The snowball phenomenon: the US Marine Corps,military mythology and the spread of hybrid warfare theory

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the book by Ofer Fridman and seeks to situate the strategic debate on hybrid war in the context of debate on the US involvement in Iraq. It points to intellectuals from the Marine Corps having a significant role in the initial development of the hybrid warfare concept at a time of some reservation in US military circles over COIN strategy as this was set out in the field manual FM3-24. Thereafter, the hybrid war concept rapidly spread and became a conceptual device used to explain Russian strategic intentions in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine in 2014.     

滑翔飞行器多目标弹道优化的进化-配点混合求解策略

针对高超声速滑翔飞行器弹道多目标优化问题,综合考虑计算效率和精度,结合分解进化算法与配点法提出一种混合求解策略。根据滑翔飞行器动力学模型和弹道设计中需要考虑的约束条件,建立飞行器多目标弹道优化模型。利用控制量离散化方法将多目标弹道优化问题转化为带约束的多目标参数优化问题,并采用罚函数法处理约束条件,随后利用分解多目标进化算法进行求解。为了提高弹道优化的精度,将椭球聚合法与配点法相结合,以多目标进化算法得到的Pareto解作为初始解进行迭代求解。通过典型的复杂约束多目标弹道优化的算例表明,所提出的混合求解策略能够获得满足复杂约束要求的Pareto最优解集,实现有效的多目标弹道优化。     

基于混合优化的前馈—反馈复合控制器最优设计

为了解决传统PID控制器在电动舵机系统设计中难以满足控制要求的问题,首先设计了一种规范化前馈-反馈控制系统,然后利用混沌优化算法和共轭梯度方法相结合的混合优化算法对前馈-反馈控制器参数进行了优化.仿真结果表明:基于混合优化算法的前馈-反馈控制器具有很好的动态和静态性能,增强了系统的稳定性和鲁棒性,降低了学习参数选择的盲目性和对经验的高度依赖性.     

酚醛-石英混杂纤维增强苯并噁嗪复合材料高温失效特征

通过模压工艺制备了酚醛-石英混织纤维增强苯并噁嗪复合材料(P-Q/BZ)试样,考察了其力学性能、烧蚀性能和耐冲刷性能,分析了该试样在高温环境中的主要失效特征,研究其在高温环境中的适用性。结果表明,未经热处理的P-Q/BZ试样平均弯曲强度、弯曲模量和层间剪切强度分别为283 MPa、10.8 GPa和22.6 MPa;经300℃,N_2处理15 min后,试样均匀膨胀,厚度增加22%,弯曲强度、弯曲模量和层间剪切强度分别下降58%、41%和58%;在氧乙炔焰的平均质量烧蚀率和线烧蚀率分别为0.048 4 g/s和-0.081 mm/s,烧蚀后试样宏观不分层,表面炭层微观分层严重,酚醛纤维热解炭、树脂基体热解炭、熔融石英纤维以及碳硅氧化产物相互分离;该试样耐冲刷能力差,在发动机尾焰烧蚀平台模拟的热-力耦合环境中的质量损失率高达59%。P-Q/BZ复合材料需要解决热解膨胀问题,进一步提高抗冲刷性能。     

基于改进的MADM的防空混编群配置地域优选研究

地面防空混编群中的骨干型火力单位具有作战空域大、具备同时攻击多个目标的能力,是混编群作战体系的主体,担负着对重要目标的抗击任务。其配置将直接影响作战任务,而对其地域选择是火力单位配置的关键环节。首先分析了影响骨干型火力单位地域选择的因素,其次针对其不确定性及权重难以确定的问题,基于改进的MADM算法建立了地面防空兵混编群骨干型火力单位配置地域优选模型,最后给出该算法的实例分析。     

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.     

The Damoclean sword of offensive cyber: Policy uncertainty and collective insecurity

Cyberspace is a new domain of operation, with its own characteristics. Cyber weapons differ qualitatively from kinetic ones: They generate effects by non-kinetic means through information, technology, and networks. Their properties, opportunities, and constraints are comparable to the qualitative difference between conventional and nuclear weapons. New weapons and their target sets in a new domain raise a series of unresolved policy challenges at the domestic, bilateral, and international levels about deterrence, attribution, and response. They also introduce new risks: uncertainty about unintended consequences, expectations of efficacy, and uncertainty about both the target’s and the international community’s response. Cyber operations offer considerable benefits for states to achieve strategic objectives both covertly and overtly. However, without a strategic framework to contain and possibly deter their use, make state and non-state behavior more predictable in the absence of reciprocal norms, and limit their impact, an environment where states face persistent attacks that nonetheless fall below the threshold of armed conflict presents a policy dilemma that reinforces collective insecurity.     

Recognizing Fragmented Authority: Towards a post-Westphalian Security Order in Iraq

Abstract

The rollback of Daesh’s territorial control during 2017 has (re-)established an area of limited statehood in large parts of Iraq that may endure for many years. The government of Iraq projects its authority into a large geographical and political space that it shares with a multitude of other state, non-state and hybrid actors, competing and collaborating to achieve advantageous security and political outcomes. This paper examines the heterarchy of actors in post-Daesh Iraq to develop a typology and start a critical discussion about post-Westphalian alternatives for security governance in Iraq during the coming period of reconstruction and reconciliation.     

Violence in context: Mapping the strategies and operational art of irregular warfare

The malaise that the United States, and the West, have experienced in recent campaigns stems in large part from unclear thinking about war, its political essence, and the strategies needed to join the two. Instead, analysis and response are predicated on entrenched theoretical concepts with limited practical utility. The inadequacy of understanding has spawned new, and not so new, terms to capture unanticipated trends, starting with the re-discovery of “insurgency” and “counterinsurgency” and leading to discussion of “hybrid threats” and “gray-zone” operations. New terminology can help, but the change must go deeper. Challenging analytical orthodoxy, this article sets out a unifying approach for the study of political violence, or more accurately: violent politics. It provides a conceptual foundation that helps to make sense of recent shifts in warfare. In effect, it offers sorely needed theoretical insights into the nature of strategy and guides the process of responding to nontraditional threats.     

异构混合存储的软硬件协同数据放置策略

分析比较当前大数据中心典型混合存储架构,针对其不能综合运用存储管理系统和存储设备优势的问题,提出软硬件协同的数据放置策略,同时考虑软件层混合存储管理系统和硬件层混合存储设备的特点,根据应用特性为数据选择合适的存储管理系统和设备。面向不同应用场景,提出运行前规划存储路径的静态放置模式和运行中规划存储路径的动态放置模式。基于存储管理系统和设备性能参数建模,采用仿真方法实现各数据放置策略,并运行实际应用中的三类负载进行实验测试,结果表明采用软硬件协同的数据放置策略相比只考虑存储管理系统和存储设备的数据放置策略,性能可以提高近30%。