Britain and Hiroshima

Most historical accounts of the atomic bombings of Japan show little interest in Britain's explicit authorization for the attacks. Meanwhile, the few historians who have attempted to explain it rely on a unitary, rational actor model of the British state that is misleading. This article demonstrates that high-ranking British officials became anxious early on about the strategic consequences of a peremptory use of the new weapon. Therefore, especially over the course of 1944 they sought to engage Washington on the linked questions of the bomb's wartime use and its postwar control. However, these officials' initiatives were rebuffed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who paved the way to the bombings based on a fervent desire for Anglo-American integration, and on a dim understanding of the bomb's revolutionary potential.     

The 1958 Anglo-American Mutual Defence Agreement: The Search for Nuclear Interdependence

Written on the 50th anniversary, this article focuses on the negotiations between Britain and the United States which led to the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement and the beginning of the ‘special nuclear relationship’ which has lasted down to the present day. It is argued that the eventual success of the negotiations had a lot to do with the key roles of Eisenhower and Macmillan but that a transatlantic ‘advocacy coaltion’ of nuclear scientists, defence and intelligence officials also played an important part at the operational level in achieving and subsequently shaping the kind of relationship which developed. Attention is also given to the longer term significance of the agreement, especially in terms of the arguments about its impact on nuclear proliferation.     

求解WTA问题的智能算法评价准则

目前求解火力优化配置(WTA)问题的智能算法层出不穷,急需统一的算法评价准则来比较各算法的寻优能力,以得到相对更高精度、更高效率的算法.针对上述问题建立了完善的评价准则体系,从算法代码编制质量、算法精准度和算法执行效率3个方面对智能算法的寻优能力深入讨论,并给出了2个标准测试模型及其初始化参数.实例说明本评价准则科学合理,具有很高的实用价值.     

射频前端强电磁脉冲前门耦合研究

针对强电磁脉冲能量经天线进入射频前端的威胁,给出强电磁脉冲环境的评估方法,通过分析天线-射频前端工作原理,提出全频带脉冲耦合能量的理论计算公式.并以中馈天线-短波电台为例,用电磁仿真软件CST实现了天线仿真与前端电路仿真的有机连接,得出前门耦合数据及其影响因素,此仿真方案也为更深入分析耦合效应、验证防护技术提供了良好平台.最后根据仿真为前门防护提出若干意见.     

Rethinking Stability in South Asia: India,Pakistan, and the Competition for Escalation Dominance

India and Pakistan are currently engaged in a competition for escalation dominance. While New Delhi is preparing for a limited conventional campaign against Pakistan, Islamabad is pursuing limited nuclear options to deter India. Together, these trends could increase the likelihood of nuclear conflict. India, for example, might conclude that it can launch an invasion without provoking a nuclear reprisal, while Pakistan might believe that it can employ nuclear weapons without triggering a nuclear exchange. Even if war can be avoided, these trends could eventually compel India to develop its own limited nuclear options in an effort to enhance deterrence and gain coercive leverage over Pakistan.     

光纤在遥控武器站火控系统中的应用

通过对光纤及光纤通讯关键技术和设备的介绍,提出在遥控武器站火控系统中利用光纤传输方式实现系统高速、高带宽视频、总线、IO信号的传输方式。通过光电转换单元的模块化设计,与系统部件有效集成,减少部件数量,优化系统网络。基于CPLD技术的电路设计,有效减小电路板尺寸,缩短设计周期,提高工作可靠性。设计紧凑、合理的光纤旋转连接器及光纤链路形式,有效保证链路的插入损耗,高质量完成信息传输。运用时分复用/解复用技术拓展传输带宽,为系统的升级和扩展预留了充分的空间。结合工程实际提出光纤通讯目前存在的主要问题并给出相应的解决方案。     

基于四元数法的反辐射武器飞行仿真研究

在开发反辐射武器攻击目标的三维飞行仿真系统中或分析处理三维运动数据时,针对传统的运动姿态旋转方法存在计算繁琐、旋转不均匀性及平衡环锁定等局限问题,采用四元数法可以避免这些局限,并且几何意义明确,计算简单。因此,提出在飞行仿真系统中利用四元数法来实现反辐射武器的运动姿态及飞行速度矢量的旋转,在飞行仿真试验中实现了飞行轨迹变化光滑连续的合理效果,仿真结果表明四元数法简化了矢量旋转计算模型,优化了解算性能,能够很好地应用于反辐射武器飞行仿真试验中。     

EDITOR'S NOTE

The Nonproliferation Review (NPR) recently interviewed Ambassador Sergio de Queiroz Duarte of Brazil, who presided over the 2005 Seventh Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Ambassador Duarte discussed his views on the outcome of the conference and the future of the treaty. He provided NPR with valuable insights into the outcome of the conference and also shared his thoughts on some of the most pressing issues confronting the NPT today, including the Middle East, nuclear terrorism, elimination of the threat of highly enriched uranium in the civilian nuclear sector, proposals to limit access to the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear disarmament, and negative security assurances. Blaming the failed conference on a general lack of political commitment among states parties and their unwillingness to negotiate common solutions, Ambassador Duarte stressed that “the conference should face squarely its own failure without my attempting to disguise or sugarcoat the deep differences of view, which must be resolved with courage and determination by the states parties if they want the treaty to remain effective.”?He emphasized that if states fail to act on their overriding interest in upholding the NPT, especially if states parties continue to ignore or disregard their nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament obligations, some states might come to believe that their security interests are no longer served by the treaty. The future prospects of the NPT would then “look dire indeed.”     

THE GEOGRAPHY OF NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION NETWORKS

This article uses a geographic approach to examine one aspect of the nuclear black market: the coordinators who bring buyers and sellers together, and transport goods between them. The most important factor in determining the geographical structure of a proliferation network is the network coordinator's access (or lack thereof) to unique state resources. Coordinators with access to state resources and prerogatives can avoid embedding themselves in hostile countries or relying on commercial infrastructure, often leading to territorially diffuse logistical networks. Coordinators without such access are forced to rely on commercial infrastructure and favorable local political, economic, and social conditions, often resulting in territorially centralized logistical networks. This is illustrated through case studies of Abdul Qadeer Khan's supply networks to Pakistan, Libya, and Iran. The article concludes with some observations about the implications of a geographical approach for understanding nuclear proliferation networks.     

SHADOW WARS

The Secret War with Iran: The 30-Year Clandestine Struggle Against the World's Most Dangerous Terrorist Power, by Ronen Bergman. Free Press, 2008. 432 pages, $28

Fallout: The True Story of the CIA's Secret War on Nuclear Trafficking, by Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz. Free Press, 2011. 304 pages, $26.

The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year War with Iran, by David Crist. Penguin Press, 2012. 638 pages, $36.

Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War, by Yaakov Katz and Yoaz Hendel. Potomac Books Inc., 2012. 254 pages, $30.

Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars, by Dan Raviv. Levant, 2012. 356 pages, $17.

Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, by David E. Sanger. Crown Publishers, 2012. 476 pages, $28.