Missile defense and strategic stability: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea

South Korea is threatened by its troubled relationship with North Korea. North Korea possesses a large cache of missiles as well as chemical and biological weapons, and the future potential to mount nuclear weapons on its missiles. The United States is also challenged because of its defense commitments to Seoul. As a countermeasure, the United States and South Korea decided to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defenses in South Korea. However, China has objected. Chinese scholars believe the THAAD radar would be able to track Chinese inter-continental ballistic missiles, thereby weakening their deterrent. A technical analysis does not support this assertion. However, it is vital for South Korea, given its proximity and economic interdependence, to reassure China. South Korea should highlight that THAAD will be deployed by the United States Forces Korea and is not a commitment by Seoul to become part of U.S.-led missile defenses in the Asia-Pacific.     

Reconsidering minimum deterrence in South Asia: Indian responses to Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons

India’s nuclear doctrine and posture has traditionally been shaped by minimum deterrence logic. This logic includes assumptions that possession of only a small retaliatory nuclear force generates sufficient deterrent effect against adversaries, and accordingly that development of limited nuclear warfighting concepts and platforms are unnecessary for national security. The recent emergence of Pakistan’s Nasr tactical nuclear missile platform has generated pressures on Indian minimum deterrence. This article analyzes Indian official and strategic elite responses to the Nasr challenge, including policy recommendations and attendant implications. It argues that India should continue to adhere to minimum deterrence, which serves as the most appropriate concept for Indian nuclear policy and best supports broader foreign and security policy objectives. However, the form through which Indian minimum deterrence is delivered must be rethought in light of this new stage of regional nuclear competition.     

Nuclear weapons,the United States and alliances in Europe and Asia: Toward an institutional perspective

America’s alliances in Europe and East Asia all involve some institutional cooperation on U.S. nuclear weapons policy, planning or employment—from consultative fora in Asia to joint policy and sharing of nuclear warheads in NATO. Such cooperation is often analyzed through the prism of “extended nuclear deterrence,” which focuses on the extension of U.S. security guarantees and their effect on potential adversaries. This article argues that this underplays the importance of institutional factors: Allies have historically addressed a range of objectives through such cooperation, which has helped to catalyze agreements about broader alliance strategy. The varied form such cooperation takes in different alliances also flows from the respective bargaining power of allies and the relative importance of consensus, rather than perceived threats. The article concludes that nuclear weapons cooperation will remain crucial in successful U.S. alliance management, as allies negotiate their relationship with each other in the face of geostrategic change.     

非椭圆扩展目标联合跟踪与分类算法

充分利用目标尺寸和形状信息,提出了一种基于星凸随机超曲面模型(random hypersurface model, RHM)的非椭圆扩展目标联合跟踪与分类(joint tracking and classification, JTC)算法。将目标空间扩展状态建模为星凸形状,通过目标类别相关先验信息的矢量化建模,建立起其与目标瞬时扩展状态的关系,并在统一的贝叶斯滤波框架下,实现跟踪与分类的一体化处理;进一步对目标运动学状态和扩展状态单独进行建模,并通过构建扩展状态的似然函数,利用粒子滤波实现目标类别概率算式的递推处理。仿真结果表明:与基于椭圆形状的扩展目标JTC算法相比,所提算法能对尺寸相近、形状不同的目标进行准确分类,同时可改善目标状态的估计效果;与基于星凸RHM的扩展目标跟踪算法相比,所提算法能大幅提高目标状态的估计性能。     

火箭弹卷弧尾翼的轻量化研究

针对火箭弹卷弧尾翼在特定气动载荷下的轻量化问题,基于结构动力学理论,依托ABAQUS非线性有限元软件,建立了火箭弹卷弧尾翼的有限元模型。通过对比碳纤维复合材料(CFRP)和合金钢材料的卷弧尾翼的有限元分析,得出了碳纤维复合材料在满足强度和刚度的要求下,使卷弧尾翼减重达80%。该方法为火箭弹卷弧尾翼的轻量化设计提供了一种参考和借鉴。     

基于非负张量表示的扩展LDA标注模型

由于“语义鸿沟”的存在,自动图像标注是一项极具挑战性的工作。考虑到图像低层视觉特征与高层语义概念的差异,分别从图像表示与语义建模两个方面来实现自动图像标注。在图像表示方面,提出了一种正则化约束下的非负张量表示方法,用以提取符合人眼视觉直观理解的图像高阶结构特征。在语义建模方面,提出了一种三层贝叶斯模型——扩展隐Dirichlet分配。该模型利用隐变量来实现图像与标注词的关联,并通过一种基于变分推理的期望最大值方法来估计其参数。实验结果表明,ELDA模型在大规模数据库NUS-WIDE上的标注结果相较于现有方法有了显著的提高。     

同时定位与制图辅助的GPS/DR组合导航

针对全球定位系统在信号失锁条件下与航位推算组合导航的系统误差快速累积问题,提出一种基于压缩扩展卡尔曼滤波的同时定位与制图的辅助的全球定位系统/航位推算组合导航方法。该方法利用同时定位与辅助实现运动平台在全球定位系统信号无效时连续稳定导航,抑制航位推算定位误差的累积,并利用全球定位系统定位结果校正同时定位与辅助制图误差,减小地图的不确定性。设计基于压缩扩展卡尔曼滤波的同时定位与辅助/全球定位系统组合滤波器,实现大尺度环境下同时定位与辅助/全球定位系统的实时解算。真实实验数据计算结果分析表明,相对于同时定位与辅助定位结果,同时定位与辅助的全球定位系统/航位推算组合导航可有效提高系统定位性能,使得制图精度提高10m。     

Regional integration and nuclear energy in Africa

African states are hampered by unreliable electric energy that has not complemented economic development efforts. Recently, several African states announced plans to pursue nuclear energy in the future. However, several challenges remain for these states, notably insecurity and financial deficiencies. This paper proposes the use of regional integration arrangements to address these challenges faced by African states, as a way of complementing other efforts enabling African states to obtain nuclear energy. The existence of these arrangements and their institutional mechanisms can enable African states to enhance security and cost-effectively develop nuclear power infrastructure.     

Open source intelligence (OSINT) for conflict monitoring in contemporary South Africa: Challenges and opportunities in a big data context

This article argues that aspirations of maintaining a dominant influence over sub-Saharan security issues has spurred the French and British leadership of European Union (EU) foreign and security policy integration, just as it has informed military capability expansions by the armed forces of the main EU powers. While Europe's initial African focus was on stabilising a continent marred by state failure, civil wars and genocides, changes in the global security context, especially the shift towards multipolarity manifest in China's growing engagement, has prompted a complementary focus on deterring other powers from making military inroads into the subcontinent. Hence Europe's sub-Saharan security focus is shifting from stabilisation towards deterrence. This helps explain recent military procurements which, in spite of the extremely challenging fiscal position of most EU member states, feature large-scale investments in long-range deterrence capabilities.     

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH

The funding of international nuclear risk mitigation is ad hoc, voluntary, and unpredictable, offering no transparent explanation of who is financially responsible for the task or why. Among many non-nuclear-armed states, this exacerbates a sense of injustice surrounding what they see as a discriminatory nuclear regime. The resulting erosion of the regime's legitimacy undermines support for efforts to prevent nuclear weapons dissemination and terrorism. This article proposes a transparent, equitable “nuclear-user-pays” system as a logical means of reversing this trend. This system envisions states contributing financially to international efforts to mitigate nuclear risks at a level relative to the degree of nuclear risks created by each state. “National nuclear risk factors” would be calculated by tabulating the risks associated with each state's civilian and military nuclear activities, as well as advanced dual-use and nuclear-capable missile activities, multiplying the severity of each risk by the probability of it occurring, and combining these results. A nuclear-user-pays model would create financial incentives for national and corporate nuclear risk mitigation, boost legitimacy and support for nuclear control efforts among non-nuclear-armed states, assist in preventing nuclear weapons dissemination and terrorism, and advance nuclear disarmament by helping progressively devalue nuclear weapons.