Winning with warlords in Afghanistan

A fundamental contradiction has been built into America's intervention in Afghanistan since the first days of the war in 2001. On the one hand, US policymakers have viewed the promotion of liberal democracy, economic development, and strong centralized state institutions as essential to achieve victory over the long term. On the other hand, however, the US has relied on local warlords to win its battles against the Taliban from the first days of the intervention. The Obama administration's tortured policy review reflects the intractable dilemmas involved in trying to build a modern democratic state while relying on local warlords as crucial allies in the war against the Taliban.     

The missing dimension: IDF special operations forces and strategy in the Second Lebanon War

In the course of the 2006 Lebanon War the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) employed special operations forces (SOF) for raids against Hizb'allah's command and control structure. This article argues that a faulty conceptualization of the value of special operations and misguided expectations determined by the new IDF concept of operations impacted adversely on the employment of SOF for this kind of operations. Both these elements contributed in turn to substantially degrade SOF performance in the context of the war.     

基于多信号模型的计量策略设计与验证

装备可计量性的理论方法研究对提高装备的计量保障水平具有重要意义。针对国内缺乏装备可计量性模型的现状,提出了可计量性分析设计的多信号模型方法。系统总结了可计量性多信号模型的基本理论,详细介绍了在单超差假设及不考虑组元可靠性、计量时间和费用影响下的超差检查用检定和超差定位用检定操作优选算法以及计量策略制定方法。建立了信号产生系统多信号模型,给出了超差-检定相关性矩阵,分析了信号产生系统的计量检定树,结论与信号产生系统实际检定方法相符,实例证明,此方法合理有效。     

Bedeviled by a Paradox: Nitze,Bundy, and an Incipient Nuclear Norm

ABSTRACT

This article explores how two influential American policy makers—Paul Nitze and McGeorge Bundy—wrestled with the idea of a norm against the use of nuclear weapons. Existing scholarship has overlooked how both Bundy and Nitze came to understand the idea of nuclear non-use, especially related to the credibility of threats to use nuclear weapons. Using documentary evidence from their personal papers, this article illuminates the thinking of Bundy and Nitze, finding that both engaged with the idea of a norm of non-use of nuclear weapons in their strategic writing and thought.     

Clash of counterterrorism-assistance-seeking states and their super power sponsors: Implications on the war against Boko Haram

ABSTRACT

Decade-long security cooperation and counterterrorism engagements in Nigeria have failed to bring down Boko Haram or at least weaken its terrorist structures and transnational spread. I argue that disconnects between counterterrorism-assistance seeking states and their superpower sponsors are implicated in the intractability of Boko Haram's insurgency in Nigeria. Why is the U.S. counterterrorism intervention to individual MNJTF countries (i.e. troop contribution, military funding and intelligence support) ‘lopsided’, ‘fragmented’ and ‘unevenly distributed;’ and how are these implicated in the fight against Boko Haram terrorism? This has impacted negatively on MNJTF countries – lack of cooperation, divisiveness and individualism in coordinating and forging offensives against Boko Haram. These concerns interface several blind spots in the picture of external influences on military’s approach to Boko Haram. I elicit primary data from top military officers. I conclude by predicting the implications and consequences of these counterterrorism complexities, and their potency to defeat or encourage Boko Haram terror.     

海上维权斗争舆论战对策思考

舆论战作为信息时代一种独立而重要的作战样式,是一种渗透力、攻击力、威慑力很强的特殊武器,是海上维权斗争行动的重要组成部分.文章对开展海上雏权斗争舆论战的紧迫性进行了分析,归纳总结了海上维权斗争舆论战的特点,探索了开展海上维权斗争舆论战的对策.     

An informal framework to aid the analysis and design of military posture

The design of military posture is an exercise in confronting potential enemies’ capabilities within the context of geographic, technological, temporal, political and economic constraints. No formal model is capable of encapsulating the essentials of so complex an environment for closed or simulated analysis, but it is useful to have an informal framework within which to reason interactively within these dimensions.

This paper presents such a scaffolding, patterned on the notion of a military posture as the output of an economic process whose structure reflects important determinants of the characteristics and extents of weaponry and expenditures that are appropriate to the environment within the feasibility set determined by the constraints. The analysis remains at an abstract level, but it does highlight the important shifts toward preparation for littoral warfare, greater reliance on reserve rather than active forces, and necessary changes in missions among military departments.     

基于Q-MMSPF的海杂波多重分形互相关分析和目标检测

提出一种研究长程互相关和多重分形的新方法——Q阶混合矩结构分割函数法(Q-MMSPF),并利用Q-MMSPF分析了海杂波时间序列的多重分形互相关特征。通过对实测海杂波数据的计算分析发现,海杂波互相关多重分形特征较弱,目标信号之间的互相关多重分形特征明显,而目标信号与海杂波之间的互相关多重分形程度介于二者之间。据此,本文采用一种新的特征值进行海杂波背景下的目标检测。通过对不同条件下的实测海杂波数据验证,表明使用本文提出的特征值测量方法可以十分有效地检测出海杂波背景下的小弱目标。     

3D laser scanning strategy based on cascaded deep neural network

A 3D laser scanning strategy based on cascaded deep neural network is proposed for the scanning system converted from 2D Lidar with a pitching motion device. The strategy is aimed at moving target detection and monitoring. Combining the device characteristics, the strategy first proposes a cascaded deep neural network, which inputs 2D point cloud, color image and pitching angle. The outputs are target distance and speed classification. And the cross-entropy loss function of network is modified by using focal loss and uniform distribution to improve the recognition accuracy. Then a pitching range and speed model are proposed to determine pitching motion parameters. Finally, the adaptive scanning is realized by integral separate speed PID. The experimental results show that the accuracies of the improved network target detection box, distance and speed classification are 90.17%, 96.87% and 96.97%, respectively. The average speed error of the improved PID is 0.4239°/s, and the average strategy execution time is 0.1521 s. The range and speed model can effectively reduce the collection of useless information and the deformation of the target point cloud. Conclusively, the experimental of overall scanning strategy show that it can improve target point cloud integrity and density while ensuring the capture of target.     

高超声速飞行器倾侧转弯耦合控制策略

针对高超声速飞行器倾侧转弯过程中俯仰、偏航和滚动通道间的强烈耦合,提出一种耦合控制策略。针对高超声速飞行器快时变、非线性和强不确定性的控制问题,基于解析形式的非线性最优预测控制方法,采用分层设计思想设计了飞行器姿态控制系统,可较好满足高超声速飞行器的快速性要求;在分析了倾侧转弯飞行控制过程的主要影响因素及其影响规律的基础上,提出一种"降低攻角—快速滚转—拉起攻角"的耦合控制策略。对该控制策略对于高超声速飞行器的适用性进行了仿真分析,结果表明:所提耦合控制策略有效降低了偏航通道的控制需求,降低了倾侧转弯控制过程的失控风险,提高了控制系统的可靠性。