The elephant in the room: US ballistic missile defence under Barack Obama

Conventional wisdom seems to hold that under Barack Obama, the US ballistic missile defence programme has been pushed aside to allow for a refreshed domestic and international agenda. Proponents point to Obama's campaign thinking and rhetoric, the ballistic missile defence (BMD) budget cuts, the decision to end the Third Site in Europe, and the reset relations with Russia through the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) as evidence that the programme has undergone a significant period of change, retraction and rationalisation. This article argues instead that BMD has not fallen from prominence and that there is a change in focus rather than retraction of its strategic goal. Consequently, BMD continues to grow in importance as a component of US national security strategy.     

导弹防御系统中的雷达目标识别研究

以评估美国国家导弹防御(NMD)系统雷达识别能力为背景,分析了地基雷达识别弹道导弹目标的技术途径。根据弹道导弹目标群在飞行中段和再入段表现出的特性差异,提出了涉及目标结构特性、姿态特性以及再入特性的综合识别策略,并初步分析了各种识别措施的可行性。     

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。     

ON THE CHOICE OF MULTI-TASK R&D DEFENSE PROJECTS: A CASE STUDY OF The ISRAELI MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM

Investments in R&D constitute a major share of the expenditures of the hi-tech industry since, generally, they enable firms to successfully compete in the rapidly and constantly changing markets for hi-tech products and services. The role of R&D projects is particularly important in the areas of defense and homeland security due to the nature of warfare and the continuous threats posed by arms races and by terror organizations. This study analyzes the choice of the R&D projects designed to counter multiple related military threats. It develops the methodology required to assess whether it is preferable to develop one project to thwart several related threats, or several distinct projects, each of which provides an answer to one specific threat or a partial set of the threats. An analytic solution is provided and assessed for two simple models with two related threats. A solution of the model is then provided for any number of related threats, using a dynamic programming methodology. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of our model and methodology to Israel’s missile defense problem; that is, we show how to optimally develop systems aimed at thwarting the multiple threats of short-, medium-, and long-range missiles.     

平流层飞艇高能激光武器防御弹道导弹

防御弹道导弹逐渐受到世界各国的重视,扩大拦截窗口是重要的发展趋势之一。平流层飞艇有可能通过艇载激光武器或者中继反射地基激光两种方式拦截自由段弹道导弹,为评估这两种方式的拦截效果和可行性,本文分析了平流层飞艇搭载高能激光武器的可能性以及中继反射作战方式的特点,建立了激光烧蚀模型,采用数值计算方法对激光的烧蚀效果进行了研究,结果表明平流层飞艇部署位置应距离导弹发射点800～1000km,平流层中继激光飞艇能够在短时间内引爆弹头,艇载激光武器采用烧蚀弹头防热层的方法同样可以达到拦截弹道导弹的目的。     

弹道导弹再入段动态RCS特性分析

研究弹道导弹再入段动态RCS特性,有利于防空反导作战中对其进行有效探测和拦截。首先对弹道目标机动航迹进行建模,然后结合坐标转换公式获得目标姿态角变化,最后利用EDITFEKO软件实现对目标动态RCS实时仿真。针对不同再入角的机动航迹,仿真了不同雷达布站情况下目标动态RCS变化。仿真结果表明,弹道导弹侧向RCS大于正向RCS,反导预警雷达应部署在弹道导弹射程之内,使雷达对着弹道导弹侧面。仿真结果为反导预警雷达的部署提供依据。     

India's Pursuit Of Ballistic Missile Defense

This article analyzes India's efforts to deploy a Ballistic Missile Program (BMD). The article has three objectives. First, it argues that scientific-bureaucratic factors and India's incapacity to deter Pakistan's use of terrorist proxies have driven its quest for BMD. Second, the article also evaluates the current state of India's two-tiered missile defense shield. In spite of various claims on the part of India's defense science establishment, the paper estimates that India still lacks a deployable BMD system and is still far from developing an effective strategy of deterrence-through-denial. Third, the article analyzes the implications of the development of India's BMD system for nuclear stability in South Asia. The article shows how India's BMD capacities, however limited, have indirectly exacerbated the security concerns of India's regional rival, Pakistan.     

弹道导弹防御系统的现状与发展

本文综述了美国退出《反弹道导弹条约》以来,如何调整弹道导弹防御计划,制定新的发展战略,实施各种防御技术,初步建立防御能力,并论述了美国弹道导弹防御系统的现状与发展趋势。     

The symbolic politics of ballistic missile defense: seeking the perfect defense in an imperfect world

Ballistic missile defense (BMD) politics present an interesting evolution in how the USA, especially Congress, has come to think about BMD both as operational reality and as a symbolic policy. The argument here is that BMD's operational reality is increasingly overshadowed by its symbolic aspects. Such a status arose from rapidly changing international and domestic politics. The end result is a situation in which BMD policy in a sense floats above the question of its actual combat effectiveness. Its primary mission in part is sustaining US capacity to remain a global power and support its allies.     

Missile defense and strategic stability: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea

South Korea is threatened by its troubled relationship with North Korea. North Korea possesses a large cache of missiles as well as chemical and biological weapons, and the future potential to mount nuclear weapons on its missiles. The United States is also challenged because of its defense commitments to Seoul. As a countermeasure, the United States and South Korea decided to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defenses in South Korea. However, China has objected. Chinese scholars believe the THAAD radar would be able to track Chinese inter-continental ballistic missiles, thereby weakening their deterrent. A technical analysis does not support this assertion. However, it is vital for South Korea, given its proximity and economic interdependence, to reassure China. South Korea should highlight that THAAD will be deployed by the United States Forces Korea and is not a commitment by Seoul to become part of U.S.-led missile defenses in the Asia-Pacific.     

ADVANCED US CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

The Obama administration has made a great effort to increase the role of advanced conventional weaponry in US national security thinking and practice, in part to help reinvigorate the global nuclear disarmament agenda by reducing the role played by nuclear weapons in the US defense posture. However, such a strategy is fundamentally flawed because increases in US conventional superiority will exacerbate US relative strength vis-à-vis other powers, and therefore make the prospect of a nuclear weapon-free world seem less attractive to Washington's current and potential nuclear rivals. Consequently, it is highly likely that the impact of efforts to increase US advanced conventional superiority through ballistic missile defense and a conventional “prompt global strike” program will ensure that the Obama administration is adopting a pathway to nuclear abolition on which it is the sole traveler for the foreseeable future.     

基于ADC模型的反舰导弹火力运用效能评估分析

针对反舰导弹的火力运用的特点,运用基于ADC模型的作战效能评估方法,分析了传统的作战能力概算模型的内涵,完善了“平台生存概率”、“航空兵拦截概率”和“导弹抗干扰能力”三项评估要素,得到了新的评估要素表达式,该表达式比较客观地反映了战场的实际情况,较好地满足了反舰导弹火力运用效能评估的需求。     

The rise and fall of counterproliferation policy

The US government initiated a Defense Counterproliferation Initiative to address the concern that, in the post-Cold War years, the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons would be widespread and create a significant challenge to the US military’s combat operations. In particular, non-nuclear states might use chemical or biological warfare agents against US forces with the belief that nuclear weapons would not be used against them in retaliation. Following the events of September 11, 2001, defense strategy and policy shifted to a wider view of the threat of adversarial use of “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) and the term “counterproliferation” was replaced by “combating” or “countering WMD.” Over time, the Defense Department increasingly moved away from counterproliferation principles with the detrimental effect of losing capabilities that US forces still need for contemporary adversaries. This shift has been aggravated by other US government agencies’ use of “counterproliferation” in lieu of what would have been termed “nonproliferation” activities in the 1990s. The loss of clarity within the US government on these terms has led to the inability to focus the “whole of government” on this significant national security challenge. To alleviate this challenge, the US government needs a top-down initiative to refocus policy on the distinctly different aspects of WMD with respect to military combat operations, combating terrorism, and homeland security.     

弹道导弹突防措施分析

简要介绍了弹道导弹面临的典型防御系统。针对该防御系统,提出了弹道导弹所能采取的典型突防手段,并将弹道导弹突防措施分为反侦察类突防和反拦截类突防两部分,介绍了反侦察类突防中的电子干扰、诱饵、隐身、助推段策略以及反拦截类突防中的加强防御策略、导弹机动发射与飞行、多弹头策略等。为研究弹道导弹突防技术提供参考。     

制导炸弹--一种重要的空袭兵器和应对措施

根据越南战争、海湾战争和科索沃战争的战例,阐述了制导炸弹的主要战术技术特点,认为制导炸弹是未来空袭作战重要兵器,是中低空中近程地(舰)空导弹的重要目标,拦截制导炸弹是地(舰)空导弹应该着力研究的问题.论证了中低空中近程地(舰)空导弹拦截制导炸弹的可行性,并提出了应开展的专项技术研究课题.     

BALLISTIC TRAJECTORY

North Korea has been one of the world's most active suppliers of ballistic missile systems since the mid-1980s, but the nature of its missile export business has changed significantly during this period. Unclassified, publicly available data show that the great majority of known deliveries of complete missile systems from North Korea occurred before 1994. The subsequent fall-off took place a decade too early to be explained by the Proliferation Security Initiative of 2003. It can be explained by a combination of factors that have reduced demand. First, after selling production equipment for ballistic missiles to many states, especially in the Middle East, North Korea by the late 1990s had become primarily a supplier of missile parts and materials, not complete systems. Second, after Operation Desert Storm, some missile-buying states shifted their attention away from ballistic missiles in favor of manned aircraft, cruise missiles, and missile defense systems supplied by Western powers. Third, some states experienced pressure from the United States to curtail their dealings with North Korea. During the last decade, having shed most of its previous customer base, North Korea has entered a phase of collaborative missile development with a smaller number of state partners, particularly Iran and Syria. Its known sales of complete missile systems are relatively small and infrequent. North Korea's time as missile supplier to the Middle East at large has ended, but there is a risk that regional states will turn to North Korea as a supplier of nuclear technology in the future.     

弹道导弹突防措施分析

简要介绍了弹道导弹面临的典型防御系统。针对该防御系统,提出了弹道导弹所能采取的典型突防手段,并将弹道导弹突防措施分为反侦察类突防和反拦截类突防两部分,介绍了反侦察类突防中的电子干扰、诱饵、隐身、助推段策略以及反拦截类突防中的加强防御策略、导弹机动发射与飞行、多弹头策略等。为研究弹道导弹突防技术提供参考。     

基于EKF算法的弹道导弹助推段跟踪建模与仿真

围绕弹道导弹助推段跟踪问题,分析了助推段反弹道导弹的基本作战过程,建立了弹道导弹助推段动力学模型,分别就单传感器/单弹道导弹和多传感器/多弹道导弹两种情况建立了基于EKF算法的弹道导弹助推段跟踪模型,并通过算例验证了模型和算法的有效性,可为助推段反弹道导弹建模与仿真提供一定的参考。     

Russia,America and missile defense

Russia has sharply objected to US plans for ballistic missile defense. The Russian official explanation is that the real purpose of the US missile defense plan is to make it impossible for Russia to retaliate against a US nuclear (or massive conventional) attack, thus making Russia subject to military blackmail by the US. The Russian response has been the result of a sum total of various factors, mostly political and cultural, while the technical capabilities of the proposed system have played a secondary role.     

基于系统动力学的导弹综合防护体系仿真

在未来高技术战争中,弹道导弹武器的作用越来越大,它已成为各国战略威胁手段和对敌实施纵深打击的主要力量之一,也是敌攻击的首选目标,因此对导弹阵地综合防护体系的研究就显得十分重要.在给出导弹阵地综合防护体系的框架后,建立了基于系统动力学的综合防护体系模型,在不同仿真条件下对模型进行仿真并分析了仿真结果,得出了对综合防护体系效能影响大的因素.