Life in the “Gray Zone”: observations for contemporary strategists

The term “Gray Zone” is gaining in popularity as a way of describing contemporary security challenges. This article describes the “short-of-war” strategies – the fait accompli, proxy warfare, and the exploitation of ambiguous deterrence situations, i.e. “salami tactics” – that are captured by the term and offers several explanations for why state and non-state actors are drawn to these strategies. The analysis highlights why defense postures based on deterrence are especially vulnerable to the short-of-war strategies that populate the “Gray Zone.” The article concludes by suggesting how defense officials might adapt defense policies to life in the “Gray Zone.”     

A Revolution Too Far? US Defence Innovation,Europe and NATO’s Military-Technological Gap

The United States is launching another defence innovation initiative to offset the growing military-technological might of countries such as China, Russia and Iran. However, by utilising emerging technologies from the commercial sector to achieve greater military power the US may further open up the technology gap within NATO. This raises serious questions for NATO’s European allies. This article probes the nature of the US’s latest innovation strategy and sets it within the strategic context facing Europe today. Whether European governments, firms and militaries will join the US in its new defence innovation drive will hinge on politico-military and industrial considerations.     

网络中心环境下的军事通信超网络结构模型

网络中心环境下的军事通信网络是一个多重边异构的人工功能网络。为了分析、设计和构建网络中心环境下的军事通信网络,通过扩展、综合Jeff的作战网络模型和Hans的网络兵力参考模型,提出了一种能够清晰描述网络节点功能和链路传输类型的军事通信超网络结构模型,给出了模型的数学描述,并说明基于它可将军事通信网络分解为多个具有军事特征的功能子网或专业通信网。最后通过分析某联合作战部队通信的超网络结构特征,验证了模型的有效性。     

浅析经济原则在网络语言中的应用

随着网络技术的发展,网络语言作为一种新的语言媒体和社会方言,越来越得到人们的重视。在不同的学术领域,专家对网络语言作出不同的诠释和研究。主要从构词、句法、非语言符号三个角度来分析经济原则在网络语言中的普遍使用,并从聊天室中收集、归纳、分析相关语料来证明经济原则的存在,及在网络空间中普遍使用的原因。对网络语言的深入研究,将更有助于人们了解语言在以高科技为背景条件下发展趋势。当网络语言冲击传统语言时,要树立正确的态度面对语言的发展。     

虚拟现实技术的军事应用

虚拟现实(VirtualReality,简称VR)技术属于国防高科技发展的重要领域,迄今已成为开发研制大型军事电子信息系统、复杂武器装备、作战环境下多武器平台和体系对抗的重要工具。VR技术作为人类认识客观世界和改造客观世界的有效手段正日益发挥着重要的作用。扼要阐述VR技术的内涵与特点、构成与关键技术及其军事应用。     

国外军用直升机的改进与发展

军用直升机特别是武装直升机在现代战争中的突袭和多功能作用引起了防空作战的广泛关注。概述了重型武装直升机Ａｐａｃｈｅ 的多种改进,讨论了军用直升机的发展趋势。     

战场赛博空间电子战应用研究

首先阐述和分析了赛博空间和电子战的概念和特点,给出了电子战在赛博空间中的定位。然后探讨了电子战在赛博空间中的应用,给出了电子战在赛博空间中可能应用的几大方面。最后总结了赛博空间电子战面临的关键技术与挑战。     

Disrupt and restraint: The evolution of cyber conflict and the implications for collective security

In the last decade, cyber conflict has become a main feature of international politics and a growing concern for strategic stability and collective security. Unfortunately, cyber conflict suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity about its impact on collective security and a lack of consensus among international actors on how to interpret it. This article proposes to understand cyber conflict as an evolving process driven by two factors: the way in which digital space is configured and the way in which tactical, organizational, strategic, and doctrinal characteristics related to cyber have been included in the field of national and international security. Both tend to encourage offensive behavior but also demonstrate features pointing to restraint.     

Military expenditure and economic development in China: an empirical inquiry

Increases in military spending have a big impact on the socioeconomic conditions in any country. However, there is no consensus as to whether the rising military expenditure is beneficial or detrimental to economic growth. The present study chose China as a case study to empirically examine a complex relationship between military expenditure and economic development. The findings from the Johansen cointegration test indicated that there existed a long-run relationship between China’s military spending and economic growth. Furthermore, the Granger causality test detected a unidirectional causality from economic development to military expenditure. These results were further confirmed by the findings from the impulse response function. This means that China represents an example of a developing economy where the size of military expenditure expands in the process of economic transformation.     

The growth in military expenditure in Germany 1951–2011: did parties matter?

We examine whether government ideology was correlated with the growth in military expenditure in Germany over the period 1951–2011. Using various measures of government ideology, the results do not show any effect. The exception is an ideology measure based on the Comparative Manifesto Project (left-right scale): using this measure, the results show that the growth in military expenditure increased by about 2.4 percentage points, when the ideology variable (right-wing) increased by one standard deviation. This effect, however, is based on observations until the early 1960s and cannot be generalized. The major political parties agreed on how to evaluate international risks and threats. Government ideology retired to the background. We conjecture that the consensus among the major parties will persist – even if military spending needs to be increased in response to new international risks and threats.