General Dostum and the Mazar i Sharif Campaign: new light on the role of Northern Alliance warlords in Operation Enduring Freedom

This report sheds new light on the CIA and US Special Forces' covert campaign alongside Afghan Northern Alliance leader General Dostum's horse-mounted Uzbeks during 2001's Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2003 and 2005 the author traveled over the Hindu Kush Mountains to the plains of Northern Afghanistan and lived with the legendary Northern Alliance opposition leader General Dostum. His aim was to recreate Dostum's campaign alongside the CIA and Special Forces to seize the holy city of Mazar i Sharif from the Taliban in November 2001. Based on interviews with Dostum and his Uzbek commanders, this article recreates this proxy offensive that saw the Northern Alliance opposition break out of the mountains, seize this shrine town and bring the Taliban house of cards falling down in a matter of weeks. Up until now the indigenous Afghan Uzbeks, who played a crucial role as a ‘boots on the ground’ fighting force for Centcom, have been cast as a mere backdrop for American heroics. Now their side of the story and their links to the mysterious shrine of Mazar i Sharif are for the first time revealed.     

The Amritsar Massacre and the minimum force debate

This article re-examines one of the most infamous incidents in British imperial history: the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, and analyses it within the context of the British Army's minimum force philosophy. The massacre has long been regarded as the most catastrophic failure of minimum force in the history of the British Army. This article reconsiders the arguments over the shooting at Amritsar and the role of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, and questions the accepted view that the massacre was such a failure of minimum force. It argues that the circumstances surrounding the massacre must be understood before judging the incident and given these factors it is possible to see it within a minimum force framework.     

高超声速流动计算中LU-SGS隐式算法的应用

在高超声速条件下,对原始LU-SGS格式及其改进方法的收敛速度做了深入的比较分析,目的是进一步更好地将LU-SGS算法用于工程上复杂外形的计算模拟中。二维圆柱,三维钝锥及空天飞机算例的结果表明:对于高超声速粘性流动的计算,粘性项应进行隐式处理;BLU-SGS方法给出的内迭代方式的收敛性优于DP-LUR方法所给出的内迭代方式;LU-SGS算法中雅克比系数矩阵的计算方式对计算量及收敛性影响较大,若采用精确的矩阵形式,则在流动无分离情况下能取得快速收敛的效果,而在含有流动分离的情况,因受稳定性的影响,精确的矩阵形式的收敛表现不及对角近似形式。     

载体干扰磁场补偿方法

获得载体航行路径上各点地磁场的精确测量值是地磁匹配导航的前提,而载体上各种干扰磁场的存在会引起磁力仪输出的偏差,影响匹配的精度,因此必须对载体干扰磁场进行补偿。在分析载体干扰磁场特性的基础上,提出利用矢量测量值对地磁场总场值进行补偿的方法。该方法首先根据矢量磁力仪的测量模型得到关于载体磁场参数的非线性方程,然后采用非线性参数估计方法估计出精确的载体干扰磁场系数,最后再利用估计结果对测量值进行补偿。通过仿真对该方法的有效性进行研究,并设计了半实物实验对其实用性进行验证。结果表明采用本文提出的方法补偿后地磁场总场值的测量误差在20nT以内,而且该方法参数估计精度高,应用方便,可以有效地对导航载体干扰磁场进行补偿。     

Alternatives for defense in the Post‐Soviet World: A guide for economists to the U.S. debate

The defense establishments of all major powers are changing to reflect changes in the foundations of national security strategy and resource allocation. The authors believe economists should play an active role in formulating these changes and offer an orientation to the U.S. debate, presenting three major alternatives: the “Base Force” (Bush Administration), Mr. Aspin's Force “C,” and the “Low” Alternative (Prof. Kaufmann and Dr. Steinbruner). These alternatives are compared using first‐order measures of capabilities, budgets and risk. Budgetary estimates are based on newly‐developed analytical tools.     

Specialization in defence forces

The choice between balanced and specialized defence forces depends on the technology of defence output (e.g. whether a force scope multiplier is present), the existence of scope and scale economies, the platform customization costs and, of course, the level of defence budgets. Minimum force element levels (thresholds), and scale economies facilitate specialization as opposed to scope economies (e.g. platform‐sharing), scale diseconomies and the force scope multiplier (e.g. defence weakest‐link technology). When a balanced force is not optimal, the option value of a non‐optimally maintained force element must also include the opportunity cost arising from suboptimal force elements. Shrinking defence budgets may produce two surprising phenomena. If some force elements are shut down as a result of thresholds, the surviving ones may increase in platform numbers as well as enjoying closer‐to‐most‐desirable platforms. Furthermore, if heritage force elements are shut down within the budget contraction environment, overall defence capability might rise.     

基于Delphi的油料装备战时维修力量模拟优化配置

由于战时存在一些不可确定、非可知和随机模糊因素,应用传统的数学方法或模型难以对油料装备战时维修力量配置问题进行准确描述或求解。以战时油料装备定点维修系统为研究对象,构建了油料装备战时维修力量优化配置模型,在忽略随机因素影响的前提下利用常规数学方法计算得到一个维修组配置的初始方案。通过选用Delphi 7.0软件对其进行模拟优化分析,确定了战时随机条件下油料装备维修组配置的最佳数量,解决了战时维修力量配置不精确、不合理问题,从而在确保战时油料装备维修保障需要的同时避免了资源闲置与浪费。     

起重机防摇摆模糊自适应PID控制的仿真

起重机起吊过程中,由于绳索摇摆,使吊物位置变化复杂,线路变化非线性,吊物位置不确定;而采用常规定参数PID控制难以解决货物位置控制问题,无法对起重机的位置和摆角进行精确控制。针对这些问题,采用拉格朗日能量法建立起重机起吊系统模型,提出一种基于模糊自适应PID控制的起重机起吊控制方法,结合模糊控制理论对PID参数进行自适应整定。仿真结果表明,与传统定参数PID控制相比,模糊自适应PID控制具有良好的适应性和鲁棒性,可提高起重机起吊系统的动态性能。     

某型铜材料动态力学性能的数值模拟研究

采用一种高效的应力更新算法,运用Fortran语言编写Johnson—Cook本构模型的Vuamt子程序,模拟材料在高速冲击工况下的动态力学性能,研究塑性大应变、高应变率以及温度软化作用对材料力学性能的影响。