The challenges of Iraq: putting US Army stability operations doctrine to the test

The US Army develops doctrine as a set of fundamental principles that guide its actions in support of national objectives. Recently, those national objectives required stability operations, with increasing scope and frequency. This study examines whether existing US Army doctrine adequately fulfilled its role as a guide to tactics in addressing the challenges that Army forces faced in the first 15 months of the war in Iraq. Field Manual 3-24 Counterinsurgency has remedied many deficiencies, but several remain to be addressed to offer commanders better guidance in the face of the many complex challenges they face in stability operations.     

Russia and Strategic Conventional Weapons:

ABSTRACT

Russian political leaders and military strategists are growing increasingly concerned about “strategic conventional weapons”—a broad category that appears to include all non-nuclear, high-precision, standoff weapons—and about long-range, hypersonic weapons, in particular. These concerns are complex and multifaceted (and, in some cases, contradictory), but chief among them are the beliefs that strategic conventional weapons could prove decisive in a major conflict and that Russia is lagging behind in their development. US programs to develop and acquire such weapons—namely, the Conventional Prompt Global Strike program—are of great concern to Russian strategists, who argue both that the United States seeks such weapons for potential use against Russia—its nuclear forces, in particular—and because strategic conventional weapons are more “usable” than nuclear weapons. Asymmetric responses by Russia include increased reliance on tactical nuclear weapons, efforts to enhance the survivability of its nuclear forces, and investments in air and missile defenses. There is also strong—but not completely conclusive evidence—that Russia is responding symmetrically by attempting to develop a long-range, conventionally armed boost-glide weapon.     

Boost-glide Weapons and US-China Strategic Stability

ABSTRACT

The United States and China are testing boost-glide weapons, long-range strike systems capable of flying at Mach 5 or faster through the upper atmosphere. For the United States, these systems would provide a conventional prompt global strike capability, which, together with US ballistic missile defense programs, Chinese experts regard as a threat to China's ability to conduct nuclear retaliation. This perception is encouraging the Chinese military to modify its nuclear posture in ways that tend to create greater risks for both sides. If China's own boost-glide systems are meant to carry nuclear payloads only, their deployment would not fundamentally alter the current situation between the two states. However, if they were conventionally armed or dual-purpose, or if the United States could not determine the payloads they carried, the deployment of Chinese boost-glide systems could compound problems of strategic stability created by the introduction of ballistic missile defense, antisatellite, and antiship ballistic missile capabilities. If the technical hurdles can be overcome, it may be difficult for the two sides to refrain from these deployments in the absence of strong mutual trust or an established arms-control relationship. New confidence-building measures and expanded mutual transparency are warranted to avoid creating new dangers.     

THE CONCEPT OF NUCLEAR LEARNING

This article seeks to elucidate the concept of nuclear learning. It explores both the “nuclear” and the “learning” aspects of the concept. On the nuclear side, it distinguishes between learning basic facts about nuclear arms and drawing inferences about the larger implications of those facts. On the learning side, it discusses three issues: whether to use the term in a normative or value-neutral manner; the difference between learning that leads to a change in means versus learning that leads to a re-evaluation of ends; and whether learning only takes place at the level of individuals or whether there can also be learning by collective entities. The article argues there is no universal best answer to these questions and that the particular concept of learning that should be employed depends on the goals of the analyst. If the goal is to reduce the chances of nuclear war, however, one type of learning that will be important to consider is whether there is shared, cross-national learning.     

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.     

动态液-液旋流分离器油滴运动轨迹模拟

针对动态液-液旋流分离器油、水两相过程,从流体力学基本方程出发,采用雷诺应力模型、QUICK差分格式和SIMPLE算法模拟分析动态液-液旋流分离器内的流场;并以此为基础,采用离散相模型和多相流模型,模拟油、水两相分离过程和油滴运动轨迹.模拟结果表明:油滴粒径决定其在旋流分离器中的运动轨迹、速度及分离特性,大粒径油滴更易于向中心聚集形成油芯,油芯的形状与油滴的大小直接相关;动态液-液旋流分离器的主要分离过程在转筒内完成,油相分离效率随着油滴粒径的增大而提高.     

有限声速的纯方位算法

针对纯方位条件下对等速直航目标观测的算法问题,将目标运动要素及平均声速作为待估计参数,给出了计算非线性最小二乘法目标函数梯度与Hessian矩阵的解析公式,基于这些公式,可以构造估计目标运动要素的一些算法及编程实现。部分数值实验表明,信赖域算法、Levenberg-Marquardt算法与Matlab用于解非线性最小二乘问题的函数lsqnonlin的计算精度基本一致。     

潜艇在水面目标位置散布概率密度的计算方法

潜艇声纳在较远距离上发现水面目标时,探测和解算的目标运动要素具有较大的误差.利用泰勒公式,将目标位置计算公式进行简化处理,结合概率论的相关理论,求解目标位置散布概率密度.针对典型战术态势,计算不同时刻目标位置散布概率密度,绘制概率密度图,与目标位置散布仿真图进行对比.     

FBN和JF402在泡沫洗消剂中的展开作用及其对泡沫性能的影响

研究了FBN、JF402 2种碳氟表面活性剂与发泡剂配伍后形成的水溶液在油面上的铺展及泡沫性能（发泡力和稳定性）。结果表明FBN、JF402的加入可提高体系的铺展能力。FBN的铺展性能好于JF402,但JF402泡沫性能好于FBN。     

绝热稳定性研究成果在工业企业防火教学中的应用

公安部科研项目“反应性物质热稳定性的分级方法研究”在国内首次利用绝热加速量热法系统研究了反应性物质的热稳定性。该项目研究成果在物质与生产火灾危险性辨识、火灾原因调查与分析等方面具有现实指导意义。在《工业企业防火》课程教学过程中,部分项目研究成果纳入了“影响储存和生产火灾危险性的因素”、“危险化学品的危险特性”“仓库防火”以及“重大危险源辨识”等章节的教学内容,使学生对课程内容有了更为深入地理解。科研成果与教学内容的有机结合,既显著提高了学生的学习主动性和学习兴趣,又大大增强了学生的创新性意识。