Think again – supplying war: reappraising military logistics and its centrality to strategy and war

This article argues that logistics constrains strategic opportunity while itself being heavily circumscribed by strategic and operational planning. With the academic literature all but ignoring the centrality of logistics to strategy and war, this article argues for a reappraisal of the critical role of military logistics, and posits that the study and conduct of war and strategy are incomplete at best or false at worst when they ignore this crucial component of the art of war. The article conceptualises the logistics–strategy nexus in a novel way, explores its contemporary manifestation in an age of uncertainty, and applies it to a detailed case study of UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.     

Hybrid War and Its Countermeasures: A Critique of the Literature

This article examines critically the literature of hybrid war and evaluates the countermeasures often proposed. It explains the concept of hybrid warfare and its varied interpretations, illustrating how it is a manifestation of current anxieties in armed conflict. The selection of the literature is based on works that are referenced, that offer a scientific approach, and which review either the phenomenon of hybrid warfare or its countermeasures empirically. Unscientific works have been omitted. The analysis of the literature presented here shows that the antidotes to ‘hybridity’ lie not in the operational or tactical sphere but in strategic and political domains.     

The Damoclean sword of offensive cyber: Policy uncertainty and collective insecurity

Cyberspace is a new domain of operation, with its own characteristics. Cyber weapons differ qualitatively from kinetic ones: They generate effects by non-kinetic means through information, technology, and networks. Their properties, opportunities, and constraints are comparable to the qualitative difference between conventional and nuclear weapons. New weapons and their target sets in a new domain raise a series of unresolved policy challenges at the domestic, bilateral, and international levels about deterrence, attribution, and response. They also introduce new risks: uncertainty about unintended consequences, expectations of efficacy, and uncertainty about both the target’s and the international community’s response. Cyber operations offer considerable benefits for states to achieve strategic objectives both covertly and overtly. However, without a strategic framework to contain and possibly deter their use, make state and non-state behavior more predictable in the absence of reciprocal norms, and limit their impact, an environment where states face persistent attacks that nonetheless fall below the threshold of armed conflict presents a policy dilemma that reinforces collective insecurity.     

The Russian hybrid warfare strategy – neither Russian nor strategy

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its initial actions in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the term hybrid warfare has received much public attention. Many have argued that the Russian actions we saw in Ukraine were part of a completely new strategy while others have suggested that there was nothing new in Russia’s actions. This article takes a critical look at these claims. Through the assessment of the history of the term hybrid warfare and a rigorous analysis of the so-called Gerasimov doctrine, this study finds that the Russian hybrid warfare strategy is rather a western myth than a formal comprehensive Russian strategic concept. Additionally, through the assessment of the Russian use of information operations and the way she has utilised the cyberspace in several recent conflicts, the study finds that against all claims Russia did not make these areas its main battlefield, but rather has been using them in support of its traditional concepts.     

Late Medieval Lance Use: Mounted Combat and Martial Arts in Western Europe from the 14th to the 16th Century

Despite the lance’s status and the amount of attention the couched lance has received in historiography, study of its martial art has been neglected. The various lance types and techniques used by western European cavalry have only recently begun to receive scholarly attention. Additionally, Medieval European lance use has too often been studied in isolation, without an adequate understanding of the idiosyncratic and asymmetrical dynamics of mounted combat. Although the charge with the couched lance was a valid tactic, it was only one of many. Light and heavy lances were used in one hand or two to trip, block, unhorse, and wrestle. These techniques were governed by the harsh laws of distance, speed, impact, iron, and asymmetry. By utilizing the surviving Fechtbücher and several Peninsular and Near Eastern sources, a brief foray into the diverse techniques of lance use and their purposes has been attempted here.     

基于卷积神经网络的卫星网络协调态势评估方法

为充分发掘利用海量卫星网络数据,提高决策效率,加强空间频轨资源获取与储备的分析手段,尤其是对地球静止轨道资源的协调获取问题,提出基于机器学习算法的卫星网络态势评估策略。通过对卫星网络协调因素进行特征分析,选择卷积神经网络(Convolution Neural Network, CNN)为目标算法模型,并建立算法模型的训练数据集及Label规则,采用分裂信息增益度量方法对数据进行降维处理,建立CNN评估模型,并进行了验证分析。结果表明,CNN模型对卫星网络协调态势评估问题测试的正确率高达80%以上,具有较高的评估效能。随着数据量的增多,CNN评估效果逐步提升,是一种在卫星网络协调态势分析、资源储备的有效评估方法。     

激光对抗系统在轻武器实战化训练中的应用

轻武器作战作为特种作战方式的一种,在现代战争中的地位越来越突出。本文阐述了轻武器实战化训练的短板和弱项,提出一种轻武器激光对抗系统,介绍了系统的主要构成和工作原理,并对激光对抗系统在轻武器实战化训练上展开研究。研究表明,采用激光对抗系统辅助训练能从强化轻武器基础训练效果、提升训练对抗意识、提高战斗员维稳处突能力及强化射击能力等几方面有效提高轻武器基础训练成绩和战术训练水平,为改进轻武器实战化训练提供了理论和技术支撑。     

虚拟现实技术在消防训练中的应用

在对虚拟现实训练系统分类论述的基础上,探讨了虚拟现实技术在消防训练中的应用及优势,阐述了该领域在国内外的研究现状和发展前景,并指出了有待进一步研究的问题。     

心理教育在公安边防教育体系中的地位和作用

针对目前公安边防部队院校教育中实际存在的以知识和智能教育为核心的教育模式以及对心理教育在当代教育中的重要位置缺乏足够共识的状况,阐述了心理教育在公安边防教育体系中的地位以及不可替代的重要作用。     

提高维和警察防暴队培训质量的实践与思考

武警学院已经培训了6期维和警察防暴队,圆满完成了维和培训任务。受到联合国、当地政府及民众的充分肯定和高度赞扬。今后要进一步适应新形势,提高培训质量,不断创新培训模式、培训思路、培训机制。