AGENDA FOR DEFENSE AND PEACE ECONOMICS

This brief introduction celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Journal, Defence and Peace Economics. Suggesting elements of an agenda for the future of this branch of economics, I raise several topics that are new and that seem to indicate that the field will expand and shift focus substantially in future years.     

Countering the Quetta Shura: a viable strategy to US policy in Afghanistan

The US strategy in Afghanistan has fallen short of neutralizing the insurgency that threatens the future stability. The primary insurgency's leadership council, the Quetta Shura, has effectively managed influence through a shadow government and superior tactics in recruiting marginalized tribal leaders, leading to a questionable outcome once Coalition forces withdraw in 2014. This article summarizes the threat posed by the Quetta Shura, coinciding with the deficiencies in the current US policy, and recommends a more viable strategy conducive to the current circumstances, based on historical and cultural precedence. Coalition forces have put a great amount of time, money, and effort into establishing a more stable Afghanistan. The USA needs a more aggressive strategy to counter the aspirations of the insurgency, thereby giving the Afghans the opportunity to further progress in the future. Under the current circumstances and policies, a peaceful transition after the Coalition withdrawal is becoming more unlikely.     

两栖作战装备体系综合效能评估初探

文章通过研究两栖作战的构成要素,设计提出两栖作战装备体系的基本构成,提出两栖作战装备体系的综合效能评估方法和应用实例,为海军两栖作战装备体系的发展提供参考。     

基于技术和装备最新发展研究把握现代战争制胜机理

技术和装备发展对现代战争具有革命性的影响。基于技术和装备发展的现代战争制胜机理主要有:感知驱动、数据制胜,网络聚能、体系制胜,精确行动、集约制胜,迅捷灵敏、快速制胜,综合制权,主动制胜。认识和把握现代战争制胜机理应着重强调技术素养、战术技术有机融合,定性定量各有侧重。     

透视德军心理战部队

历经第二次世界大战和冷战时期后,德军心理战部队朝量小、质精的目标发展。冷战结束东、西德统一后,德军配合北约组织执行索马里、波斯尼亚及阿富汗等国维和任务,心理战部队一方面以实务经验精进其作业能力,另一方面在多国维和任务中汲取他国长处,以传播科技增进其执行效能。     

Lessons learnt? Cultural transfer and revolutionary wars, 1775–1831

Did participants in small wars in the period 1775–1831 learn from previous or contemporary examples? While this is difficult to prove for participants who left no written records, there is considerable evidence in existing publications by practitioners that they did indeed draw out lessons from recent insurgencies, either from their own experience or from events elsewhere which they studied from afar, especially the Spanish Guerrilla, which had already become legendary. Most authors showed an interest in how to stage insurgencies rather than in how to quell them. Even then, transfer did not come in a package of tactics-cum-values, but in each case in different configurations.     

Spies,advisors, and grunts: Film portrayals of counterinsurgency in Vietnam

Vietnam was a complex conflict, which historians and political scientists have struggled to understand. Some of the bitterest disputes in the historiography revolve around the US approach to counterinsurgency in Vietnam. Many different facets of the war have received the attention of filmmakers, and an examination of their work suggests new ways of thinking about the conflict. This article considers film portrayals of three phases of the Vietnam War – firstly, the early period of ‘political action’, then the advisory period, and finally the Americanization of the war after 1965. It suggests that by examining the experiences of participants in each of these phases, Vietnam War cinema helps to illustrate the problems that faced various American approaches to counterinsurgency in the conflict. Combined with the importance of films in determining popular perceptions of both historical conflicts and counterinsurgency in general, it suggests that they are worthy subjects of study and critique.     

被动全向声纳浮标跟踪潜艇的优化布放方法

反潜飞机利用被动全向声纳浮标可以隐蔽地跟踪潜艇,但浮标消耗量大。在满足定位精度的条件下,如何优化布放浮标以便有效增加跟踪时间是一个亟待解决的问题。首先分析了浮标探测性能和浮标群相对位置对定位精度的影响,得到浮标布放的五种基本原则;然后结合水下目标跟踪技术提出了两种用被动全向声纳浮标跟踪潜艇的优化布放方法:一种是利用遗传算法来优化每一枚浮标的布放位置,另一种是将一批次投放2-4枚浮标的多维优化问题简单转换成一维优化问题来确定浮标的布放位置。最后仿真计算了这两种方法的跟踪性能及浮标消耗量。仿真结果表明,两种优化布放方法均能满足跟踪要求,前者的浮标消耗量比后者略少,但后者的投放批次少很多,有利于减少人员的工作量。     

Russia,America and missile defense

Russia has sharply objected to US plans for ballistic missile defense. The Russian official explanation is that the real purpose of the US missile defense plan is to make it impossible for Russia to retaliate against a US nuclear (or massive conventional) attack, thus making Russia subject to military blackmail by the US. The Russian response has been the result of a sum total of various factors, mostly political and cultural, while the technical capabilities of the proposed system have played a secondary role.     

天线波束对飞机射频隐身性能的影响分析

射频隐身是新一代军用飞机必须具备的重要能力。从隐身飞机的实际使用环境出发,针对以往只考虑个体对抗特性,采用Schleher截获因子评价飞机射频隐身性能的不足,提出了基于整体对抗特性,采用联合截获概率评估射频隐身性能的新方法,为射频隐身研究提供了新思路。通过对隐身飞机的射频使用环境建模,计算了天线波束的空、地覆盖区大小,结合联合截获概率的定义和计算方法,仿真了不同情况下天线波束宽度对联合截获概率的影响。根据仿真结果,分析了天线波束对飞机射频隐身性能的影响,其结论可为隐身飞机天线设计时的折中考虑提供基础和参考依据。