Boko Haram’s increasingly sophisticated military threat

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates Boko Haram’s military capabilities and details the process of how its standing army, driven by these capabilities, came to pose a phased threat between 2013 and 2015 in particular. This was a period when military fighting dominated the insurgency in north-east Nigeria. Whereas there is an abundance of literature on Boko Haram’s histories and the impact of its insurgency on north-east Nigeria, analysis of Boko Haram’s military campaigning is still deficient. Attempting to fill this gap, this paper uses field findings and battlefield case studies from north-east Nigeria to highlight how Boko Haram’s overt front – its standing army – came to supplant its guerrilla operations as the main security threat to the frontier area.

This pivot towards military fighting, for a group initially composed of a few ragtag combatants, on the surface might seem surprising. Yet, whereas Boko Haram may lack the popular support required for ‘people’s war’, classic insurgency theories nevertheless hold some explanatory power for this deliberate shift: away from guerrilla warfare as the expedient of the weaker side, and towards the use of a large standing army of locals to swarm, and sometimes successfully overrun, state forces.     

全气动步兵武器表层自动喷涂机设计

分析目前步兵武器零件表层喷涂技术现状,提出全气动自动喷涂机设计方案,根据步兵武器零件结构特点,规划自动喷涂轨迹,设计全气动自动化喷涂专用设备．该设备具有本质安全性,适于部队条件下使用．     

数字化步兵作战态势感知建模与仿真研究

通过分析数字化步兵的态势感知需求和信息获取来源以及信息传递方式，建立了数字化步兵单兵和连以下分队的态势感知模型，并进一步讨论了该模型的仿真实现途径。该模型可应用于数字化步兵作战仿真和单兵综合作战系统的效能仿真。     

某型步兵战车导弹综合集成智能故障诊断系统

针对某型步兵战车导弹武器系统的测试与诊断问题,在研究了诊断对象测试参数、故障特点和故障机理的基础上,运用单片机技术、电子测量技术和智能故障诊断技术,研制了集参数测试、技术维护、故障诊断与维修于一体的某型步兵战车导弹武器系统综合集成智能故障诊断设备,设备具有对步兵战车导弹武器系统的自动、快速、实时和在线检测与故障诊断的功能。详细地给出了系统的设计与具体的实现过程。     

Electronic warfare in the optical band: Main features,examples and selected measurement data

The paper presents the possibilities of, and methods for, acquiring, analysing and processing optical signals in order to recognise, identify and counteract threats on the contemporary battleground. The main ways electronic warfare is waged in the optical band of the electromagnetic wave spectrum have been formulated, including the acquisition of optical emitter signatures, as well as ultraviolet (UV) and thermal (IR) signatures. The physical parameters and values describing the emission of laser radiation are discussed, including their importance in terms of creating optical signatures. Moreover, it has been shown that in the transformation of optical signals into signatures, only their spectral and temporal parameters can be applied. This was confirmed in experimental part of the paper, which includes our own measurements of spectral and temporal emission characteristics for three types of binocular laser rangefinders. It has been further shown that through simple registration and quick analysis involving comparison of emission time parameters in the case of UV signatures in “solar-blind” band, various events can be identified quickly and faultlessly. The same is true for IR signatures, where the amplitudes of the recorded signal for several wavelengths are compared. This was confirmed experimentally for UV signatures by registering and then analyzing signals from several events during military exercises at a training ground, namely Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launches and explosions after hitting targets, trinitrotoluene (TNT) explosions, firing armour-piercing, fin-stabilised, discarding sabots (APFSDS) or high explosive (HE) projectiles. The final section describes a proposed model database of emitters, created as a result of analysing and transforming the recorded signals into optical signatures.     

步兵分队侦察模拟训练系统构建

针对步兵分队侦察训练存在地形受限、战斗情境失真、训练条件构设难等问题,本文在系统分析军事需求的基础上,采用软、硬结合的虚拟仿真技术对步兵分队侦察模拟训练系统框架、体系结构、物理结构、内外接口和应用模式进行了详细分析设计,并对关键技术进行了剖析,该系统方案设计已应用于步兵分队侦察模拟训练系统建设,并投入到院校教学训练中。实践表明,系统通过逼真的视、听一体化实现了高度沉浸式的训练,以现实地形和敌情的高度仿真与灵活组合,满足了步兵分队侦察技能训练对多样化战场环境、实战化目标设置的特殊要求,大大提升了步兵分队地形侦察、敌情侦察及综合对抗训练效益。     

Panjwai: a tale of two COINs in Afghanistan

The US Army has two approaches to counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan. One is hard, or combat-focused, and the other is soft, or development-focused. This study examines two US Army task forces deployed to Panjwai District, Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013. CTF 4-9 and 1-38 offer a meaningful comparison because they pursued these contrasting approaches among the same population and against the same enemy at the same time and place. The study compares each unit’s approach and finds that neither approach was successful absent the other. The article concludes by recommending further research into combining the approaches at the operational level.     

某型导弹故障模式自动识别系统研究

针对某型步兵战车导弹制导控制系统的维修问题,在研究了诊断对象故障特点和故障机理的基础上,运用单片机技术,电子测量技术,智能故障诊断技术,频率因子、相位因子和幅度因子相结合的分析技术以及运用在线测试和动态比较法实现了故障模式的自动判断与识别,研制了自动、快速、实时和在线检测与故障诊断设备,并详细地给出了系统故障诊断的具体实现过程。