Sharing security in an era of international cooperation: unmanned aerial vehicles and the United States’ Air Force

The United States’ Air Force (USAF) has developed and used unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology to monitor and assassinate dangerous terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Currently, there are few countries that possess armed UAV and since the US created much of this technology, the USAF is usually part of the training that automatically accompanies the purchase of its UAVs. The research question this article attempts to answer is, “What is the extent of the United States’ Air Force assistance in the training and proliferation of UAV technology to foreign militaries?”     

Close Encounters of the Tribal Kind: the Implementation of Co-option as a Tool for De-escalation of Conflict – The Case of the Netherlands in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province

Abstract

In contemporary counter-insurgency campaigns de-escalation is typically achieved by obtaining the local population's collaboration. The rationale underlying this approach is that such collaboration spawns control over the population and therefore weakens the insurgent's position. This article seeks to understand how this approach is practised in the reality of contemporary counter-insurgency warfare. In Iraq as well as Afghanistan counter-insurgents were confronted with fragmented indigenous societies in which the various local segments were dominated by local power-holders. Consequently, obtaining the local population's collaboration required co-option of these agents. As such a strategy of co-option is a highly localized approach, this article focuses on Afghanistan's Uruzgan province and analyzes the implementation of co-option by the Netherlands' Task Force Uruzgan (TFU), which operated there from 2006 to 2010. The analysis discusses how the counter-insurgents obtained a profound understanding of Uruzgan's societal landscape and how co-option of local power-holders became part of the counter-insurgency routine. In the end, co-option was successfully implemented as TFU even succeeded in obtaining the collaboration of previously marginalized elements of the population. However, as the methods employed for co-option were mainly of a persuasive nature, the TFU co-option strategy was less effective in containing the influence of notorious spoilers. Thus this case study provides an insight into the dynamics and limitations of co-option as a tool for de-escalation in contemporary counter-insurgency warfare.     

新时期警营文化工作应着力解决好“四多四少”的问题

警营文化工作是部队精神文明和政治工作的重要内容,也是提高部队凝聚力和战斗力的强大“助推器”。本文分析了当前部队基层文化工作中存在的“四多四少”现象,并就如何着眼问题、解决矛盾,推进警营文化建设健康有序地发展提出了思考。     

机载多功能射频系统是21世纪防空电子对抗的新威胁

美国空军第四代战斗机F-22上的低可探测性(LO)多功能射频系统(MFRFS)AN/APG-77,以及将要为联合攻击战斗机(JSF)设计研制的机载多功能射频系统(MFRFS),主要特征是使用了先进的有源电扫阵(AESA)天线.通过对AESA的共享,F-22的MFRFS能同时执行雷达、电子战和通信功能,其超视距目标探测、识别与拦截能力,丰富多彩的电子对抗招式,以及飞机具有的低可探测性能,使之成为21世纪夺取空中优势的重要武器系统,必将给未来防空电子对抗构成严峻的挑战.     

Learning to Fight and Fighting to Learn: Practitioners and the Role of Unit Publications in VIII Fighter Command 1943–1944

A military cannot hope to improve in wartime if it cannot learn. Ideally, in wartime, formal learning ceases and the application of knowledge begins. But this is optimistic. In 1942, USAAF Eighth Air Force assumed it had the means necessary for victory. In reality, its technique and technology were only potentially – rather than actually – effective. What remained was to create the practice of daylight bombing – to learn. This article (1) recovers a wartime learning process that created new knowledge, (2) tests existing tacit hypotheses in military adaptation research, and (3) offers additional theoretical foundation to explain how knowledge is created in wartime     

作动器最优配置的柔性结构振动主动控制

柔性结构广泛应用于航空航天等领域,为了获得结构的最佳动力学性能,在主动振动控制中作动器或传感器位置优化成为关键。基于结构有限元动力学方程,在状态空间利用系统可控和可观Gramian矩阵考虑结构剩余模态的影响,推导一种新的作动器/传感器优化准则。根据优化准则结合非线性整数规划遗传算法对作动器的位置进行配置。以悬臂板为研究对象,采用基于状态反馈的线性二次型调节器研究悬臂板的振动控制效果。与其他配置方法进行比较,验证了新方法的优越性。     

Influence of active constrained layer damping on the coupled vibration response of functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic plates with skewed edges

This article makes the first attempt in assessing the influence of active constrained layer damping (ACLD) treatment towards precise control of frequency responses of functionally graded skew-magneto-electro-elastic (FGSMEE) plates by employing finite element methods. The materials are functionally graded across the thickness of the plate in terms of modest power-law distributions. The principal equations of motion of FGSMEE are derived via Hamilton’s principle and solved using condensation technique. The effect of ACLD patches are modelled by following the complex modulus approach (CMA). Additionally, distinctive emphasis is laid to evaluate the influence of geometrical skewness on the attenuation capabilities of the plate. The accuracy of the current analysis is corroborated with comparison of previous researches of similar kind. Additionally, a complete parametric study is directed to understand the combined impacts of various factors like coupling fields, patch location, fiber orientation of piezoelectric patch in association with skew angle and power-law index.     

《人民武装警察法》若干问题评析

2009年4月,第十一届全国人大常委会第八次会议初次审议并向社会公布了《人民武装警察法（草案）》。同年8月27日,第十一届全国人大常委会第十次会议通过了该法。《人民武装警察法》的颁布施行,对于武警部队法制建设无疑具有“里程碑”式的意义。但是,不可否认,《人民武装警察法》并非尽善尽美,仍然存在着进一步需要完善之处。就其中的立法依据、调整范围、与其他法律规范的衔接、授权立法以及法律责任的设定等问题加以评析。     

加强公安现役部队基层文化设施建设的思考

公安现役部队基层文化设施建设是衡量基层政治工作和全面建设的重要标志,部队要结合自身文化活动特点,从实际出发,科学谋划,合理配置,综合利用,使之成为开展群众文化活动、传播先进文化的重要阵地。针对公安现役基层部队在文化设施建设中存在的不足,以提高文化设施的利用效果、发挥育人功能为切入点,就基层文化设施的配置、更新、管理等方面提出了相应的对策。     

把握武警部队初级任职教育院校特点提升学科方向建设水平

武警初级任职教育教学特点决定着学科方向建设和发展。而学科方向对学科建设具有决定性的推动作用。武警部队初级任职教育院校要针对影响学科方向的问题,结合武警部队需要和院校建设特点,搞好学科方向建设。