Limiting cyberwarfare: applying arms-control models to an emerging technology

ABSTRACT

An arms race in cyberspace is underway. US and Western government efforts to control this process have largely been limited to deterrence and norm development. This article examines an alternative policy option: arms control. To gauge whether arms-control models offer useful lessons for addressing cyber capabilities, this article compiles a new dataset of predominantly twentieth-century arms-control agreements. It also evaluates two case studies of negotiated agreements that regulate dual-use technologies, the 1928 Geneva Protocol prohibiting chemical- and biological-weapon use and the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The analysis underscores the limits of norm development for emerging technologies with both civilian and military applications. It finds lessons for developing verifiable, international cooperation mechanisms for cyberwarfare in the regulatory model of international aviation. Conventionally, arms-control agreements take advantage of transparent tests or estimates of arms. To restrict cyberwarfare activities, experts and policy makers must adapt arms-control models to a difficult-to-measure technology at an advanced stage of development and use. Further investigation of international regulatory schemes for dual-use technology of similar diffusion and development to the internet, such as international civil aviation, is needed.     

How old is too old? An economic approach to replacing military aircraft

The US Air Force is asking when to replace its aging aircraft. We develop a framework to identify economically optimal replacement strategies that recognizes cost trade-offs and incorporates age effects. We also preview a stochastic methodology. We use the framework to identify an optimal strategy, defined by the replacement age, for a generic fleet and conduct a sensitivity analysis. Quantitative illustrations show that the range of strategies that provides close-to-optimal outcomes widens as the operating and support (O&S) cost growth rate decreases and the ratio of the acquisition price to the initial O&S cost increases. A wider range implies more decision-making leeway.     

GREAT POWER RESPONSIBILITY AND NUCLEAR ORDER

A Perpetual Menace: Nuclear Weapons and International Order, by William Walker. Routledge, 2012. 247 pages, $42.95.     

THE EXERCISE OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Skeptics of the Bush administration have castigated its strong aversion to formal international agreements in responding to the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), citing unilateral actions as the default alternative. Yet this critique misses the growing emergence of a conscious framework guiding the administration's actions: an emphasis on the exercise of national sovereignty and the corollary principle of sovereign responsibility. Rejecting the paradigm of arms control as the answer to WMD proliferation, the current administration instead advocates a toolkit of alternative mechanisms based on the full exercise by individual nation, states of their domestic authorities and rights under international law, acting in their capacities as responsible citizens of the global community. This paper will examine that philosophical approach and its concrete application through the following policies: (1) the Proliferation Security Initiative; (2) enforcement of national laws and regulations as exemplified by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 and the U.S. proposals for consideration by Biological Weapons Convention signatories; and (3) preemptive warfare to disarm the WMD programs of a threatening state.     

Assessing military reform in Indonesia

This article seeks to assess the magnitude of military reform in Indonesia and its impact in establishing greater levels of professionalism within the armed forces. To this end, the authors will offer some reflections on the studies of civil-military relations and military transformation for inculcating a higher degree of military professionalism; analyse to what extent the process of military reform in Indonesia has reshaped the institutional role of the armed forces; and discern three major strategic gaps in Indonesia's military reform, namely the “legal loopholes and regulation vacuum,” the “shortcomings of democratic civilian control,” and the “defence-economic gap.” This article asserts that military professionalism will grow more substantially depending on the ability of civilian elites to exercise effective control over the military and the capacity of the government to transform the military establishment keeping pace with strategic challenges and operational requirements.     

动物飞行控制技术在军事中的应用

半机械动物飞行器代表了微型飞行器的未来方向。文中对动物飞行控制技术仅作简要介绍,对半机械动物飞行器在军事领域中的应用价值和应用前景作了重点讨论．综述了近年来动物飞行控制技术的重要研究动态,结合甲虫机器人介绍了本实验室的近期研究成果。最后,基于动物飞行控制技术的研究瓶颈给出了动物飞行控制技术未来的研究方向。     

信息化条件下的军备控制

军备控制的目的是维护国家的安全和减少国家安全威胁.随着现代科学技术的发展和世界经济一体化进程的加快,国家安全威胁的因素与国家军事能力同步增长.尤其是现代信息技术的快速渗透和发展,不仅带来了安全隐患的增加,也加速了武器装备的更新换代,对国际军备控制产生了广泛的影响.     

弹性高超声速飞行器自适应极点配置控制

本文针对乘波体外形的高超声速飞行器存在的结构/推进/气动强耦合特性,利用鲁棒极点配置方法设计了自适应控制器,实现了对高超声速飞行器的速度和高度指令跟踪控制。控制器采用了Proportional-Integral-Filter(PIF)结构,该结构的控制器不仅能够使系统具备良好的稳态特性而且能够对控制信号进行滤波平滑,从而能够有效地抑制高超声速飞行器的弹性振动对控制系统的影响。基于弹性高超声速飞行器模型CSUAL_GHV,分别采用自适应鲁棒极点配置控制方法和自适应非鲁棒极点配置控制方法进行了数值仿真。结果表明,与非鲁棒极点配置控制方法相比,采用自适应鲁棒极点配置控制方法的控制系统不仅使飞行器能够很快地跟踪上速度和高度指令,跟踪误差小于1%,而且高超声速飞行器的弹性振动也得到了有效地抑制。飞行器在整个飞行过程中的飞行攻角均处于±2°范围内,满足超燃冲压发动机的工作要求。     

防空兵网络化作战指挥控制方式

信息化条件下防空兵作战依托防空兵指挥信息系统,已经将防空兵各个作战要素联结到了一起,初步具备了网络化作战的雏形.而恰当的指挥控制方式是实施高效防空兵网络化作战的关键问题之一.首先剖析了防空兵网络化作战给指挥控制带来的新特点,而后构建了防空兵网络化作战指挥控制方式的概念模型,在此基础上提出了适应防空兵网络化作战的指挥控制方式是自适应指挥控制方式.并研究了防空兵网络化作战实施自适应指挥控制方式的必要性、可行性、内在机理以及实现的途径.     

预防性维修工作组合优化

针对单部件的维修间隔期无法反映系统的维修最佳间隔期这一问题,对装备各部件在各修理级别上的预防性维修任务组合情况进行探索。通过建立费用模型、可用度和风险模型作为决策模型,用以组合某一修理级别各部件的维修工作,得出系统预防性维修间隔期,并结合部队实际优化从系统的角度优化等级维修中的维修工作间隔期,为确定大中小修工作提供科学、合理的理论指导。该算法在区分各修理级别的维修能力的基础上,能较好地对各修理级别的维修工作组合情况进行了优化,实例验证了模型的实用性和有效性。