cordon at Givat Hayim.     

高超声速流动计算中LU-SGS隐式算法的应用

在高超声速条件下,对原始LU-SGS格式及其改进方法的收敛速度做了深入的比较分析,目的是进一步更好地将LU-SGS算法用于工程上复杂外形的计算模拟中。二维圆柱,三维钝锥及空天飞机算例的结果表明:对于高超声速粘性流动的计算,粘性项应进行隐式处理;BLU-SGS方法给出的内迭代方式的收敛性优于DP-LUR方法所给出的内迭代方式;LU-SGS算法中雅克比系数矩阵的计算方式对计算量及收敛性影响较大,若采用精确的矩阵形式,则在流动无分离情况下能取得快速收敛的效果,而在含有流动分离的情况,因受稳定性的影响,精确的矩阵形式的收敛表现不及对角近似形式。     

Alternatives for defense in the Post‐Soviet World: A guide for economists to the U.S. debate

The defense establishments of all major powers are changing to reflect changes in the foundations of national security strategy and resource allocation. The authors believe economists should play an active role in formulating these changes and offer an orientation to the U.S. debate, presenting three major alternatives: the “Base Force” (Bush Administration), Mr. Aspin's Force “C,” and the “Low” Alternative (Prof. Kaufmann and Dr. Steinbruner). These alternatives are compared using first‐order measures of capabilities, budgets and risk. Budgetary estimates are based on newly‐developed analytical tools.     

Specialization in defence forces

The choice between balanced and specialized defence forces depends on the technology of defence output (e.g. whether a force scope multiplier is present), the existence of scope and scale economies, the platform customization costs and, of course, the level of defence budgets. Minimum force element levels (thresholds), and scale economies facilitate specialization as opposed to scope economies (e.g. platform‐sharing), scale diseconomies and the force scope multiplier (e.g. defence weakest‐link technology). When a balanced force is not optimal, the option value of a non‐optimally maintained force element must also include the opportunity cost arising from suboptimal force elements. Shrinking defence budgets may produce two surprising phenomena. If some force elements are shut down as a result of thresholds, the surviving ones may increase in platform numbers as well as enjoying closer‐to‐most‐desirable platforms. Furthermore, if heritage force elements are shut down within the budget contraction environment, overall defence capability might rise.     

基于Delphi的油料装备战时维修力量模拟优化配置

由于战时存在一些不可确定、非可知和随机模糊因素,应用传统的数学方法或模型难以对油料装备战时维修力量配置问题进行准确描述或求解。以战时油料装备定点维修系统为研究对象,构建了油料装备战时维修力量优化配置模型,在忽略随机因素影响的前提下利用常规数学方法计算得到一个维修组配置的初始方案。通过选用Delphi 7.0软件对其进行模拟优化分析,确定了战时随机条件下油料装备维修组配置的最佳数量,解决了战时维修力量配置不精确、不合理问题,从而在确保战时油料装备维修保障需要的同时避免了资源闲置与浪费。     

双机械手对称式协调力控制稳定性分析

本文利用双机械手协调内力和外力控制系统的简化模型，分析了在双手紧夹持物体与环境接触时，１） 机械手等效电机的动态特性；２） 双手所夹持物体的刚度；３） 双手所操作物体的动态特性；４） 机械手的采样控制延时；５） 双手的非对称性等系统未建模因素对双手对称式协调外力和内力控制稳定性的影响，并给出仿真结果。此结果与实验结果基本相符。     

机器人操作空间加速度信号应用研究

机器人力控制存在着动力学不稳定性问题，即系统响应速度和稳定性之间的矛盾。在操作空间一级引人加速度正反馈，既能使系统的响应频带变宽，又能提高系统阻尼。这种方法能有效地提高机器人对高刚度环境的适应性，使力控制的动力学不稳定性问题得到明显地缓和；另外本文研究了用加速度积分信号代替位置差分速度信号来消除差分噪声，提高力控制精度方法的应用前景。