Think again – supplying war: reappraising military logistics and its centrality to strategy and war

This article argues that logistics constrains strategic opportunity while itself being heavily circumscribed by strategic and operational planning. With the academic literature all but ignoring the centrality of logistics to strategy and war, this article argues for a reappraisal of the critical role of military logistics, and posits that the study and conduct of war and strategy are incomplete at best or false at worst when they ignore this crucial component of the art of war. The article conceptualises the logistics–strategy nexus in a novel way, explores its contemporary manifestation in an age of uncertainty, and applies it to a detailed case study of UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.     

MAD,not Marx: Khrushchev and the nuclear revolution

The revival of nuclear strategy in US policy and scholarship has been strengthened by arguments that the ‘nuclear revolution’ – the assumption that thermonuclear bombs and missiles had made major war too dangerous to wage – does not affect international behaviour as much as nuclear revolution advocates claim. This article shows that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev indeed regarded nuclear war as too dangerous to wage, a decision which manifested itself not so much in foreign policy or military doctrine but in his determination to avoid war when the possibility arose. We argue that Khrushchev’s experience provides us with a more useful way to characterise the nuclear revolution and suggest some implications of this argument for contemporary debates about nuclear weaponry.     

Classical geopolitics,realism and the balance of power theory

Since the end of World War II, classical geopolitics as a particular form of realism has been disengaged from the development of mainstream realist theories. This disengagement has not only concealed the value of classical geopolitics as a framework of analysis for policy and strategy, but also created an increasing rift between theory and policy in contemporary realist theories. This paper seeks to reengage classical geopolitics with mainstream realist theories by clarifying its realist traits and analytical characteristics, (re)stating its core propositions and probing into its potential contribution to the development of mainstream realist theories. This paper contends that classical geopolitics, while having a distinctive pedigree, can arguably be considered an integral part of the family of realist theories in view of its basic theoretical assumptions concerning international anarchy, the unit of analysis and power politics. As a framework of analysis, classical geopolitics incorporates three interrelated strategic propositions. Those three propositions not only constitute the theoretical core of classical geopolitics, but also manifest a peculiar balance-of-power conception that is essentially distinct from those proposed by mainstream realist theories. This paper argues that those three propositions combined promise to fill in prominent lacuna in the balance-of-power research programme, and also have significant implications for contemporary world politics.     

The Russian hybrid warfare strategy – neither Russian nor strategy

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its initial actions in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the term hybrid warfare has received much public attention. Many have argued that the Russian actions we saw in Ukraine were part of a completely new strategy while others have suggested that there was nothing new in Russia’s actions. This article takes a critical look at these claims. Through the assessment of the history of the term hybrid warfare and a rigorous analysis of the so-called Gerasimov doctrine, this study finds that the Russian hybrid warfare strategy is rather a western myth than a formal comprehensive Russian strategic concept. Additionally, through the assessment of the Russian use of information operations and the way she has utilised the cyberspace in several recent conflicts, the study finds that against all claims Russia did not make these areas its main battlefield, but rather has been using them in support of its traditional concepts.     

Defending Australia in the digital age: toward full spectrum defence

Australian defence strategy is disjointed and incomplete. Some would say that it is non-existent. Either way, this paper argues that Australia’s underwhelming approach to defence is the product of a crippling geographically focused strategic dichotomy, with the armed forces historically having been structured to venture afar as a small part of a large coalition force or, alternatively, to combat small regional threats across land, sea, and air. However, it is argued that Australia can no longer afford to drift between these two settings and must take measures to define a holistic “full spectrum defence” strategy and develop capability to fight effectively and independently across all domains of the twenty-first century-battlespace: land, sea, air, space, and the cyber realm.     

序列近似优化方法及其在火箭外形快速设计中的应用

针对序列近似优化方法在代理模型构造与采样策略等方面的不足,基于采样点局部密度,引入与局部密度成反比的样本点影响体积概念,通过优化总影响体积确定径向基函数最优核宽度,满足序列近似优化过程不同规模、非均匀样本条件下的函数近似需要;建立潜在可行域最大距离加点准则,并与潜在最优加点准则结合平衡算法的探索能力与开发能力;建立三步收敛判定准则;构建改进序列近似优化的算法流程。对于Golinski减速器的优化设计问题,算法在目标函数调用42次后便搜索到全局最优解,体现了其良好的全局寻优能力与搜索效率。以"天航二号"火箭为例,建立其外形优化问题数学模型,所提优化方法在调用原始计算模型165次之后便搜索到全局最优解,大大提高了设计效率,同时飞行试验也表明设计结果满足要求。     

多级电磁线圈发射器时序触发策略研究

为优化多级同步感应线圈电磁发射器(SICEML)性能,以提高发射速度和能量转换效率为检验指标,以影响上述指标的触发时序为优化对象,采用遗传算法建立了单级同步感应线圈型电磁发射器触发位置优化数学模型,计算出了最佳触发位置,通过数值和有限元两种仿真系统对优化结果的正确性进行了验证;采用该方法对两级以及10级同步感应线圈型电磁发射器的触发时序进行了优化研究,并进行了仿真验证;为解决了仿真系统误差的问题,提出采用动子线圈在各级的触发位置和速度作为控制因素的双控触发方式,并研究分析了仿真过程中触发开关的随机抖动对出口速度误差的影响。     

基于资源平衡的分布式星群网络连接接入策略

针对现有卫星网络接入策略未能充分考虑卫星资源以及合理确定卫星资源权重问题,提出了一种基于资源平衡的星群网络连接接入策略。该策略充分考虑卫星的多种资源建立卫星资源评价模型,利用移动代理技术,采用层次分析法和熵值法计算各卫星资源的主观和客观权重,并通过Kullback散度权重优化方法对主客观权重进行平衡处理,判决过程兼顾了卫星的综合性能水平和用户偏好,提高了接入的准确性和合理性。仿真结果表明,采用该接入策略,有效改善了新呼叫阻塞率和强制中断率。     

基于能力的远程航空通信用频需求获取策略

提出一种基于能力的远程航空通信用频需求获取策略。分析了远程航空通信用频需求获取的基本思路。在此基础上,将远程航空通信用频需求自顶而下划分为任务需求、能力需求、效果需求3个层级,通过对层级进行定义和关系分析,给出基于能力的远程航空通信用频需求获取框架,最后对需求获取准则进行定义,得出一套较为科学有效的远程航空通信用频需求获取流程。     

适用于捷联惯性/星光组合导航的导航星表构建方法

构建满足完备性、精简性和查询快速性的导航星表是实现捷联惯性/星光组合导航系统的重要前提和保证。为了达到这一目标,本文选取天文学中的Tycho-2星表作为导航星表的初始星表,它与TRC星表相比具有明显的优势,在实践运用过程中更加完备。在Tycho-2星表基础上,对球矩形分区方法进行了改进,包括明确了分区及子分区的划分方法,提出了备选导航星的选择策略。实验结果表明,采用改进型球矩形分区方法的备选导航星数量最多只占赤纬带法导航星的19.39%,仅占全天遍历法导航星的3.12%。因此,改进型球矩形分区方法更加精准,查询更快捷,更适用于SINS/CNS组合导航系统。