Information sharing in multinational security and military operations. Why and why not? With whom and with whom not?

Military operations increasingly require cooperation between agencies within the same nation, but also collaboration with security and military organizations internationally. Throughout history multinational military cooperation has often been an appropriate way to conduct major operations; national manpower and material resources are generally insufficient to address the demands of missions worldwide. The desire to optimize the use of scarce research and development and investment capabilities, the need for international legitimacy and political support, and the fact that today’s risks transcend national borders, have rendered multinational cooperation in the security domain unavoidable. With joint operations comes the requirement for multi-partner- and multinational information sharing. However, information sharing has both advantages and costs, and is subject to both enabling factors as well as barriers. This paper reflects on theories, both classical and current, as well as empirical case studies, to examine the pros and cons of multinational information sharing, and the factors that conduce or interfere with the transmission and the receipt of intelligence. The importance of a holistic approach and of learning lessons learned are two key lessons gleaned from the analysis, along with an emphasis on developing both the organizational and the interpersonal enablers of information sharing.     

Experimental study on explosion dispersion process of a multi-layer composite charge under different initiation modes

The influence of initiation modes on the explosive dispersion process of the multi-layer composite charge (MCC) was studied. Overpressure sensors and high-speed photography system were used to investigate the energy release process of an MCC with a specific structure. The shock wave pressure and explosive dispersion characteristics of the MCC under different initiation modes were compared. The forming and expanding process of the shock wave of the composite charge under different initiation modes was determined. The separation position of the shock wave and fireball interface was determined. The calculation formulas of the shock radius and overpressure of the composite charge are presented. The radius of the shock wave of the composite charge was significantly affected by the initiation mode. Moreover, the development process of the composite explosive fireball under different initiation modes was analyzed, the variation rules of the composite charge dispersion radius and fireball dispersion velocity with time were obtained under the different initiation modes, the explosion energy release rate of composite charge under simultaneous initiation modes was the highest, and the peak overpressure under the simultaneous initiation mode was 1.61 times that of central single-point initiation.