Lost through non-translation: bringing Clausewitz's writings on ‘new wars’ back in

While Carl von Clausewitz has generally been respected as one of the most profound philosophers of war, his expertise has been regarded as somewhat limited if not even irrelevant to the so-called ‘new wars’ of the post-Cold War world. Many scholars in international relations have claimed that ‘new wars’ are essentially ‘post-Clausewitzian’ and ‘post-trinitarian’ in nature, meaning that they are no longer fathomable through a Clausewitzian framework. However Clausewitz's earlier writings were nearly exclusively dedicated to guerrilla warfare, or what he called ‘small wars’. These writings have been largely overlooked by many analysts of contemporary conflicts. By drawing on his rare and untranslated writings, the article uncovers a critical part of Clausewitz's expertise in asymmetric warfare and shows that, far from being irrelevant in an age where interstate warfare is increasingly being replaced by conflicts between states and semi-/non-state actors, Clausewitz's philosophical writings actually shed new light into the particular interactive dynamics generated during wars waged under conditions of asymmetry.     

What Happened to Israeli Military Thought?

Abstract

This article addresses the following question: how can one explain the neglect of the intellectual aspects of the profession on the part of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)? The explanations offered for that neglect are a mixture of cultural and societal factors. The cultural explanation focuses on Israeli strategic culture; the traditional Israeli perception of the combination of rich experience and experience-based intuition as a winning ticket; the tendency to extol improvisation; a cult of material strength; and a strong belief in technology. The social explanation stresses the declining attractiveness of a military career for qualitative young Israelis. The article contends that change can take place only if the IDF undergoes a process of institutional intellectualism – if not willingly then one imposed by the political echelon.     

Deterring ‘Able Archer’: Comments Arising from Adamsky’s ‘Lessons for Deterrence Theory and Practice’

This is a short commentary on Dmitry Adamsky’s recent article ‘The 1983 Nuclear Crisis – Lessons for Deterrence Theory and Practice’. First, it teases out nuances in the relationship between deterrence and strategy and considers deterrence to be both a strategy and an effect. Second, it explores the culminating point of deterrence in theory and considers it untenable, as it does not conform to the logic of, or to any logic analogous to, Clausewitz’s culminating point of victory. Deterrence logically cannot culminate. Moreover, any culminating point of deterrence would ignore why the potential deteree should perceive the actions of his deterrer in such a way as to render strengthened strategies of deterrence counterproductive. It is the deteree who is the only strategic actor to determine whether the deterrer is actually practising a successful strategy of deterrence or not.     

Research on fuze microswitch based on corona discharge effect

Abnormal voltages such as electrostatic, constant current, and strong electromagnetic signals can erro-neously trigger operation of MEMS pyrotechnics and control systems in a fuze, which may result in casualties. This study designs a solid-state micro-scale switch by combining the corona gas discharge theory of asymmetric electric fields and Peek's Law. The MEMS switch can be transferred from "off" to"on" through the gas breakdown between the corona electrodes. In the model, one of the two electrodes is spherical and the other flat, so a non-uniform electric field is formed around the electrodes. The theoretical work is as follows. First, the relation among the radius of curvature of the spherical electrode, the discharge gap, and the air breakdown voltage is obtained; to meet the low voltage (30-60 V) required to drive the MEMS switch, the radius of curvature of the spherical electrode needs to be 10-50 μm and the discharge gap between the two electrodes needs to be 9-11 μm. Second, the optimal ratio ε is introduced to parameterize the model. Finally, the corona discharge structural parameters are determined by comparing the theoretical and electric field simulation results. The switch is then fabricated via MEMS processing. A hardware test platform is built and the performing chip tested. It is found that when the electrode gap is 9 μm, the electrostatic voltage is at least 37.3 V, with an error of 2.6% between the actual and theoretical air breakdown voltages. When the electrode gap is 11 μm, the electrostatic voltage is at least 42.3 V, with an error of 10.5% between the actual and theoretical air breakdown voltages. Both cases meet the design requirements.     

军用飞机服役过程的风险管理

墨菲定理指出系统危险源必然引发事故,海恩法则强调事故发生是量的积累,因此欲提高飞机这种高风险系统的服役安全就必须展开风险管理。风险管理是安全管理的重要组成部分,系统安全性理论是安全管理的基础,在对系统安全性进行定义、明确目标和组成的基础上,建立了一种适用于飞机服役过程的风险管理模型,并分析了其风险控制步骤,对于飞机服役过程的风险管理有一定的指导意义。     

一维热构件模型及其在船用核动力装置运行分析中的应用

建立了一维热构件模型 ,该模型具有广泛的适用性 ,可以模拟是否有内热源、不同几何形状及具有多种边界条件的热构件 .方程采用隐式有限差分法求解热传导方程 ,并将模型应用于核动力装置的运行分析中 .计算结果表明 ,本文所建立的一维热构件模型能逼真地描述一维热构件的温度场分布 ,计算精度高 .     

压电材料中的共线非等长多裂纹问题

建立了横观各向同性压电材料中的共线非等长多裂纹模型。将裂纹模拟为连续分布的广义位错,推导了单点广义位错的格林函数,并基于此得到了共线非等长多裂纹的奇异积分方程组,最后由数值计算给出了裂纹尖端的能量释放率。对奇异积分方程组的退化分析和对称条件下的数值结果的讨论,验证了本文结果的正确性。研究表明:当共线裂纹间距小于裂纹长度时,裂纹尖端场存在显著的干涉效应;裂纹越长,干涉效应越显著;电载荷系数越大,能量释放率也越大;相对于外侧尖端而言,共线裂纹内侧尖端对电载荷系数更为敏感。     

Iran’s Nuclear Fatwa: Analysis of a Debate

For more than a decade, Iran has been referring to a fatwa issued by its Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, proscribing nuclear weapons. The fatwa, however, not only failed to influence the process that led to the resolution of Iran’s nuclear crisis, but also has been met with a good deal of skepticism. The most commonly held suspicions about the credibility of the fatwa can be summed up in five central questions: (1) Has the nuclear fatwa actually been issued? (2) Does the fatwa apply to all the aspects of nuclear weapons including their production, possession and use? (3) What is the juridical status of the fatwa? (4) Was the nuclear fatwa issued only to deceive other nations? (5) Is the fatwa really irreversible? This article tries to answer these questions by providing a chronological review of the fatwa and analyzing all the relevant statements by Khamenei. The analysis is conducted against the background of Islamic principles, Shi’a jurisprudence and the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The article concludes that the fatwa is a credible religious decree and could indeed contribute to the cause of nuclear disarmament.     

变工况下轴承健康监测的相关向量机与自适应阈值模型方法

工况在旋转机械运行过程中通常是变化的。变化的工况和故障一样,也会引起机械振动特征发生改变,从而引起诊断误差。为此,提出一种用于变工况下轴承健康监测的新方法。该方法使用相关向量机拟合振动特征的统计量随工况参数的变化,得到特征统计量与工况参数之间的连续函数关系;基于不同工况下的特征统计,构建自适应阈值模型。将该方法用于不同转速下的轴承健康监测,结果表明,当转速超过某一个较小的值时,该方法有效。     

Reforming China’s defense industry

ABSTRACT

Even with sizable economic inputs, access to foreign technologies, and considerable political will, China, up until the late 1990s, experienced only limited success when it came to the local design, development, and manufacture of advanced conventional weapons. Not surprisingly, therefore, reforming the local defense industry in order to upgrade its technology base and manufacturing capabilities and to make armaments production more efficient and cost-effective has long preoccupied the Chinese leadership. The fact that most of these efforts had little positive impact on the country’s military technological and industrial capabilities only encouraged Beijing to experiment with additional reforms in the hopes of finally getting it right.