Postmodern warfare and the blurred boundaries between war and peace

Each age has its own wars and its own forms of warfare. In today’s evolving world risk society warfare has entered a new development stage. The states of the “global North” adapt their forms of intervention. They increasingly practice postmodern warfare characterized especially by the role of influencing the information space, networked approaches, the incorporation of indirect and covert actions, and the special quality of new technologies. This practice furthers an increasing grey zone between limiting and de-bounding of warfare. The phenomenon of postmodern warfare raises some tough questions and offers a rich research agenda.     

The underlying causes of military outsourcing in the USA and UK: bridging the persistent gap between ends,ways and means since the beginning of the Cold War

This article reappraises the two most-studied country cases of military outsourcing: the USA and the UK. It argues that the contemporary wave of military contracting stretches back to the beginning of the cold war and not only to the demobilisation of armies in the 1990s or the neoliberal reforms introduced since the 1980s. It traces the political, technological and ideational developments that laid the groundwork for these reforms and practices since the early cold war and account for its endurance today. Importantly, it argues that a persistent gap between strategic objectives and resources, i.e. the challenge to reconcile ends and means, is an underlying driver of military contracting in both countries. Contemporary contracting is thus most closely tied to military support functions in support of wider foreign and defence political objectives. Security services in either state may not have been outsourced so swiftly, if at all, without decades of experience in outsourcing military logistics functions and the resultant vehicles, processes and familiarities with public-private partnerships. The article thus provides a wider and deeper understanding of the drivers of contractualisation, thereby improving our understanding of both its historical trajectory and the determinants of its present and potential futures.     

影响指挥员军事决策的因素分析

现代高技术条件下的局部战争,军事活动的节奏明显加快,作战空间跨域扩展,战场态势复杂多变,尤其是当重大危机发生时,对军事决策的时效性提出了更高要求,指挥员必须能够及时、果断、有效、准确地定下作战决心。指挥员军事决策的有效性不仅受主观因素的影响,还受客观因素的影响。通过对影响因素的分析,提出提高指挥员军事决策能力的有效途径,为军队指挥人才培养提供合理建议。     

小型旋翼无人机在未来城市军事行动应用中潜力评估

随着全球范围的城市化进程不断推进,未来军事斗争向城市环境中发展是必然趋势。在城市作战需求分析的基础上,剖析了传统装备的"城市病",阐述了小型旋翼无人机在城市军事行动中的应用潜能。研究表明,针对现有装备在城市作战中显示出的若干短板,发展基于小型旋翼无人机打造侦察平台与精确打击平台将是一个较好的解决方案。而运用军民融合的发展模式挖掘小型旋翼无人机军用潜力,在提升军队作战能力,降低成本均具有积极意义。     

指挥信息系统领域建模研究

领域模型是指挥信息系统能够互操作和互理解的基础支撑。在指挥信息系统分析设计阶段,系统的领域模型建立得是否完整准确,直接决定了系统的体系能力设计是否完备,也直接决定了系统建设的成败。本文深入研究领域模型元概念、领域概念和应用概念的三层结构。在此基础上,构建包括网络通信层、信息服务层、共性应用支撑层、联合应用支撑层、应用系统层、安全保障系统和运维支撑系统的"五层两系统"指挥信息系统领域模型体系,为指挥信息系统分析设计提供方法和技术保障。     

美军军官职业军事教育政策探析

美军在军事人才培养的体系构筑、目标设定、课目设置等方面有着众多独到之处。《军官职业军事教育政策》是美军规范军官职业军事教育的指导性文件,研究掌握其核心内容的发展演变,从中提取美军职业教育改革的先进理念和成熟做法,可为我军军事职业教育建设提供经验借鉴。     

世界科研诚信建设的动向及其对我国的启示

许多国家和国际性科学组织在科研诚信建设方面都开展了大量工作。目前,国内对于国外这方面的做法和经验,特别是近年来的最新实践只有零星的报道。文章比较全面地介绍国外科研诚信建设的主要发展动向和各国面临的一些共同挑战,进而分析提出其对我国科研诚信建设策略的启示,并就今后应加强的若干方面工作提出建议。     

网络公开军事情报工作探析

随着信息技术的迅猛发展,互联网已深刻融入人们生产生活全过程,这使得网络中留下了各组织、机构和人员活动的海量信息痕迹。借助云计算、大数据等网络信息技术,这些信息痕迹已逐渐成为各国军事情报部门重要的情报来源,围绕网络空间展开的军事情报与反情报斗争日益激烈,需要引起高度重视。     

人工智能在各军事强国的发展

世界主要军事力量认识到人工智能这一新科技的影响力,并积极置身于这一新的发展机遇。文章从公开的报道的信息来源,整理分析中、美、俄、以四国的军事人工智能发展现状。研究表明,人工智能技术作为当今科技热点,正在以前所未有的方式影响我们生活的方方面面,也深刻的改变着军事领域的作战方式、作战理论。     

Governmental Re-organization in Counterinsurgency Context: Foreign Policy Program Transfer and Operation Switchback in South Vietnam

Foreign policy program transfer, the shifting of implementation responsibility for a foreign policy program from one organization to another, is a ubiquitous, yet under-studied, counterinsurgency phenomenon. This article conceptually develops program transfer as an important object of study; analyzes, using archival sources, an empirical case of program transfer, Operation Switchback, drawn from US counterinsurgency practice in South Vietnam; and formulates two preliminary theoretical claims related to program transfer: (1) transferred programs will tend to be altered in accordance with the characteristics of the gaining organization, and (2) program transfer may act as a signal or early-warning indicator of foreign policy change.