Decentralized stockage policies in a multiechelon environment

Characteristics of supply performance at the top echelon of an optimally managed multiechelon supply system are investigated; insights are developed which are useful in devising coordinated single-echelon policies which can approximate the benefits derived from multiechelon management.     

The relationship between decision variables and penalty cost parameter in (Q,R) inventory models

This paper is concerned with the optimum decision variables found using order quantity, reorder point (Q, R) inventory models. It examines whether the optimum variables (Q* and R*) are necessarily monotonic functions of the backorder cost parameter (or equivalently of the performance objective). For a general class of models it is proved that R* must increase as the performance objective is raised, and an inequality condition is derived which governs how Q* will change. Probability distributions of lead time demand are cited or found for which Q* increases, Q* decreases, and Q* is independent of increases in performance objectives or backorder cost parameter.     

Optimal interdiction of a supply network

Under certain conditions, the re-supply capability of a combatant force may be limited by the characteristics of the transportation network over which supplies must flow. Interdiction by an opposing force may be used to reduce the capacity of that network. The effects of such efforts vary for differing missions and targets. With only a limited total budget available, the interdictor must decide which targets to hit, and with how much effort. An algorithm is presented for determining the optimum interdiction plan for minimizing network flow capacity when the minimum capacity on an arc is positive and the cost of interdiction is a linear function of arc capacity reduction.     

Book reviews

Exporting Democracy: Fulfilling America's Destiny. By Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute (1991) ISSN 0–8447–3734–8. $12.95.

Generals in the Palacio. By Roderick Ai Camp. Oxford University Press, (1992), ISBN 0–19–507300–2, £45.

L'Armement en France. Genèse, Ampleur et Coût d'une Industrie By François Chesnais and Claude Serfati, Editions Nathan, Collection Economie/Sciences Sociales, Paris (1992), ISBN 2–09–190086–9.

The Têt Offensive. Intelligence Failure in War. By James Wirtz, Cornell University Press, New York (1991), ISBN 0–8014–2486–0. $38.50.

Restructuring of arms producton in Western Europe. Edited by Michael Brzoska and Peter Lock. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1992), ISBN 0–1982–9147–7. £25.00.

What is Proper Soldiering? A study of new perspectives for the future uses of the Armed Forces of the 1990s. By Michael Harbottle. The Centre for International Peacebuilding, Chipping Norton (1992), £3.50.

The Strategic Defence Initiative By Edward Reiss, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1992), ISBN 0–521–41097–5. £30.00.     

Landmarks in defense literature

Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought from Machiavelli to Hitler. Edited by Edward Mead Earle. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (1943)     

Cumulative search-evasion games

Cumulative search-evasion games (CSEGs) are two-person zero-sum search-evasion games where play proceeds throughout some specified period without interim feedback to either of the two players. Each player moves according to a preselected plan. If (X_t, Y_t,) are the positions of the two players at time t, then the game's payoff is the sum over t from 1 to T of A(X_t, Y_t, t). Additionally, all paths must be “connected.” That is, the finite set of positions available for a player in any time period depends on the position selected by that player in the previous time period. One player attempts to select a mixed strategy over the feasible T-time period paths to maximize the expected payoff. The other minimizes. Two solution procedures are given. One uses the Brown-Robinson method of fictitious play and the other linear programming. An example problem is solved using both procedures.     

天地预警系统与机敏传感信息网

建立高效的天地预警系统对于赢得现代立体战争的胜利有着极其重要的意义。探讨了天地预警系统与机敏传感信息网 (Sm art Sensor Web)的构成 ,结合我国的部分研究现状 ,较详细地阐述了设计与构造天地预警系统所需解决的若干关键技术问题。     

主要国家航天力量建设节点

航天力量是各主要军事强国重点投入建设的新型作战力量。本文以航天产业军民两用的天然技术属性作为切入点,从各主要军事强国商业、民用航天的规划建设中研判分析航天力量短期、中期、长期的建设节点,对航天力量走向战场需要突破的瓶颈进行思考,就航天力量建设问题提出思考。