The crisis of American military assistance: strategic dithering and Fabergé Egg armies

ABSTRACT

The United States has provided substantial amounts of military assistance and aid since the end of World War Two. During the Cold War, it proved vital in protecting numerous regimes from communist takeovers. Successful outcomes occurred when American leaders made large initial aid commitments, and the states had the capacity and political willpower to use it effectively. However, Vietnam was an example of how U.S. support lagged, as leaders in Saigon preferred political survival instead of creating regime legitimacy. Following 9/11, American security aid focused on making weak countries develop stronger security forces. Unfortunately, this created Fabergé egg militaries: expensive and easily broken by insurgents. This article suggests long-term strategic commitments need to be made alongside more resources for the American State Department and similar organizations to focus on the politics of state-building. Finally, this article suggests strategies, such as “whole-of-government” approaches, to improve long-term security and political institution building.     

Effective in battle: conceptualizing soldiers’ combat effectiveness*

How do we understand combat effectiveness – soldiers’ performance in battle? Despite the broad consensus that understanding combat effectiveness is important both for scholars and policymakers, there is widespread disagreement about what combat effectiveness is. More specifically, studies of effectiveness tend to focus on either the skill of soldiers in battle, or their will to fight. Yet both skill and will are essential components of an effective fighting force. This article argues that understanding combat effectiveness requires understanding both of these key components of effectiveness. In other words, combat effectiveness requires both the skill and will to engage the enemy in an organized manner. It then demonstrates the usefulness of this conceptualization by applying it to the cases of British, Indian, and Australian forces fighting the Japanese during the Second World War. Only when scholars are talking about the same concept will our understanding of the conditions under which militaries are effective in battle progress. By comparing different units fighting the same opponent under the same material conditions, I demonstrate that units vary both in their combat skill and their will to fight, and that understanding their effectiveness in battle requires analyzing both of these key factors.     

Does military spending stimulate growth? An empirical investigation in Italy

This paper investigates the effect of military burden on economic growth and extends previous works on the optimal size of government expenditure by exploring how external threat affects the preferences of the households and, in turn, economic growth. Post World War II Italian data are used to estimate nonlinear growth models using time-series semi-parametric methods. The estimates show that total government and civilian burdens are productive, whereas, military burden has significant effects on economic growth through the expenditure for peacekeeping missions, which reduces the insecurity in the home country. This may justify economically the current not negligible budget devoted to peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.     

俄罗斯空天防御教学训练设备发展与问题研究

俄罗斯按照建设航天力量的需求,积极研究现代空天防御教学技术设备。俄罗斯空天防御教学训练设备可帮助受训者利用所获得的知识与能力,在准备和完成实践任务时在不同系统设备间实现不同级别的综合协同,将实现结构和软件的模块化。俄航天兵使用空天防御教学训练设备的经验对军队空天防御专业人员训练具有重要的借鉴意义。本文分析了俄罗斯空天防御教学训练设备现状,研究了朱可夫空天防御军事学院一体化空天防御自动化控制系统教学试验模型的构成、原理、作用和应用,总结了俄罗斯空天防御教学训练设备在国家标准、教学法、工效学和组织方面存在的主要问题及解决办法,以期为军队空天防御教学训练设备发展提供参考。     

A usable past: a contemporary approach to history for the Western profession of arms

The most effective way for the Western profession of arms to use history is to disavow the purism and narrow specialisation of today’s academia in favour of developing a contemporary approach to the subject. The latter aims to foster a range of applied diagnostic skills that transcend the temporal dimensions of past, present, and future. A contemporary approach to history for military professionals emphasises the use of inter-disciplinary war studies to enhance policy relevance. In any defense and security organisation, history must be usable in the sense of providing cognitive and interpretative skills for probing relationships between possibility and actuality, between experience and expectation, and between singularity and repetition. Using history to examine such dialectical interconnections is particularly valuable when military establishments confront their essential task of analyzing emerging trends in the future of war.     

基于兰彻斯特型方程的网络攻防行动分析

互联网的高速发展在带来社会发展与文明进步的同时,也让世界对网络更加依赖,随之而来的网络空间军备竞赛、网络犯罪和网络恐怖主义,使网络空间的攻防行动变得愈加频繁,网络空间安全形势愈发严峻。本文利用兰彻斯特型方程建立网络攻防模型来分析网络攻防行动,证明网络攻防行动是非对称的作战手段和新时代的游击战争,并得出对我国网络空间国防力量建设的启示。      

浅谈边防部队基层干部“六结合”监督模式

在分析公安边防部队基层干部监督的特点及现状的基础上,构建以党内监督、行政监督、群众监督、新闻舆论监督、法制监督、自我监督为主体,相互协调、相互促进的公安边防部队基层干部＂六结合＂监督模式。     

防空火力单元射击有利度计算方法

根据防空作战的实际,分析了传统算法在计算防空火力单元射击有利度过程中存在的局限性,引入了防空火力单元可射击系数、电磁环境修正系数这两个参数,并结合高炮、地空导弹武器系统的差异,对防空火力单元可射击系数、电磁环境修正系数这两个参数的具体计算方法进行了介绍。在此基础之上,对传统算法进行了改进,提高了防空火力单元射击有利度计算算法的合理性和科学性。     

区域反导指控系统一体化研究

不断发展的TBM突防技术呈现了许多新特点,对防空反导系统的指挥控制能力提出了更高的要求.必须从对TBM的感知、识别、预报、威胁判断、目标分配、火力拦截和效能评估等诸多控制环节进行一体化设计,而信息网络技术的发展又为联合一体化指控这一必然选择提供了可能,通过高速数据链将各个作战平台连接成为无缝战场态势,从而形成一体化的扁平作战体系.通过研究国内外指控系统的发展现状,给出了我军的一体化指控系统的发展建议.     

巡航导弹综合防御系统仿真研究

巡航导弹超低空突防效果好、命中精度高、价格低廉,这些优越的性能使其在近几次局部战争中大显身手,越来越受到世界各国的高度重视,也促使各国纷纷研究巡航导弹及其防御措施.国内对巡航导弹的防御研究多从电子对抗与火力打击两方面分别入手,缺乏对巡航导弹的综合防御系统及其仿真的研究.为了更好地研究巡航导弹的综合防御问题,在分析巡航导弹防御方法的基础上,提出构建对巡航导弹进行软硬对抗的综合防御系统,并建立了基于DIS的综合防御系统仿真框架,介绍了系统的体系结构和模型体系,对进一步深化巡航导弹防御研究具有重要的意义.