Improvise,adapt and fail to overcome? Capacity building,culture and exogenous change in Sierra Leone

Military capacity building (MCB) is as problematic as it is ubiquitous, with the British experience in Sierra Leone providing a rare example of ostensible success. This article critiques the dominant conceptualisation of MCB as purely a principal–agent (PA) problem, using military change scholarship to examine the impact of wartime British intervention on the Sierra Leonean armed forces. Here, indigenous military change was both externally driven and fundamentally adaptive in nature, allowing MCB to bypass some of the difficulties predicted by PA models. However, this adaptive approach nonetheless failed to reconcile Western military values with prevailing Sierra Leonean culture, complicating post-war stabilisation efforts.     

Revisiting the justification for an all-volunteer force

In 1968, President Nixon established the Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force, or the Gates Commission, which served as the impetus and justification for an All-Volunteer Force (AVF). At the end of its deliberations, the commission recommended abolishing the draft and transforming the U.S. military into a force of volunteers beginning in 1973. Interestingly, the debate regarding the merits of both systems appeared to be largely economic – with cost–benefit analysis playing the primary role. Lately, we are beginning to see a new, politically-motivated impetus for returning to a “system of national service.” The ideas spurring this debate are many: the need to reaffirm the nation state, the commitment of citizens to the state, political ownership and oversight of the forces, the need for social equity in serving the nation, limiting the support for armed conflict by burden-sharing among citizens, and equitably spreading the personal cost of war.     

Northern Ireland and minimum force: the refutation of a concept?

The debate over whether there exists a British counter-insurgency tradition of minimum force is one that has been thoroughly discussed. Is there anything left to say? This study suggests there is further insight to be attained if one explicitly evaluates the concept of minimum force in relation to the conduct of the security forces in the years of the Northern Ireland conflict. Through an examination of three key periods in the conflict, it will be shown that while there was invariably an awareness of the need to act with restraint among senior officers at the strategic level, this was often difficult to apply at the tactical level in the heat of confrontation. The argument demonstrates that the British Army, and other instruments of the state, rarely acted in a manner that could be described as ‘minimal’. Instead, it was the broader liberal values of the British state that explains largely the degrees of restraint exhibited by the government and security forces.     

The ‘first’ surge: the repulse of the Easter Invasion in South Vietnam, 1972 – implications for Iraq and Afghanistan

In a military intervention, do surges work? I compare the failed ‘surge’ in Vietnam, the repulse of the Easter Invasion in 1972, as a means of assessing the more ambiguous surges in Iraq and Afghanistan. I identify four features of a surge for this analysis: the military dimensions and strategy of the surging forces, the military capabilities of the host forces, the political vitality and will of the host country, and the political commitment in the domestic politics of the intervener. I find that the last feature is the most critical; and, in all three surges, the American political commitment was lacking.     

尾空泡对水下航行体流体阻尼力影响数值研究

针对航行体尾空泡对流体阻尼力影响问题,结合动坐标系技术和空泡多相流数值模拟方法,通过求解雷诺平均的NS方程组,进行了阻尼力计算研究。通过与试验数据对比,表明该方法具有较好的精度。数值计算研究表明,尾空泡会削弱航行体尾部压力的不对称性,使航行体尾部流体阻尼力减小。当尾空泡增加到一定尺寸时,流体阻尼力减小幅度逐渐趋缓,同时尾空泡也改变了流体阻尼力随攻角的变化趋势。研究充分表明了航行体流体力设计中考虑尾空泡影响的必要性。     

有限质量降落伞充气动力学数值模拟

为研究空投任务中降落伞有限质量充气过程的动力学行为,基于罚函数耦合方法和网格自适应技术分析了降落伞柔性结构与周围不可压缩流场的流固耦合特性。数值模拟开伞过程伞衣三维外形变化,获得降落伞系统下落速度、阻力面积等参数;对比分析初始投放速度对降落伞开伞时间、伞衣阻力面积的影响;通过试验数据对比分析开伞力变化。计算结果表明,该方法可以有效模拟降落伞系统有限质量充气过程的动力学特性,仿真结果与试验结果相符。     

尾空泡对水下航行体流体阻尼力影响数值计算分析

针对航行体尾空泡对流体阻尼力影响的问题,结合动坐标系技术和空泡多相流数值模拟方法,通过求解雷诺平均的纳维-斯托克斯方程组,进行阻尼力计算研究。试验数据对比结果表明,该方法具有较好的精度。数值计算研究表明,尾空泡会削弱航行体尾部压力的不对称性,使航行体尾部流体阻尼力减小。当尾空泡增加到一定尺寸时,流体阻尼力减小的幅度逐渐趋缓,同时尾空泡也改变了流体阻尼力随攻角的变化趋势。研究充分表明了航行体流体力设计中考虑尾空泡影响的必要性。     

转管炮降低机心组导轨摩擦力研究

为了使转管炮机心组消耗的驱动功率最小,对机心组速度、主滚轮相对机体位置、机心体左右导轨及倾角关系等对驱动功率的影响进行研究。表明最好选用机心组凸轮加速度最小,主滚轮相对机体质心位置等于零,最好用无横向位移以及有夹角的关系最好。优化结果表明:9 000 rpm的射速,驱动功率由机心组加速度变化引起140kw下降到31 kw,降到不足于原设计曲线的22%;射速为3 300 rpm的主滚轮压力峰值参数化峰值1 086.5 N,升高到10 000 rpm的峰值9 779.3 N。无横向以及有夹角降低压力有横向以及无夹角90.9%。     

网络中心战中舰艇编队的作战效能分析

在网络中心战条件下,舰艇编队通过互通、互联和互操作,可在编队范围内共享资源,进行跨平台的通道组织和实现武器共用,这种跨平台的资源共享充分发挥了作战资源的利用率,增强了编队作战系统的生命力。建立了在网络中心战条件下的舰艇编队作战效能计算数模,并进行了分析和计算,解释了在网络支持下编队作战效能提升的原理,分析和计算方法可用于网络兵力的兵力指数计算和作战效能评估。     

子母弹抛撒半径对机场毁伤效果影响分析

首先阐述了机场目标在未来战争中的地位与作用 ,在对机场目标及其子目标分析的基础上 ,建立了炮道失效率的计算模型。利用蒙卡模拟的方法重点研究了子母弹抛撒半径对机场毁伤效果的影响 ,并摸索了一些规律