Killing Your Own: Confronting Desertion and Cowardice in the British Army During the Two World Wars

Military units can become to some extent self-governing in war-time battle. At times, they may take the discipline of their soldiers into their own hands and such discipline may be severe. This paper examines incidents in the British military, in both World Wars, where British soldiers were killed by their comrades because they would not fight in the heat of battle. The judicial execution by the military authorities of deserters in the First World War led to much controversy in Britain. It may be much less well-known that in both World Wars there was, on occasion, an extra-judicial practice within the British military of executing soldiers who would not fight in the heat of battle. In such situations ethical dilemmas become very difficult indeed and some of the relevant issues are examined here.     

Understanding China’s goals and strategy in the South China Sea: bringing context to a revisionist systemic challenge – intentions and impact

ABSTRACT

The slow moving conflict in the South China Sea has been characterized by some as “not worth the candle.” China claims the entirety of the South China Sea pursuant to a nine-dash line, the legal impact of which has been limited by international courts. At the same time, China has changed the reality of control over the South China Sea by building a number of fortified islands in the Spratly Islands and elsewhere. The US has either refused to stand up to China's behavior (Obama) or responded unevenly (Trump). This paper examines the impact of China's behaviour on local parties, US interests, and the liberal international system.     

Local ownership as international governmentality: Evidence from the EU mission in the Horn of Africa

ABSTRACT

While some Foucault-inspired studies construe local ownership in international interventions as a form of liberal governmentality that aims to govern through freedom, others lambast it as an illiberal governmentality that is likely to be resisted because it undermines local autonomy. However, we still do not know what is the rationality behind local ownership, how it is being operationalized, and why a principle that aims to govern through freedom ends up curtailing it. I argue that local ownership, echoing the colonial principle of indirect rule, is driven by the rationality of advanced democracies on how best to govern global insecurities at a distance. Consequently, ownership is operationalized as responsibilization for externally designed objectives. This often gives rise to local resistance which undermines international efforts to achieve ownership. I illustrate my arguments with evidence from the EU Mission on Regional Maritime Capacity Building in the Horn of Africa (EUCAP Nestor).     

Choosing the Right Sidekick: Economic Complements to US Military Grand Strategies

ABSTRACT

Scholars and practitioners of grand strategy agree that the use of military force should be supplemented by appropriate economic policies. However, strangely few accounts of economic complements to military grand strategies have been presented in recent discourse on US grand strategy. This paper takes a first step to fill this information gap. I first assess the role that could be played by economic measures under two types of grand strategies – one focusing on the balance of power and the other emphasising influence and order. Second, I introduce what I call ‘the influence-capability dilemma’ and discuss tradeoffs in adopting certain economic policies in order to help the US sustain pre-eminence in the international system. Third, I discuss how the US should address this dilemma of economic means in dealing with the rising China.     

基于联系数的电子装备体系效能倍增效应分析

提出了基于联系数的电子装备系统和体系作战效能倍增效应分析新方法。首先介绍了联系数的定义与数学运算,其次提出以基于作战能力指数的同异联系数来描述电子装备的作战效能,并根据不确定系数的取值分别对电子装备系统和体系的作战效能倍增效应进行了分析,最后基于侦察装备对目标的侦察能力进行了实例分析,结果表明该方法合理可行。     

吸气式太阳能热推进系统进气道特性分析

吸气式冲压推进技术是吸气式太阳能热推进技术的基础。如何设计一种性能理想的进气道是吸气式太阳能热推进技术研究的重点。应用稀薄气体动力学仿真常用的直接数值模拟蒙特卡洛算法对两种常见的进气道结构进行仿真分析,得到两种进气道工况下气体的温度、密度、流量系数和速度等参数的分布,并进行对比。通过比较,选择一种性能较好的构型作为吸气式太阳能热推进系统的进气道,从而为后续系统的设计、计算、分析和优化打下了基础。     

停产雷达装备维修器材持续保障风险评估方法

针对停产雷达装备维修器材持续保障过程中存在的筹措断供问题,提出基于改进风险矩阵法和层次分析法相结合的风险评估方法。首先建立保障风险评估指标体系,然后采用改进的风险矩阵进行风险评估,利用采用层次分析法解决存在递归层次时风险因素的评估问题,最后得出装备器材持续保障风险的综合量化值,为提出保障风险规避策略提供数据依据。利用某型雷达器材保障风险评估案例进行数据分析,验证了该方法的有效性。     

基于特征值分析的雷达脉冲波形估计及性能分析

雷达侦察接收机往往侦收到多个受噪声污染的目标雷达脉冲,如何从噪声中提取雷达脉冲波形,是现代雷达侦察信号处理中的一个重要内容。提出了一种基于特征值分析的雷达脉冲波形估计算法,该算法通过对脉冲协方差矩阵的特征值分析,给出了一种利用特征向量估计脉冲波形的方法,并理论分析了其估计性能。算法适应于任意形式脉冲波形,且不受各脉冲初始相位的影响。理论分析和仿真结果说明算法能够在较低信噪比环境下恢复脉冲信号波形。     

星际探测太阳帆行星和太阳借力轨道全局优化

以太阳帆在20年内飞行至距离太阳200 AU以远进行星际探测为目标,研究太阳帆通过行星借力和太阳借力的轨道全局优化问题。建立太阳帆时间最优转移轨道数学模型,分析行星借力和太阳借力的约束条件,并用这些约束条件构造目标函数,从而将轨道优化的四点边值问题转化为求解无约束条件下的多变量优化问题。通过选取合理的约束权重,采用遗传算法获得大范围的粗略解,代入到序列二次规划算法中获得高精度解。仿真结果表明,虽然太阳帆通过太阳借力已获得相当大的加速度,但加上木星借力仍然可以节省相当多的飞行时间。提出的轨道优化思路,可以为太阳系逃逸任务轨道初步设计提供参考。     

基于模型诊断的集合逻辑运算法计算最小碰集

在基于模型的故障诊断仿真系统的诊断流程中,由最小冲突集计算最小碰集是整个流程中的关键步骤。针对现有计算最小碰集方法中存在的缺陷,提出了运用集合逻辑运算法计算最小碰集,将冲突集表示为集合的逻辑"与"、逻辑"或"运算,通过其运算法则进行运算简化,可得到全部的最小碰集。该方法具有简单有效、数据结构简单、计算简便快捷和易于程序实现等优点。最后通过实例计算,验证了该算法的正确性、简单性和高效性。