基于云模型和FAHP熵权的空地弹药效能评估

准确、科学地评估空地弹药的作战效能,对武器装备的设计、研制、试验、采购、作战使用及维护具有重要的意义。充分利用云模型可将定性指标的模糊性和随机性有效结合的特点,构建了空地弹药作战效能的综合云评估模型。针对现有确定指标权重的方法存在主观性较强的不足,提出一种基于模糊层次分析法(FAHP)熵权的权重确定方法,有效利用了主观信息和客观信息。实例分析表明该模型可准确、客观、有效地评估空地弹药的作战效能。     

一种定标缺失情况下的高光谱目标识别方法

高光谱遥感图像识别在民用和军事领域有着广泛的应用。在缺乏定标信息、缺乏同步观测大气光学参数情况下,对高光谱图像进行地物识别尚没有系统有效的方法,制约了其在定量遥感方向的应用。对此提出了一种利用粒子群算法优化6S模型参数基础上的高光谱遥感数据校正方法,并将其应用于定标缺失情况下的目标识别中。实验表明:在对遥感图像利用少许先验信息选择参数进行校正后,分类准确率为76.25%。而利用粒子群算法优化参数的6S校正后,分类准确率提高到91.58%,目标识别准确率得到了有效提高。     

区域联合作战装备保障任务分配模型

现代信息化战争是体系与体系的对抗,区域作战联合装备保障成为信息化条件下装备保障的主要方式,实施科学正确的装备保障指挥,进行保障任务分配对于提高保障效益具有非常重要的意义。通过区域作战装备保障任务的特点,依据区域保障要求建立了包括转场时间在内和不同作战方向上作战单元的重要程度不同的装备保障任务分配模型,保证了重要方向上最晚完成保障任务的作战单元保障时间最短和非重要方向上最晚完成保障任务的作战单元保障时间最短。最后,应用遗传算法给出了区域联合作战装备保障任务分配模型的求解方法和步骤,具有一定的科学性和实用性。     

坦克直瞄/间瞄射击一体化火控技术

直瞄射击方式是目前坦克采用的主要射击方式。直瞄射击方式受战场通视度及瞄准装置视距的影响,最大射击距离一般在5 km左右。间瞄射击方式不需要直接瞄准目标,不受战场通视度的影响,最大射击距离主要取决于火炮及弹药的性能,一般在10 km以上。未来坦克应具备直瞄射击与间瞄射击一体化能力。通过直瞄/间瞄射击火控技术的对比与分析,提出坦克直瞄/间瞄射击一体化火控方案。一体化火控具有新的技术特色,具有更强的综合作战能力,是未来坦克火控技术发展的一种趋势。     

Leadership and national security: an interrogation of the Boko Haram violence in Nigeria

This study contends that an analysis of the nexus between leadership and security offers useful insights into explaining conflict by stating that the conceptualisation of these argots, especially through the definition of leadership as a process, helps to explain and address Nigeria’s security challenges. By arguing that leaders’ ability to establish mutuality with their followers in any situation and set collectively-generated means for attaining these set goals for societal security, the study shows how such a relationship creates a secured state. This is not the case in Nigeria, where leaders’ security decisions are influenced by external actors rather than by their followers. By showing that the Nigerian ruling elite’s security agendas intersect with dominant global notions of security while neglecting genuine security interests of ordinary Nigerians, the study contextualises the complex global and local security interests in Nigeria. The lack of an intersection at home, however, has contributed to the emergence of extremists such as the Boko Haram sect, as well as the escalation of the acts of violence they perpetrate. As national insecurities become complex and intractable, ‘elegant’ or unilinear solutions – such as a military approach – lack the capacity to address these problems.     

Too much Western bias? The need for a more culturally adaptable approach to post-conflict security sector reform

The existing guidelines for security sector reform (SSR) tend to draw on theoretical work in the field of civil–military relations, which in turn has been derived from Western, liberal democratic models of governance. Although guidelines strongly advise that local culture and context need to be considered when drawing up objectives for post-conflict SSR programmes, this is not often reflected in practice. This article considers some of the reasons for this, citing both in-country challenges and donor-related issues, and suggests that one of the biggest problems is a lack of alternative, non-orthodox models of civil–military relations to draw upon. It is further suggested that elements of suitable alternative models may be found in states which possess political structures not entirely dissimilar to the Western, liberal democratic ideal, but which can offer different perspectives. Detailed research of these structures should produce a pool of sub-models which could then be employed to create bespoke, culturally appropriate objectives for use in post-conflict SSR programmes.     

“Effing” the military: a political misunderstanding of management

The use of commercial business management techniques is widespread in all government departments, including the Ministry of Defence. This article examines the use of popular management techniques in the Armed Forces and argues that their application is misplaced. It looks at what the “effs” – “efficiency” and “effectiveness” – mean in the business world and to the Armed Forces. It compares the definitions both in business and the Armed Forces and finds that there are few, if any, situations where the same measurements can be applied. Whilst many management techniques are suited for business, the function of the Armed Forces and its output cannot be measured in the same way, complicated by the different metrics of “efficiency” in peace and in war. This difference may not be clearly understood by some politicians, or indeed by some senior military personnel. Using examples from some of the most popular management techniques such as “Lean” and “Agile” it is possible to see that their use might actually diminish the capabilities of the Armed Forces when it comes to performing their principal role – the use of force to achieve political objectives.     

Country survey: military expenditure and defence policy in Norway 1970–2013

This article examines military expenditure and defence policy in Norway from 1970 to 2013. Until 1990 Norwegian military expenditure remained between 2.5 and 3.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite constant GDP shares, the military expenditure could not sustain a large and properly armed mobilization army. The constant nominal defence budgets of the 1990s accentuated the Norwegian Armed Forces' underlying imbalance between tasks, structure and budget. Around year 2000, large organizational reforms were effectuated, in which costs, the number of man-years, and underlying imbalances between tasks, structure and budget were reduced. Military expenditure increased in nominal terms between 2003 and 2013, while real military expenditure remained practically constant.     

Security sector reform in Africa: Donor approaches versus local needs

Many African states have security sector reform (SSR) programs. These are often internationally funded. But how do such programs account for previously existing security institutions and the security needs of local communities? This article examines SSR all over Africa to assess local ownership and path dependency from a New Institutionalist perspective. It finds that SSR, particularly in post-conflict countries, tends to be driven by ideas and perceptions of international donors promoting generalized blueprints. Often, such programs only account in a very limited way for path-dependent aspects of security institutions or the local context. Hence, the reforms often lack local participation and are thus not accepted by the local community eventually.     

Educate or Adjudicate? Socioeconomic Heterogeneity and Welfare

I present a formal framework to explore the welfare and distributional effects of a government’s optimal choice over two types of public spending in a closed economy: domestic security (DS) and investment in social capital (SC). Production is characterized as a function of social and physical capital stocks that both vary across the regions. DS stands for total factor productivity, while SC stands for human capital and civic cooperativeness combined. SC accumulates via public spending on universal primary education, cultural, and civic events and such, and is exposed to regional spillover effects. Numerical simulations of the static solution of the government’s welfare maximization problem reveal that the optimal rate of spending on SC (m^*) is negatively related with the income share of physical capital, SC spillovers and fiscal decentralization. Simulations also show that SC homogeneity is positively associated with both the level and equitability of aggregate income. The maximum attainable levels of income, welfare and social cohesion and the most equitable incomes are all observed to realize at some intermediate range of m^* values. In case DS augments SC, however, social cohesion improves and welfare declines monotonously in m^*.