Building the Somali National Army: Anatomy of a failure, 2008–2018

ABSTRACT

Over a decade of security force assistance (SFA) initiatives to build an effective Somali National Army (SNA) failed because of the interrelated effects of political, contextual and operational challenges. The key political challenges were interest asymmetry between international actors and Somali elites, insufficient focus on institution-building and a lack of donor coordination. The principal contextual challenges in Somalia were the legacies of two decades of state collapse and the negative effects of clan dynamics. The main operational challenges were building an army while simultaneously fighting a war, the complexities of military integration, and the severe capability gaps afflicting the SNA.     

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.     

加筋板在横向撞击下的吸能特性研究

运用非线性有限元分析方法,对不同撞击工况下加筋板的碰撞损伤过程进行了分析。加筋板结构采用理想弹塑性的材料模型,不计入应变率对材料强化的影响,在忽略接触面的摩擦等因素影响的前提下,考虑加筋板结构在刚性体碰撞下的变形过程,从而探讨加筋板结构的动态响应特点。研究结果表明,加筋板的吸能特性与撞击因素有一定的关系。非线性动态计算采用MSC/DYTRAN程序完成。     

尾空泡对水下航行体流体阻尼力影响数值计算分析

针对航行体尾空泡对流体阻尼力影响的问题,结合动坐标系技术和空泡多相流数值模拟方法,通过求解雷诺平均的纳维-斯托克斯方程组,进行阻尼力计算研究。试验数据对比结果表明,该方法具有较好的精度。数值计算研究表明,尾空泡会削弱航行体尾部压力的不对称性,使航行体尾部流体阻尼力减小。当尾空泡增加到一定尺寸时,流体阻尼力减小的幅度逐渐趋缓,同时尾空泡也改变了流体阻尼力随攻角的变化趋势。研究充分表明了航行体流体力设计中考虑尾空泡影响的必要性。     

The ‘first’ surge: the repulse of the Easter Invasion in South Vietnam, 1972 – implications for Iraq and Afghanistan

In a military intervention, do surges work? I compare the failed ‘surge’ in Vietnam, the repulse of the Easter Invasion in 1972, as a means of assessing the more ambiguous surges in Iraq and Afghanistan. I identify four features of a surge for this analysis: the military dimensions and strategy of the surging forces, the military capabilities of the host forces, the political vitality and will of the host country, and the political commitment in the domestic politics of the intervener. I find that the last feature is the most critical; and, in all three surges, the American political commitment was lacking.     

联合作战中空间力量指挥体制方案的仿真评估

联合作战中空间力量指挥体制决定相应指挥体系的效能,有必要通过定理评估对指挥体制方案进行优选和优化,通过仿真评估方案的实体形式--联合作战中空间力量指挥体系的指挥效能来评估对应的指挥体制方案,基于指挥体系活动能力建立了指挥效能指标体系,提出了用于指挥体制方案评估的仿真系统设计方案.     

空降兵师(团)登岛作战兵力分配模型

通过结合空降兵师(团)级登岛作战的战术特点,确立了遮断点的单点和联合价值的指标体系,建立了以联盟博弈为基础的兵力分配初步模型,然后以Shapley值作为此联盟博弈的解,结合投放过程中的兵力损耗,得到一个合理的兵力分配方案,从而建立了师(团)级空降登岛作战的兵力分配模型和算法.     

空间信息支持高能激光武器应用研究*

依据空间信息支持现代作战的主要内容,介绍了五大类空间信息状况,分析了新概念武器高能激光的基本原理,并就其应用过程建立了UML模型。在此基础上,设计了空间信息支持高能激光武器应用系统的框架,并就高能激光武器对空间信息的需求进行了重点分析,而后以信息的转换与传递为主线,探讨了高能激光武器运用空间信息的流程。最后对该领域研究的趋势和发展前景做出了展望,并提出对其未来发展的要求。     

空军地面雷达信息综合技术

空军地面雷达信息综合技术研究是以面向防空作战任务的战场信息共享支持为目标,借助先进的通信体系结构和技术体制,将各级雷达信息有机地集成起来,形成一体化的战场信息共享支撑体系,以提高我军联合指挥控制能力.     

Revisiting the justification for an all-volunteer force

In 1968, President Nixon established the Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force, or the Gates Commission, which served as the impetus and justification for an All-Volunteer Force (AVF). At the end of its deliberations, the commission recommended abolishing the draft and transforming the U.S. military into a force of volunteers beginning in 1973. Interestingly, the debate regarding the merits of both systems appeared to be largely economic – with cost–benefit analysis playing the primary role. Lately, we are beginning to see a new, politically-motivated impetus for returning to a “system of national service.” The ideas spurring this debate are many: the need to reaffirm the nation state, the commitment of citizens to the state, political ownership and oversight of the forces, the need for social equity in serving the nation, limiting the support for armed conflict by burden-sharing among citizens, and equitably spreading the personal cost of war.