Drone Strikes and Grand Strategy: Toward a Political Understanding of the Uses of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacks in US Security Policy

This article analyzes the political utility of US drone strikes theoretically and deductively. Placing strikes within the context of the theorized political functions of force and considering how they fit into two grand strategies, restraint and selective engagement, I argue that these strikes buy the United States relatively little in the way of political effects assuring its own security because the terrorism threat they are intended to combat is a limited one within the skein of US global interests. Furthermore, their contribution to counter-terrorism efforts is likely to diminish with the adoption of armed drones by non-state actors. Drone strikes can, however, provide leverage over recalcitrant US client states while reassuring liberal partners and giving them some leverage over US choices. In addition, within the counter-terrorism sphere, drone strikes are less likely to inflame popular opinion than are alternative uses of force. This analysis contributes to an increasingly rigorous examination of the strikes’ role in US foreign and security policy.     

Landmarks in defense literature

Military Leadership: In Pursuit of Excellence: edited by Robert L. Taylor and William E. Rosenbach. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 253 pp. 1984.     

An M/M/1 queue with a general bulk service rule

A model of an M/M/1, bulk queue with service rates dependent on the batch size is developed. The operational policy is to commence service when at least L customers are available with a maximum batch size of K. Arriving customers are not allowed to join in-process service. The solution procedure utilizes the matrix geometric methodology and reduces to obtaining the inverse of a square matrix of dimension K + 1 - L. For the case where the service rates are not batch size dependent, the limiting probabilities can be written in closed form. A numerical example illustrates the variability of the system cost as a function of the minimum batch service size L.     

Using multiple searchers in constrained-path,moving-target search problems

The search theory open literature has paid little, if any, attention to the multiple-searcher, moving-target search problem. We develop an optimal branch-and-bound procedure and six heuristics for solving constrained-path problems with multiple searchers. Our optimal procedure outperforms existing approaches when used with only a single searcher. For more than one searcher, the time needed to guarantee an optimal solution is prohibitive. Our heuristics represent a wide variety of approaches: One solves partial problems optimally, two use paths based on maximizing the expected number of detections, two are genetic algorithm implementations, and one is local search with random restarts. A heuristic based on the expected number of detections obtains solutions within 2% of the best known for each one-, two-, and three-searcher test problem considered. For one- and two-searcher problems, the same heuristic's solution time is less than that of other heuristics. For three-searcher problems, a genetic algorithm implementation obtains the best-known solution in as little as 20% of other heuristic solution times. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

基于WER的指挥信息系统功能需求指标体系构建方法

合理确定系统的功能需求是建设指挥信息系统的重要前提,而科学构建功能需求指标体系是确定功能需求的重要内容。由于受经验、环境、能力多方面的影响,指挥信息系统功能需求的确定过程中常常包含着许多定性的、随机的和模糊的因素,影响到了指标体系的有效性和稳定性。提出的基于WER的指标体系构建方法,综合运用定性和定量方法,通过权重估计(Weight estimate)、效度判断(Effect estimate)和可靠性判断(Reliability coefficient estimate),较好地解决了指挥信息系统功能需求指标体系构建中全面性、代表性、有效性和稳定性的问题。     

地空导弹武器系统抗饱和攻击能力研究

通过确定地空导弹武器系统抗饱和攻击能力的重要效能指标,分析地空导弹武器系统服务每枚来袭目标的过程,建立了地空导弹武器系统服务模型。在此基础上,建立了一种基于MonteCarlo法的地空导弹武器系统抗饱和攻击能力模型,并对模型进行了仿真分析。结果表明,该模型可真实地反映目标流强度对地空导弹武器系统服务目标数、杀伤目标数和消耗弹药数的影响,可为地空导弹武器系统的运用提供有益参考。     

基于全维PI观测器的混沌系统鲁棒故障检测设计

研究了在干扰存在情况下基于全维PI观测器的混沌系统鲁棒故障检测设计问题。基于一类Sylvester矩阵方程的参数化解,给出了干扰和残差信号解耦的充要条件,并建立了具有鲁棒故障检测功能的全维PI观测器设计的参数化方法。Lorenz混沌系统的数值算例及其计算结果表明：在干扰存在的情况下,基于全维PI观测器的混沌系统鲁棒故障检测设计方法简单有效。     

装备保障指挥决策支持模型体系构建

以装备保障指挥决策过程为研究对象,针对传统决策方式准确性低、决策支持模型不全等问题,在分析装备保障指挥决策基本内涵及程序的基础上,提出了装备保障指挥决策支持模型三维框架结构,并对按功能和内容维展开的预测模型、评估模型和优化模型作了较为详细的描述。