At war with social theory: Instrumental and communicative action in US military doctrine during the War on Terror

As US counterinsurgency campaigns draw to a close, doctrine for asymmetric warfare written during the War on Terror has come under heavy criticism. While many have argued that this shift to ‘winning hearts and minds’ is evidence that the United States is taking humanitarianism and nation-building seriously, others argue that a wide gap exists between US counterinsurgency doctrine and the protection of civilians afflicted by conflict. In this article, I show that the latter is true by comparing theories of instrumental and communicative action to US doctrine for operational design, stability operations, and counterinsurgency. I argue that these texts treat the people as an object to be manipulated for the achievement of pre-determined self-interested strategic goals rather than members of a community that jointly designs operations to fulfill shared objectives. However, US doctrine does contain communicative elements that, if prioritized, would better support humanitarian and state-building objectives otherwise subordinated in the War on Terror.     

Comprehensive approaches,diverse coherences: the different levels of policy coherence in the Dutch 3D approach in Afghanistan

Since 2000, international organisations such as the UN, NATO and the EU, but also countries, have started to apply what has been called the comprehensive approach to crisis management. This article unpacks this comprehensive approach implemented by the Dutch in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. It first borrows and expands a conceptual framework developed by De Coning and Friis. Subsequently, it maps the different sorts of coherence in the mission by applying the framework. It shows how in practice there was not one single comprehensive approach, but many different forms of interaction between a number of organisational units. Each interaction had its own distinct issues and its own level of coherence. The level of coherence differed depending on the level at which the interaction took place – strategic at headquarters level versus operational at field level – and at what point in the mission it happened – in most cases it moved towards more cohesion.     

Reassessing private military and security company (PMSC) ‘competition‘ in civil war: lessons from Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT

This paper challenges recent claims that competitive market dynamics incentivize Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) to fully commit to providing effective services, thereby reducing the duration of civil war. Our assessment of a most-likely case scenario for this argument – Sierra Leone – reveals four critical problems. First, there is rarely direct competition, even if numerous companies are present. Second, the presence of multiple PMSCs usually represents a collaboration among subsidiaries providing distinct services, often under the same corporate umbrella. Third, data aggregation obfuscates the overlap of PMSC presence, inflating the amount of perceived competition. Finally, we raise concerns regarding how quantitative analyses can conflate conflict intensity with conflict termination.     

军事任务推演的时空模型与驱动机制

针对军事信息系统的作战任务推演需求,提出了一种基于时空事件序列的、较为完备的高效任务推演方法。论述了基于层次化分解的任务表达机制与实体化策略;针对保障数据定制问题提出了面向任务的时空数据应用模型,以任务最小需求为准则对一体化时空数据集进行多维筛选,有效降低数据的冗余度;详细讨论了时空事件序列模型的定义及其在军事任务推演中的数据驱动模式;结合具体仿真实例进行了应用探讨。原型系统的实现证明了该思路的有效性和可行性。     

导航卫星上行注入任务调度模型及启发式算法

合理安排导航卫星与地面上注站星地链路构建与导航电文上注,对保证星上导航电文的准确性和精确性有着重要意义。对卫星导航系统上行注入过程进行了分析,构建了上行注入任务调度问题的多目标混合整数规划模型,设计了基于规则的启发式求解算法。基于北斗二代和美国的GPS卫星导航系统构建仿真场景,仿真结果验证了模型和算法的正确性、可行性;通过分析仿真结果,得到影响卫星导航系统上行注入任务完成的关键因素。     

基于IGSO卫星的多普勒定位单向授时方法研究

针对导航战、城市或者室内环境中,可见卫星数目小于3颗,用户位置未知时,接收机无法完成授时等问题,并结合我国已有卫星导航系统(北斗和CAPS系统)现状,提出了一种基于IGSO卫星的多普勒定位单向授时方法。该方法通过测量卫星信号的多普勒频移,采用积分多普勒计数计算用户位置,完成单向授时功能。分析结果表明,使用3颗IGSO卫星搭载透明转发器载荷,可使我国领土范围内的定位授时可用性基本达到100%;静态观测用户,长期测量定位精度可达3m以内,授时精度误差小于100ns。由于该方法最少只需观测1颗IGSO卫星信号,这为导航战背景及微弱信号环境下的定位授时服务,提供了新的解决方法。     

基于锁相环的GNSS授时接收机钟差校准算法

GNSS(全球卫星导航系统)授时接收机利用卫星导航信号获取钟差并校准本地时钟,从而与GNSS系统时间同步。提出了全新的基于锁相环的GNSS授时接收机钟差校准算法,将钟差校准过程等效为传统的锁相环模型,鉴相器的功能由PVT(位置、速度与时间)解算实现,压控振荡器的功能由本地时间调整接口实现,环路将本地秒相位与GNSS系统的秒相位锁定。分析了环路总误差的组成,以及环路参数与各误差项的关系,给出了误差最小的环路优化设计准则。在北斗二号卫星导航接收机平台上进行了对比实验,验证了算法的有效性。     

基于协同进化的多平台联合对地观测优化调度

在分析了卫星与无人机在执行观测与资源调度上的特性差异基础上,建立了多平台联合对地观测调度问题的数学模型,提出了多平台协同进化调度算法(MPCCPSA)进行求解。MPCCPSA采用分层式协同进化架构解决了不同类型观测方案统一调度生成问题。根据不同类型平台使用特性以及观测目标集合特点,采用分治-合作策略将其分解分配到各平台,顶层的交叉、变异操作保证各种群的多样性,底层的分治、合作算子保证卫星与无人机之间保持观测能力动态互补,在确保可行解的前提下加快收敛速度。仿真实验表明该方法能够有效解决空-天基多类型平台联合观测优化调度问题。     

谈谈政治理论课的基地教学

当前,军队院校的政治理论课教学,以教员课堂讲授为主,重课堂理论教学、轻社会实践锻炼的现象比较严重。这种传统的教学模式不利于创新型人才培养和教育转型的需要。政治理论课必须向基地教学延伸。     

以党在新形势下的强军目标为牵引扎实推进军队院校保密工作科学发展

习主席提出的党在新形势下的强军目标,为进一步推进军队院校保密工作科学发展提供了根本遵循。院校保密工作必须以强军目标为牵引,铸牢强军之魂,牢牢把握军队院校保密工作发展的正确方向;扭住强军之要,切实提升搞好军队院校保密工作的能力水平;夯实强军之基,积极适应军队保密工作新要求抓好落实。