The NATO Response Force: A qualified failure no more?

With much fanfare, NATO declared its rapid reaction force—the NATO Response Force (NRF)—an Initial Operational Capability in 2004. This article addresses four questions: Where did the NRF come from? What does it look like in 2017? What have been the major obstacles for the NRF fulfilling its promises? And where is the NRF likely to go? The article holds two main arguments. First, due to inadequate fill-rates and disagreements as to the force’s operational role, the NRF was for many years a “qualified failure.” The force failed to become the operational tool envisioned by the allies in 2002. While not without effect, it fell hostage to the harsh reality of the expeditionary wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Second, the NRF is off to a fresh beginning and will likely be considered at least a partial success by the allies in the years to come.     

INCOMPLETE ROHLFS–SULLIVAN ANALYSIS OF THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF ARMORED TACTICAL WHEELED VEHICLES FOR OVERSEAS US ARMY OPERATIONS

This comment addresses the Rohlfs–Sullivan analysis titled: ‘The Cost-Effectiveness of Armored Tactical Wheeled Vehicles [TWVs] for Overseas US Army Operations.’ The analysis evaluated policies to replace Type 1 and 2 TWVs with Type 3s. There is no evidence the analysis factored in fatality causes, fatality relationships to vehicles, or compared survivability of vehicles. Furthermore, it did not note when Type 3 TWVs were requested, when they impacted fatalities, or TWV use policies. It also assumed Type 3 TWVs prompted negative unit behaviors while discounting evidence of positive behaviors. In summary, the analysis is incomplete and should be revised.     

Gas metal arc welding of high nitrogen stainless steel with Ar-N2-O2 ternary shielding gas

High nitrogen stainless steel with nitrogen content of 0.75％was welded by gas metal arc welding with Ar—N2-O2 ternary shielding gas. The effect of the ternary shielding gas on the retention and improvement of nitrogen content in the weld was identified. Surfacing test was conducted first to compare the ability of O2 and CO2 in prompting nitrogen dissolution. The nitrogen content of the surfacing metal with O2 is slightly higher than CO2. And then Ar—N2-O2 shielding gas was applied to weld high nitrogen stainless steel. After using N2-containing shielding gas, the nitrogen content of the weld was improved by 0.1 wt％. As N2 continued to increase, the increment of nitrogen content was not obvious, but the ferrite decreased from the top to the bottom. When the proportion of N2 reached 20％, a full austenitic weld was obtained and the tensile strength was improved by 8.7％. Combined with the results of surfacing test and welding test, it is concluded that the main effect of N2 is to inhibit the escape of nitrogen and suppress the ni-trogen diffusion from bottom to the top in the molten pool.     

A novel method for determination of lethal radius for high-explosive artillery projectiles

A new model has been defined that enables the estimation of the lethal radius (radius of efficiency) of HE (High Explosive) artillery projectiles against human targets. The model is made of several modules: CAD (Computer Aided Design) modeling, fragment mass distribution estimation, fragment initial velocity prediction, fragment trajectory calculation, effective fragment density estimation, and high explosive projectile lethal radius estimation. The results were compared with the experimental results obtained based on tests in the arena used in our country, and the agreement of the results was good. This model can be used in any terminal-ballistics scenario for high explosive projectiles since it is general, para-metric, fast and relatively easy to implement.     

利用RLC电路合成高压方波脉冲

基于过阻尼RLC电路分时放电,提出了一种新型高压方波脉冲产生方法。理论分析表明过阻尼RLC电路产生的双指数电压波与PFL产生的方形电压波具有类似的上升沿和平顶。电路模拟表明通过人工过零技术可以对双指数电压波进行截尾,从而形成完整的高压方波脉冲。建立了原理验证性样机,由两组RLC电路构成,每组电路包含一台400 nF脉冲电容器和一只三电极场畸变气体开关,两组电路共用一个上升沿调节电感。实验证明样机可以在250 Ω电阻负载上输出幅值17 kV,平顶宽度330 ns~5.8 μs,上升沿100~ 350 ns 的单极性高压方波脉冲。该方法适应性强,对负载变化不敏感,同时具有良好的可调节性,方波上升沿、平顶宽度连续独立可调。     

54／74HC高速CMOS逻辑电路的接口电路

本文主要讨论了５４／７４ＨＣ高速ＣＭＯＳ逻辑电路的性能特．点及接口电路。     

伪卫星辅助北斗定位精度改进方法

由于北斗二号一期系统卫星集中分布在赤道附近,导致国土范围内接收机南北方向定位精度偏低,且由于可视卫星均为正仰角,导致接收机垂直方向定位精度也偏低的问题,提出了利用地面伪卫星改善用户观测几何结构的方法来提高一定区域范围内北斗接收机的定位精度。推导了伪卫星与真实卫星组合的最小二乘定位算法模型,并给出了用于定位精度评估的南北和垂直方向的精度衰减因子值。仿真结果表明:在用户使用范围的北部地区布设伪卫星可有效降低用户南北方向以及垂直方向的精度衰减因子值,从而有效改善定位精度。     

导弹落点精度的鉴定方法——概率圆方法

导弹的落点精度包括落点的准确度与密集度。对于子样很小的情况 ,分别鉴定准确度和密集度是有一定的难度。本文提出了采用概率圆的综合鉴定方法。当落入概率圆的导弹数大于等于要求的数时就接收 ,否则拒绝。文中给出了如何确定落入概率圆的导弹数 ,并且给出了该方法的风险。最后以仿真实例说明了方法的有效性。概率圆方法简便易行 ,便于工程应用。     

数字式相位差测量方法及精度分析

相位差变化率是最近提出的用于快速无源定位的观测量。该文研究相位差的高精度测量方法 ,提出了一种正交双通道数字式的相位差测量方法。通过对信号频谱的分析 ,计算了测量系统输出的信噪比 ,从而得出了相位差测量的理论精度 ,随后进行仿真分析验证了理论精度。理论分析和仿真实验证明 ,论文提出的方法可以实现高精度的相位差测量