Book Reviews

Iain McCallum, Blood Brothers Hiram and Hudson Maxim: Pioneers of Modern Warfare. London: Chatham, 1999. Pp. 224, 33 illus., 2 maps, biblio., index. £20. ISBN 1–86176–096–5.

Eric Ash, Sir Frederick Sykes and the Air Revolution, 1912–1918. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1999. Pp.xviii + 268, 20 illus., 3 maps, biblio., index. £42.50/$59.50 (cloth), £18.50/$27.50 (paper). ISBN 0–7146–4828–0 and ‐4382–3.

Azar Gat, Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and other Modernists. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Ppviii + 334, biblio., index. £45. ISBN 0–19–820715–8.

David B. Woolner (ed.), The Second Quebec Conference Revisited: Waging War, Formulating Peace: Canada, Great Britain, and the United States in 1944–1945. Basingstoke; London: Macmillan Press, 1998. Pp.xiii + 210, index. £32.50. ISBN 0–333–75970–2.

Jeffrey Grey. Up Top: The Royal Australian Navy and Southeast Asian Conflicts 1955–1972. St Leonards NSW: Allen &; Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1998. Pp.xx + 380, 110 illus., 12 tables, 23 maps &; diagrams, appendices, notes, biblio., index. NP. ISBN 1–86448–290–7.

Susan L Carruthers, The Media at War. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.321, biblio., index. £14.99 (paper). ISBN 0–333–69143–1, also available in hardback.

Edward J. Marolda and Robert J. Schneller Jr, Shield and Sword: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf War. Washington DC: Naval Historical Center, 1998. Pp.xxi + 517, 120 illus., 14 maps, biblio., index. NP. ISBN 0–1604–9476–1.

Marvin Pokrant, Desert Shield at Sea: What the Navy Really Did and Desert Storm at Sea: What the Navy Really Did. Both Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Pp.xxiii + 265,9 illus., biblio., index. £44.95. ISBN 0–313–31023–8. Pp.xxiv + 329,12 illus., biblio., index. NP. ISBN 0–313–31024–6.

David Kaularich and Ronald C. Kramer, Crimes of the American Nuclear State: At Home and Abroad. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999. Pp.xviii + 195, biblio., index. £42.75. ISBN 1–55553–371‐X.

Stanley Hoffmann, World Disorders: Troubled Peace in the Post‐Cold War Era. Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield, 1998. Pp.viii+279, notes, index. $29.95. ISBN 0–8476–8574–8.

Lawrence Freedman (ed.), Strategic Coercion: Concepts and Cases. Oxford: Oxford‐University Press, 1998. Pp.400, index. £48. ISBN 0–19–829–349–6.

Stephen J. Cimbala, Coercive Military Strategy. College Station, TX: Texas A&;M University Press, 1998. Pp.229, biblio, index; $39.95. ISBN 0–89096–836–5     

Virtual War in the Ice Jungle: ‘We don't know how to do this’

The Cold War at sea expanded in many realms, including the frigid and treacherous waters of the Arctic Ocean. The US Navy pioneered these efforts with the visit of USS Nautilus to the North Pole in 1958. During the latter stages of the Cold War, however, Soviet naval strategists began to conceptualize the polar ice cap as a strategic asset for cloaking the operations of its nuclear missile submarines. As under-ice operations afforded the Soviet submarine fleet advantages of stealth, proximity to target and tighter lines of communications, both navies were forced to try to develop tactics for combat under these extremely complex and arduous conditions.     

Non-lethal weapons and the long tail of warfare

This paper examines whether non-lethal weapons (NLWs) enhance the capability of the US armed forces to conduct irregular warfare (IW) operations. With expectations that the operational environment will only continue to become more complex in the future, NLWs may reduce the level of violence received, as well as dispensed, by US forces while performing tasks in the IW spectrum. We argue that NLWs increase the ability of US forces to address the long tail of warfare and their deployment should be increased in the near term.     

Minimum force in British counterinsurgency

With strategic success in Iraq and Afghanistan far from certain, comforting beliefs about Britain's superiority at counterinsurgency have come under increasingly sceptical scrutiny. This article contributes to the debate with particular reference to the supposedly pivotal principle of minimum force. After discussing the recent literature on the subject, the article critiques the methodology employed by advocates of the traditionalist view on British COIN, arguing for a more rigorous historical approach based on primary sources. Following these historical matters, it is argued that conceptually, minimum force should be analysed dialectically in relation to practices of exemplary force, and above all, on the evidence of what happens in a conflict. Arguably the value ascribed to doctrine in strategic analysis has become unduly inflated, and we must look beyond it to understand war and political violence.     

网络中心战及其对装备精确保障的几点启示

介绍了网络中心战的产生背景及发展历史,研究归纳了网络中心战的概念及内涵,分析了网络中心战原理,探讨了网络中心战对实现装备精确保障的一些启示,提出了我军在实现装备精确保障过程中借鉴网络中心战理论的构想及应注意的问题.     

两栖攻击舰作战系统

未来的两栖战舰将进一步强化立体两栖突击能力,将普遍设置直升机机库和飞行平台,并将携带气垫登陆艇,甚至地效翼飞行器、偏转翼飞机等立体两栖突击装备;另一方面强化自身的防御武器,除了常规的中小口径舰炮外,普遍都装备导弹发射装置;此外,舰上都设有由通信系统和计算机组成的、能处理多批目标、反应快、自动化程度高的两栖指挥控制系统。本文介绍美两栖攻击舰（LHA）和两栖船坞运输舰（LPD）的作战系统及其设备。     

武警院校特色学报建设的困境与解决方略

特色学报建设是武警院校在建设现代化武警中培养高素质学术人才的必然选择。在特色办刊理念指导下,找准特色学报方向,构建特色学报梯队,开设特色栏目,培育特色学术人才,是武警院校特色学报建设的主要内容和途径。在追求武警院校人才建设,着力为建设现代化武警服务的同时,又注重追求学报建设的内在价值,发挥特色学报栏目建设的整体功能,是提升武警学术研究核心竞争力和办刊水平的基本路向。     

舰空导弹武器系统信息化发展对策

为打赢未来海上信息化战争,作为舰艇编队盾牌的舰空导弹必须适应信息化发展的要求。主要研究了国外舰空导弹作战体系发展和美军"网络中心战"思想,提出了必须尽快发展具有实战能力的舰载和空中平台装载的舰空导弹协同作战系统,提高舰空导弹的信息化水平,研究相关的信息对抗手段及电子对抗装备,确保舰空导弹在复杂电磁环境下正常工作。     

有初始间隙弹性摩擦接触问题的罚有限元法

针对三维有初始间隙带摩擦的弹性接触问题,提出了一种新的迭代求解方法——罚有限元法。根据接触问题局部非线性的特点,将接触区域的法向非嵌入条件及切向连续性条件作为罚因子引入系统的总势能泛函中,由最小势能原理,得出了求解有初始间隙带摩擦弹性接触问题的罚有限元公式系统。最后通过两个数值算例验证方法的正确性和有效性。     

轮式装甲车辆的几何通过性建模与仿真

介绍了轮式装甲车辆通过障碍物的规则,分析了几何障碍物属性和通过判断条件,针对几何障碍物属性,提出了几何障碍物的通过算法,建立了几何通过性模型。采用VC＋＋编程对模型进行了仿真,通过仿真实验验证了算法和模型的可行性。