基于改进ACO算法的多UAV协同航路规划

针对无人机(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle,UAV)在执行任务过程中遇到的诸如敌方防空火力、地形障碍及恶略天气等各类威胁源,采用威胁源概率分布的方法进行威胁的量化处理,构建任务空间的威胁概率密度分布图,有效消除了威胁源的差异性。根据UAV在任务飞行过程中的性能约束与时、空协同约束,同时考虑任务过程中UAV的损毁概率最小、任务航程最短,构建了相应的综合任务航路代价最优化目标函数。结合传统蚁群优化算法(Ant Colony Optimization,ACO)在解决此类问题中的不足,给出了相应的改进策略,提出采用协同多种群ACO进化策略来实现多UAV在满足时、空协同约束下的协同航路规划。通过相应的仿真计算表明,改进后的ACO协同多种群进化策略算法更适用于多UAV协同任务航路规划问题,具有一定的实用性。从而为多UAV协同任务航路规划问题的求解提供了科学的决策依据。     

MONEY IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN POLITICS

“Lack of money is the root of all evil”

George Bernard Shaw

In a environment where party financing, private funding in particular, is generally a laissez-faire business, as in most Southern African countries, there is the real risk that interest groups and wealthy individuals will buy influence in political parties and in so doing erode public confidence in the political system. Because they are neither open to public scrutiny nor subject to any legislative restraints, huge private donations can, and often do, come with strings attached. This lack of transparency and openness, as well as mechanisms to prevent it, provides ample ground for influence peddling, where those who pay the piper call the tune. Left unchecked, this party funding scenario will continue to be a serious indictment of the region's democratisation projects, crippling democracy and stunting economic development. This article consid     

The Long and Winding Road: The US Army Managerial Approach to Command and the Adoption of Mission Command (Auftragstaktik)

The purpose of the current paper is to examine the adoption and adaptation process of mission command (Auftragstaktik) in the US Army. This concept, developed by the Prussians, denotes a decentralized command approach wherein superiors dictate their intent and allow subordinates to formulate their operational plans independently and change it according to the emerging situation. The paper examines the US command approach prior to the adoption of mission command. It argues that it was heavily influenced by corporate management practices which inherently contradict mission command approach. It continues and investigates how the US Army endeavored to emulate the approach in its doctrine and in major operations.

While it has officially incorporated mission command into its doctrine, it has been less successful in utilizing it in operational situations. This state of affairs has to do with the cultural legacy of the managerial approach to command that still persist. Despite the partial success, the US Army has recently reaffirmed its commitment to this approach.     

Insights from a Database of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Militants

This article uses a novel database of 1,625 posthumously published biographies of members of two Islamist militant organizations (Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM)), all of whom were killed in the course of carrying out militant attacks. In general, each biography provides data on the militant’s birthplace, education, recruitment, and training. The number of observations in this database is a full order of magnitude larger than those of previous databases assembled from militant biographies. While the sample of militants in this database is the product of multiple selection effects, analysis of the database undermines many common myths about Pakistani militants and casts doubt on current policy approaches to mitigating Islamist militancy in Pakistan.     

三相逆变器新型积分控制加状态反馈控制

三相逆变器在实际运行中,不平衡负载工况较为常见,原因是传统积分控制加状态反馈控制无法实现三相输出电压的对称性。针对该问题提出了不平衡负载条件下三相逆变器新型积分控制加状态反馈控制策略,并通过仿真和实验验证了该策略能有效降低不平衡负载时三相逆变器输出电压的不平衡度,从而获得对称的三相输出电压波形。     

环管型燃烧室喷雾燃烧DES模拟

为研究燃气轮机燃烧室内复杂的两相三维湍流燃烧问题,采用基于Realizable k-ε模型的分离涡模拟(DES)方法对环管型燃烧室进行喷雾燃烧数值模拟.数值模拟结果表明:DES模拟在燃烧区发挥出大涡模拟(LES)的作用,能获取结构复杂的流场、温度场和涡量场,其对流场内涡结构的捕捉和分辨能力明显强于传统的RANS(雷诺时均N-S方法)模拟.与实验数据对比发现,DES模拟所得燃烧产物含量和燃烧室出口温度分布更符合.因此,DES方法可用于复杂形状燃烧室的燃烧数值模拟,能够避免RANS模型对湍流脉动进行平均处理导致耗散过大、抹平涡结构的缺点,从而可获取更准确的计算结果.     

Reconsidering American strategy in South Asia: destroying terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas

Over seven years after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, Afghanistan is again at the forefront of the headlines, faced with a brutal insurgency and a resurgent Taliban. Many scholars and policymakers attribute the instability in Afghanistan to a terrorist sanctuary in the neighboring Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Pakistan has attempted to eliminate this sanctuary through negotiation and armed force. This paper argues that Pakistani strategy has failed to achieve its desired results because of local tribal norms, the weak nature of previous agreements, military units ill-equipped for a counterinsurgency and counterterrorism role, as well as ideological fissures in the Pakistani establishment. Afterward, the paper argues that the United States and Coalition forces should pursue their strategy remaining cognizant of local tribal norms, step up training efforts for Pakistani forces, promote development of the tribal areas, and cultivate options for eliminating the FATA sanctuary through covert means.     

The view from above: how the Royal Air Force provided a strategic vision for operational intelligence during the Malayan Emergency

It has long been held that the Federation of Malaya’s counter-insurgency campaign during the First Malayan Emergency (1948–60) was determined by the use of intelligence. Special Branch — the Federation’s primary intelligence agency — dominates the prevailing paradigm of how the insurgent threat was tackled. Conversely, the role of the Royal Air Force (RAF) within this paradigm is very limited. Most observers simply dismiss the role of photoreconnaissance or airstrikes as being largely inconsequential to the counter-insurgency effort. This is perhaps understandable: the Emergency was after all a ‘policing action’ and the insurgents were largely hidden under Malaya’s jungle canopy and amongst the Chinese community. However, further scrutiny reveals that the RAF made a much more significant contribution to the intelligence element of the counter-insurgency campaign than previously realised. First, the RAF decided to locate their Advanced Headquarters with the Army’s General Headquarters. This led to the creation of the Land/Air Operations Room, through which intelligence, tasking and resources were coordinated. Moreover, the RAF put its intelligence teams into the field to provide a practical link between local units and theatre-level assets. Second, with the support of the Army, the RAF established at the beginning of the Emergency the Joint Air Photographic Intelligence Board (Far East). This coordinated all photographic intelligence requirements throughout the Emergency, which was then delivered via the Joint Air Photographic Centre (Far East). Hence, via Joint Operations Centre and JAPIB (FE), the RAF provided both the practical means for effective joint intelligence operations at theatre level throughout the Emergency.     

非致命防暴动能弹作战效能评估

提出了非致命防暴动能弹作战效能的评估法,分析了非致命防暴动能弹的技术性能,建立了以非致命性为核心指标的防暴动能弹效能指标体系。采用定性分析与定量分析相结合,将集对分析法应用到了非致命防暴动能弹的效能评估中,对3种防暴动能弹进行了效能评估。为非致命防暴动能弹的研发生产提供了重要的理论支撑。     

‘Fighting for peace’

In Africa, most of the present conflicts are civil, intra-state wars where belligerent groups use guerrilla tactics to achieve various political, economic or ideological objectives. The atrocities and the effect of these on-going wars on innocent civilians, human suffering, poverty and development are beyond comprehension. Not surprisingly, the majority of current peace operations are in Africa, with more than 70 countries contributing forces to these conflict zones. On the continent, South Africa has come to assume a leading role in peace operations and is now a major troop-contributing country to UN and AU missions. In the past 11 years, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has taken part in no fewer than 14 peace missions. This article provides a brief background of the conflicts in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, the different United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) mandates under which peacekeepers had to operate as well as their objectives, and the extent of South Africa's involvement in the various missions. In the last section, the major challenges, that these operations have posed are highlighted.