Fitting Lanchester equations to the battles of Kursk and Ardennes

Lanchester equations and their extensions are widely used to calculate attrition in models of warfare. This paper examines how Lanchester models fit detailed daily data on the battles of Kursk and Ardennes. The data on Kursk, often called the greatest tank battle in history, was only recently made available. A new approach is used to find the optimal parameter values and gain an understanding of how well various parameter combinations explain the battles. It turns out that a variety of Lanchester models fit the data about as well. This explains why previous studies on Ardennes, using different minimization techniques and data formulations, have found disparate optimal fits. We also find that none of the basic Lanchester laws (i.e., square, linear, and logarithmic) fit the data particularly well or consistently perform better than the others. This means that it does not matter which of these laws you use, for with the right coefficients you will get about the same result. Furthermore, no constant attrition coefficient Lanchester law fits very well. The failure to find a good‐fitting Lanchester model suggests that it may be beneficial to look for new ways to model highly aggregated attrition. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004.     

致命性自主武器系统军备控制态势分析

致命性自主武器系统是指不需要人类操作员干涉,能够自主选择目标并进行攻击的一类武器系统,"平台无人、自主运行、致命攻击"是其主要特征。随着人工智能技术的快速发展,完全自主的致命性武器系统日益受到国际社会的关注,并开始成为国际军备控制问题的焦点。本文主要从技术的视角探讨致命性自主武器系统的军备控制问题。首先,介绍致命性自主武器系统的定义、发展动因以及军控问题的由来;其次,针对国际人道法提出的区分原则、比例原则、预防原则,分析当前自主武器系统在自主目标识别、确认和攻击环节存在的技术问题;最后,分析美国、俄罗斯、欧盟等世界主要国家和地区的军控态度,并探讨我国自主武器系统发展的策略建议。     

Robust cubature Kalman filter method for the nonlinear alignment of SINS

Nonlinear initial alignment is a significant research topic for strapdown inertial navigation system(SINS).Cubature Kalman filter(CKF)is a popular tool for nonlinear initial alignment.Standard CKF assumes that the statics of the observation noise are pre-given before the filtering process.Therefore,any unpredicted outliers in observation noise will decrease the stability of the filter.In view of this problem,improved CKF method with robustness is proposed.Multiple fading factors are introduced to rescale the obser-vation noise covariance.Then the update stage of the filter can be autonomously tuned,and if there are outliers exist in the observations,the update should be less weighted.Under the Gaussian assumption of KF,the Mahalanobis distance of the innovation vector is supposed to be Chi-square distributed.Therefore a judging index based on Chi-square test is designed to detect the noise outliers,determining whether the fading tune are required.The proposed method is applied in the nonlinear alignment of SINS,and vehicle experiment proves the effective of the proposed method.     

战场态势一致性技术专题讲座(一) 第2讲 互操作作战图族

文章介绍了网络中心战(NCW)、互操作作战图族(FIOP)的基本概念、层次结构以及对应关系。概述了战场态势的构成要素,以及互操作作战图族中三级态势图的主要功能。描述了战区共用作战图的报告层次和建立过程。     

并行程序调试中的环境再现技术

为解决调试并行程序碰到的第一个困难:并行程序的不确定性,文中提出了环境再现技术。文中叙述了环境再现技术的思想和实现这一技术需要的数据结构,并用CCNPASCAL语言进行了描述,最后给出了一个典型的应用例子。     

The Wilson government and the demise of TSR‐2, October 1964 – April 1965

Domestic factors play an important role in the formulation and evolution of a country's foreign and security policy. This is clearly seen in the case study of a Soviet successor state, Ukraine. The article brings together in seven sections theory with the key domestic factors that influence Ukrainian security policy, such as economics, energy, national identity, elites and political parties. The article provides an insight into how these domestic factors influence the course of Ukrainian security policy which is striking a balance between the twin extremes of Soviet re‐integration, which would be tantamount to the loss of independence, and nationalist maximalism which seeks to place as much distance as possible between Ukraine and Russia.     

The Rebirth of Insurgency in Peru

Peru has battled two major insurgent movements since 1980. Around 25,000 Peruvians have died in this war between the government against the Shining Path and the MRTA. The Peruvian military has been incapable of achieving total victory after several major operations and the capture of just about every major rebel leader. Even worse, after a few years of almost no activity, Shining Path seems to be re-emerging. The last remaining members of this insurgent group have made alliances with foreign terrorist groups, used drug traffic to fund their fight and sweet talked people who are very disappointed and mad at the current Toledo administration, to gain more supporters. Major changes have to occur to prevent both groups from becoming threats to national security and society as a whole, taking the country back to times when around half of the nation was declared to be under terrorist control. The defense budget must be increased to open new bases, buy new equipment and train soldiers better to fight the insurgents more effectively. At the same time, major social changes need to occur; Toledo and his government must gain the trust and sympathy of Peruvians again by working for and with them.     

Book reviews

Norman Cigar, Genocide in Bosnia: The Policy of “Ethnic Cleansing”. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1995. Pp.xiv + 247; app., map, notes, cartoon.

Maria Jose Moyano, Argentina's Lost Patrol: Armed Struggle, 1969–1979. New Haven: Connecticut Yale University Press, 1995. Pp.xiii + 226, biblio., abbreviations, 10 figures, 1 map, tables, index; $25/£16.95. ISBN 0–300–01622–6.

Donald E. Schulz and Deborah Sundloff Schulz, The United States, Honduras, and the Crisis in Central America, Westview Thematic Studies in Latin America, Boulder, Co: Westview, 1994. Pp.368, map, figure, select biblio., abbreviations, index. $52.50/£37.50; (cloth) $17.95/£11.95 (paper). ISBN 0–8133–1324–4 and 1323–6.

Joseph H. Alexander and Merrill L. Bartlett, Sea Soldiers in the Cold War: Amphibious Warfare 1945–1991. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1995. Pp.iii + 178, 1 map, 29 illus, biblio, index. $32.95. ISBN

Gary P. Cox, The Halt in the Mud: French Strategic Planning from Waterloo to Sedan. Westview Press, 1994. Pp.258, maps, notes, biblio, index. £33.50. ISBN 0–133–1536–0.     

It's all the rage: why mechanization doesn't explain COIN outcomes

A recent article, ‘Rage Against the Machines’, does a disservice to the debate over what explains counterinsurgency (COIN) success. While it establishes a negative correlation between the diffusion of military mechanization in the state system and COIN success, its theoretical argument does not hold up under close scrutiny and its micro-case comparison of two units in Iraq during 2003–2004 ignores obvious counter-examples and factors that influence COIN success, such as leadership. A deeper inquiry would have revealed that there is much more to COIN success than simply not having access to vehicles.     

Whatever happened to South America's splendid little wars?

South America has gained international media attention due to its ongoing arms race, with politicians and analysts warning about the possibility of war. Nevertheless, since the Chaco War in the 1930s, the region has seldom faced major inter-state wars, all of which have been short-lived and with relatively few casualties. This article will discuss in greater detail the ongoing arms race in South America, portraying it as a race ‘of levels’, with not all countries carrying out massive weaponry purchases. Finally, I will discuss regional geopolitics, geosecurity and integration as part of an analysis regarding the unlikelihood of war.