Introduction

The French defense policy has been considered unique among western countries. This policy relies on the concept of ‘strategic autonomy’, which is based on nuclear deterrence, autonomy of action, independence of defense industry, and arms exports. From an economic perspective, it implies major consequences both at the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. Given its importance, it is crucial to use economic expertise to provide insights on defense policy.     

The Organization of the Defense Support System: An Economic Geography Perspective

In the context of restricted budgetary resources and the growing cost of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities, a major issue for modern armed forces is to sustain defense platforms. A possible method consists of realizing economies of scale through the concentration of maintenance activities, which involves the spatial reorganization of existing industrial sites dedicated to MRO. This article provides a formalized framework to discuss the optimal organization for the MRO of defense platforms in space. The public planner organizes the maintenance of defense platforms with only two possible spatial configurations. In the dispersed configuration, two industrial production units in charge of the maintenance optimally cover space, whereas in the concentrated configuration, a unique industrial unit covers space. Focusing on the tipping point between the two configurations, the balance of forces between agglomeration and dispersion in defense support activities is described and discussed. On the one hand, economies of scale provide an opportunity to optimize defense support costs, favoring concentration in a unique industrial unit. On the other hand, space causes dispersion to reduce both transport costs and operational social costs. This trade-off illustrates a general principle in spatial economics with an application to MRO production in the French case.     

Geopolitical Risks and Movements in Islamic Bond and Equity Markets: A Note

This study applies a non-parametric causality-in-quantiles test to examine the causal effect of geopolitical risks on return and volatility dynamics of Islamic equity and bond markets. Geopolitical risks are generally found to impact Islamic equity market volatility measures, rather than returns. However, geopolitical risks tend to predict both returns and volatility measures of Islamic bonds. Interestingly, causality, when it exists for returns and/or volatility of Islamic equities and bonds, is found to hold over entire conditional distributions of returns and volatilities, barring the extreme ends of the same.     

Offset Contracts as an Insurance Device in Building the National Security

A dynamic multi-stage decision-theoretic approach is introduced to establish the optimal offset and its incidence, the contract price arising from bargaining, and the scale of the acquisition. A new rationale is suggested for offsets in terms of their role as an insurance devise. Results are derived for the pricing of delivery contracts subject to offset claims and their national security implications. It is shown that the national security is strictly convex in the offset transaction. As to the incidence of the offset, the offset claim is shown to be capitalised in the delivery price. The bargaining price is shown to depend on the value of the product to be delivered for the national security, the relative negotiation power of the contracting partners and the social cost of public funds. The analysis highlights the expectation effects of offsets on the bargaining price and the scale of delivery. The results aid in explaining why offsets are widely used in procurement contracts for defence materiel. As they contribute to the national security, they should be allowed to survive and not be denied under competition laws.     

Humanitarians at sea: Selective emulation across migrant rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean sea

Between 2014 and 2017, no less than 10 different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conducted maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operations off the coast of Libya. By rescuing over 100,000 migrants in three years, these NGOs became the largest provider of SAR in the Mediterranean. The theory of institutionalism suggests that organizations conducting similar activities are likely to converge in a process of mimetic isomorphism, deliberately imitating one another to increase their effectiveness and cope with uncertainty. These 10 SAR NGOs, however, developed two different rescue models: While some rescued migrants and disembarked them in Italian ports, others only simply assisted those in distress until the arrival of another ship transporting them to land. They also cooperated with Italian and European authorities to different degrees. Why did SAR NGOs imitated many elements of existing non-governmental rescue models, but discarded some others? This article argues that differences in material capabilities and organizational role conceptions are crucial to explain why newer SAR NGOs have imitated most but not all of their predecessors’ policies, engaging in a process of “selective emulation.”     

Moving the techno-science gap in Security Force Assistance

This paper looks at the impact of military technology diffusion on military assistance operations (MAO), in the United States known as Security Force Assistance or SFA. The discussion looks conceptually at the role of technological change and how it interacts with martial cultures in military assistant operations. I argue that growing trends in science and technology suggest potential conflicts between culture and technology. Relying on a culture-technology model drawn from anthropology, the paper contends that new technologies will present increasing challenges for the emerging MAO landscape. The paper will illustrate that the techno-science gap will continue to grow as innovations such as robotics, sensors, and networks continue to develop. Finally, the paper will look at ways to overcome this conflict between culture and technology.     

新体制导航信号下I/Q幅相不一致对接收机测距零值的影响分析

随着现代化导航信号带宽的增大,由于可以大幅降低采样率,复信号采样的优势日趋明显。由于存在I/Q幅相误差,复信号采样对导航接收机伪距测量造成了一定影响。改进了信道非理想与I/Q幅相误差共同影响BPSK/QPSK信号零值测量的分析模型;在该模型基础上,推导得到了任意I/Q误差和信道非理想特性影响BOC信号伪距零值的模型;探讨了二者在频域抗干扰应用场景下引起的零值变化;理论分析与软件接收机仿真结果高度吻合,误差在1.5×10^-4码片内,证明了分析模型的精确性。该分析方法可用于对高性能导航接收机信道特性进行事先约束及筛选,以确保干扰场景下的零值变化满足要求。     

驱护舰编队对海攻击火力运用

针对驱护舰武器装备的发展,结合现代海上进攻战斗的新特点,对驱护舰编队对海攻击时的阶段划分、火力运用等问题进行了分析,提出了驱护舰编队对海攻击火力分配的原则和火力运用方式,并就确保编队的火力运用提出了引导保障、电磁保障应遵循的战术原则,对部队作战与训练具有一定的参考应用价值。     

一种基于博弈论的无线网状网络路由与信道分配联合优化算法

无线网络中的路由与信道分配可极大地影响网络的性能.为了解决无线网状网络中的路由与信道分配问题,提出并研究了一种称为CRAG(基于博弈论的无线网状网络路由与信道分配联合优化)的方法.CRAG采用协同博弈的方式将网络中的每个节点模型化为一个弈者,每个弈者的策略为与其相关的路由与信道分配方案,收益函数为给定流量需求矩阵下的成功传输流量.弈者通过协同博弈来优化收益函数以最大化网络的吞吐量.基于NS3的仿真结果表明,CRAG在收敛性、时延、丢包率和吞吐量方面优于其他当前的算法,从而证明了协同博弈的方法可以用于无线网状网络的路由与信道分配联合优化,并有效地改进网络性能.     

便携式防空导弹反巡航导弹作战效能分析

采用美国工业界武器系统效能咨询委员会提出的 ADC模型 ,对某型便携式防空导弹武器系统拦截巡航导弹的作战效能进行了详细的数学建模和分析计算 ,并得出了计算结果。从计算结果可以看出 ,作为低空反巡航导弹的武器系统 ,某型便携式防空导弹具有较高的作战效能 ,在多发联射拦截巡航导弹时其作战效能还会有进一步的提高 ,因此具有大力推广的价值。