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The concept of meaningful human control has taken centre stage in the debate on autonomous weapons systems (AWS). While the precise meaning of the concept remains contested, convergence is emerging of the notion that humans should keep control over the use of force. In this paper, I investigate how political actors make sense of meaningful human control as a response to increasing use of autonomous function in weapons and how these processes intersect with imaginations of future warfare. I argue that these diverse visions of human control contribute to either the legitimisation or the delegitimisation of certain types of AWS and ways of conducting future warfare. The paper analyses the international debate about autonomous weapons systems at the United Nations and shows how the relevant actors imagine meaningful human control as a response to AWS meaningful human control. This also influences what options for political regulation are made thinkable and viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration towards the EU has passed for many decades via Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, using Ukraine and Belarus as transit states, yet it adopted new forms under Russia’s intensified ‘hybrid’ warfare, and its 2022 military invasion of Ukraine. This paper seeks to uncover: (1) how formal policies and informal practices were interconnected in the governing of the migration ‘crisis’ on the EU’s eastern border with Belarus (2021–2023); and (2) what different modes of power were used to govern it. The paper advances a polycentric governance perspective. It demonstrates that crisis governance was not simply pursued by the Belarussian government and the EU as direct parties to the conflict. It involved a plethora of other stakeholders including Middle Eastern states, Russia, and travel agencies as non-state actors, all entangled in specific relationships with one another. This paper’s contribution is to show how relational dynamics among these stakeholders governed the crisis via a mixture of formal and informal practices that entailed different levels of coersion. The polycentric perspective advanced here is more useful when studying crisis governance than statist, multilevel governance, or EU-centric approaches emphasising institutional logics, as it emphasises relations among actors, and the power that shapes these relations and the governance system as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe resistance of Mapuche organisations and communities against state repression and continued forms of coloniality in contemporary Chile is one of today’s most visible and active Indigenous movements in Latin America. A key factor of this increased visibility is digital Mapuche activism, in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been adopted by Mapuche organisations and communities since the late 1990s. This paper will discuss digital Mapuche activism as part of the ongoing academic debates on social and Indigenous movements and the digitalisation of their political mobilisation towards decolonisation. The paper will introduce some key players and noteworthy ­characteristics of digital Mapuche activism before discussing its contemporary developments. These include the struggle over representation, the transformation of (traditional) community roles within Mapuche society, and the language of digital Mapuche activism. The last part of the paper showcases two episodes of digital warfare against this new type of Mapuche resistance. Consequently, whilst digital Mapuche activism has become a powerful tool for decolonisation, it is increasingly contested through digital repression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much conflict archaeology is undertaken by or with the involvement of community groups and individual volunteers. The strengths and weaknesses of this approach are considered in the light of three initiatives underway in East Yorkshire, which include both relicts of modern warfare and more historic conflicts. The paper argues for ethically informed and sensitive narratives to be derived from conflict archaeology projects of all periods and not just modern conflicts. Community-led archaeological initiatives are seen as posing a challenge to achieving this by overly functionalist approaches to interpreting and communicating the remains of conflict archaeology. The paper concludes that the involvement of community groups and volunteers in conflict archaeology in general, in the construction of narratives and the process of memorialisation is essential. Narratives need to be less functionalist and more social to be more sensitive and informative. In achieving this conflict archaeological projects will meet societal needs, deliver better academic outcomes and in a local authority context meet the requirements of paymasters and politicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of civil society to the military is well documented in UK Defence and Army policy, doctrine, and concepts. Civilian and military analyses commonly focus on the policy dimensions of the relationship whereby British civil society is deemed important for the legitimacy of campaigns. This research paper draws together less-common references from across the literature about a more direct impact that societal perspectives can have on deployed land operations and extends them through new archival research. It uses the military's experience in Helmand to propose a model of "societal operational influence." In this model tactical behaviours across the conceptual, physical, and moral components of Task Force Helmand's fighting power altered in response to the military's interpretation of public opinion about soldiers, which arguably resulted in changes to its culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany's role in global geopolitics is being renegotiated within current debates about future security architecture, weapons technology capabilities, and the spatiality of future battlefields. This paper introduces a critical geopolitics of technological futures approach and analyses weapons technology discourses through poststructuralist discourse theory and scholarship on technological expectations. It investigates German security policy documents' construction of future threat scenarios, technological visions, battlefields, and the material-technological consequences associated with these futures. It identifies how the geopolitical scenario of 'Westlessness' discursively shifted after Russia's war in Ukraine. It also considers the socio-technical imagination of 'hyperwar', which justifies the development of artificial intelligence-based weapons technologies. Such socio-technical imaginations construct desirable weapons and influence geopolitical leitmotifs. In turn, geopolitical imaginaries affect expectations of future weapons technologies and legitimate the acquisition of specific technologies. Therefore, this paper offers an approach to examining geopolitical power-knowledge constructions in relation to (new) technologies of killing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new Polish military branch, the Territorial Defense Force (TDF), has been described both as a defensive tool against Russian hybrid warfare and as a private paramilitary force of the incumbent Law and Justice Party. This paper examines the strategic, political, and military purposes of the Territorial Defense Force using two theoretical models. One is designed for analyzing units intended to protect against external threats, the second for units targeting internal threats. Comparing these models with the officially declared objectives of the TDF, our results indicate a stronger correlation of the new branch with the second model and reveal distinct political motivations for its creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the world, Special Operations Forces (SOFs) play a leading role in asymmetric warfare. The unique trainings, skills, weapons, and equipment of these elite Tier 1 operators, differentiates them from conventional forces, making them the preferred choice in complex environments. SOFs are ideally deployed for short operations, which include direct action missions, hostage rescue, hunting high-value targets (HVTs), mobility operations, intelligence operations, airborne operations, counterterrorism (CT), counterinsurgency (COIN) operations, and covert operations among others. While the literature has mostly focused on the utility of major powers' SOFs in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), with little attention on Africa's SOF's, this paper examines the origins, evolution, composition, and deployments of Nigeria's SOFs specifically in the Northeast, Northcentral, and Northwest theatres of operation, against the Boko Haram insurgency and armed banditry, respectively. Drawing on primary data from interviews with key informants and other secondary data sources, the paper interrogates the successes, challenges, and prospects of Nigeria's SOFs. The strategic utility and overreliance on Nigeria's SOFs by political leaders and the Military's High Command puts a strain on their strategic value which potentially undermines their strategic efficacy as a force-multiplier in the long run, against unconventional threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper probes colonial counterinsurgency operations in Northeast India and Northwest Burma from the First Anglo-Burmese War (1825–26) to the end of the First World War. While the nature and objective of insurgency movements differ from raid to resistance and then to a full-scale war or gal against the colonial ruler, colonial counterinsurgency operations also employed different strategies and tactics. The paper argues that in its desperate attempt to bring the opponents to submission, colonial rulers turned what they initially considered as 'petty warfare' into 'savage warfare', beyond the framework of the principles and practice of 'small wars'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid warfare is playing an increasingly important role in global geopolitical competition. This article examines the elements of hybrid activities conducted by Russia, China, Turkey and the Gulf States in North Macedonia and sheds light on ways their geostrategic goals transpose into domestic political and socio-economic debates. Drawing on dozen interviews with Macedonian practitioners in the field and on the analyses of official documents and policy papers, the article provides evidence that there is no certain type of influence operations that can be attributed to only one external actor, but all countries use a combination of influence operations to achieve their desired objectives. The article asserts a rising tendency of China and confirms a solidified position of Turkey along various axes at the expense of Russia whose influence continues to fade, particularly in the context of the war in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses how the Russian official representation of the war in Ukraine has been sacralised and then applied to the identity-building strategy. Sacralisation is considered a way to legitimise politics by attributing transcendental meaning and significance to it. This paper suggests a framework for identifying the use of sacralisation techniques and discusses the potential applications of the sacralised war narrative lying beyond the justification of war. It is shown that the Russian representation of the war, once sacralised, has codified the ideological leitmotifs of the last decades. It has built a holistic and comprehensive cognitive schema grounded in pre-constructed identity beliefs and ideas. The state of war allowed the establishment of this framework in a top-down way. Thus, the article claims that discursive sacralisation not only justifies warfare but can also intensify identity politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent anecdotal evidence from the civil wars in Somalia and Yemen suggest that water scarcity may shape the dynamics of civil wars. While a considerable body of research has examined the connection between water scarcity (such as low rainfall) and the onset of civil war, very little research has examined how water scarcity may shape the duration and outcomes of civil wars. Looking specifically at rainfall, this paper argues that changes in access to water play a key role in the duration of civil wars. As rainfall declines, there is a reduction in resources available to both the government and the rebel group, leading to a stalemate in fighting. Furthermore, this paper argues that declines in rainfall are felt more acutely by rebel groups who seek to challenge the government through conventional warfare. This paper tests these propositions using hazard models. The results provide robust support for the propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US military operates some of the largest and most complex supply chains in the world and their experience provides insight into a variety of supply chain issues. This paper taps that experience to study how the design of a supply chain is influenced by its economic environment. Consider these circumstances: the military is not a profit-seeking enterprise, they want to achieve a particular state of readiness and cost is secondary to that goal. Modern weapons systems are complex, expensive, push the envelope of technology, and the volume requisitioned is often small such that few manufacturers can afford to be in the business; and these expensive weapons systems operate in harsh operating conditions where wear and tear is substantial, consequently remanufacturing of systems and parts is a critical source of supply. Focusing on the supply chain of the US Army, this paper uses an economic model to study their responses to these conditions, how supply chain design is affected by these conflicting goals, and how those designs affect cost and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has been a key political and military actor in the Middle East and in North Africa. Although it is currently in retreat, it has conquered, controlled, and ruled areas of Syria, Iraq, and Libya. This essay outlines threats posed by ISIS in Libya and in North Africa. The analysis is divided into three sections. The first section takes into account the hybrid military nature of ISIS. The notion of hybrid warfare describes the way in which non-state actors fight: a mix of traditional infantry tactics using modern weapons; guerrilla operations; and terrorism. The second section focuses on Libya. Over the summer of 2014, Libya collapsed into civil war between duelling governments. This turmoil offered ISIS an opening to set up a bridgehead along the Libyan coast. The role of ISIS is analysed in the context of Libyan political and security chaos, underlining both ISIS's role in the conflict and ISIS's operations in Sirte. The third section takes into account ISIS's operations in the North Africa between 2015 and 2016. The group has proved to be resilient; although the loss of its North African capital was a strategic blow, this has not removed ISIS's ability to execute small-unit raids, and bombings. In conclusion, the paper aims to demonstrate both the hybrid nature of ISIS, which affects various military and political approaches and allows ISIS to withstand classic counterterrorism operations. It also considers ISIS's ability to operate across borders and to exploit local instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate the advantages of combining the detailed military history of actual battles with contemporary decision-making cognitive theories. Specifically, we analyse two battle decisions made in Israeli-Arab wars, and interpret, through a cognitive lens, some of the decisions that were subsequently deemed "incomprehensible" in the civilian and military literature. This perspective permits analysis of multiple processes – such as risk evaluation, mental completion of unknown information, and estimation of enemy response. Moreover, it predicts that even highly experienced commanders are prone to the effect of cognitive biases, and may therefore make bad decisions with disastrous consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a conceptual critique of "remote warfare." It argues that "remote warfare" is more of a trendy term than a robust concept. In support of this assessment, this paper makes two arguments. First, that there is a lack of clarity in the debate over what "remote warfare" is: namely, the literature is yet to explain what it entails. Second, that because of this lack of definitional specificity, we also lack an account of its analytical value: what intellectual leverage does it hold over existing terms making similar claims? The article discusses these points by expanding on the notion of "semantic field," which it uses to assess how "remote warfare" contributes and is shaped by the broader conceptual confusion in the study of contemporary war and warfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military power relies upon military capabilities, generated by organisations, infrastructure, and defence establishments. This paper highlights the importance of remote warfare to research on the transformation of military power in the contemporary world. It draws attention to the relationship between military capabilities that enable states to intervene in physically distant conflicts and their political legitimacy. It argues that remote warfare is best understood as a family resemblance of legitimacy problems associated with military capabilities, rather than a category of warfare, set of tactics, or strategy. It then identifies a framework for understanding the varied types of legitimacy problems associated with remote warfare: remote warfare consists of a set of problems that examine how military capabilities affect the ability of states to act without violating international norms, governments to act without violating domestic constraints, the ability of governments to control their exposure to interventions at distance, and their ability to avoid responsibility for the consequences. The importance of this approach is highlighted by the way that it helps to explain the importance of controversies over military infrastructure used to support interventions and therefore highlights the importance of work on remote warfare for the wider study of military transformation and military power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to underline the Russian's new role in the Mediterranean region and it is divided into three sections. First, it takes into account the notion of hybrid warfare as it, according to NATO and westerner scholars, represents the new military strategy that Moscow devises to achieve its goals. Consequently, the paper studies the current use of the term "hybrid warfare" and then, using a more historical standpoint, it will show how this concept is neither new nor useful to understand current Russian politics toward the Mediterranean region. As a consequence, the paper's second section elaborates on the notion of gray zone warfare that seems to be more appropriate to describe both Russian military operations and its tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forensic science is undertaken in support of law enforcement investigations, criminal justice prosecutions, intelligence, and military objectives. There are different forensic operating models to meet these various objectives and no unified approach to forensic science has been described. There are common challenges in the military domain, which impacts the delivery of forensic science, including: different terminology between organizations, complex operating environments, operating siloes, inward-looking military structures, quality management, and resource constraints. One solution to these challenges is to apply modern organizational theory to military-focused forensic science. Organizational theory is the study of organizations in a structural sense, including objectives, people, structure and management. The modern organizational theory systems approach describes how organizations should be viewed as systems within larger systems. In the work presented in this paper, a systems approach has been applied, for the first time, to military forensic exploitation to address the common issues faced by military organizations. The advantages of applying a systems approach to military forensic exploitation are that it is applicable across forensic science organizations, it is flexible and scalable to meet the changing external environment, and it articulates the redundancies in the system to help address system failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Second World War, the three-year old South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) spearheaded the Union of South Africa's radio propaganda effort to induce national support. Based strongly on archival sources, this article aims to illustrate critically, the dynamics of radio propaganda in support and maintenance of the Union government's war effort in a contested space and politically charged environment. It reflects on the war of words waged primarily by Nazi Germany's Zeesen Radio, targeting the ultra-nationalist Afrikaner opposition to instigate them against the government, and the SABC's counterpropaganda effort. It delineates the SABC's radio propaganda on multiple battlefronts: starting on the back-foot to contest Zeesen, mobilising the homefront, facilitating recruitment as well as boosting civilian and military morale. Moreover, the article reflects on the role of 'pirate' radio stations in contesting the propaganda space; and also alludes to the constraints of the radio propaganda effort during the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of papers about war. They include "Multi-Ethnic Armies in the Aftermath of Civil War: Lessons Learned From Lebanon," "Understanding the Leadership and Culture Dynamic Within a Military Context: Applying Theory to an Operational and Business Context," and "Strategy: The Challenge of Complexity."

This article re-examines the British record of inter-service cooperation in the decade before the outbreak of World War I. A fresh perspective is offered through the ideas, writings and experiences of Sir George Aston, a Royal Marines officer and contemporary analyst of what would today be called joint warfare. The article observes that, despite Aston's best efforts, the Army and Navy did not advance beyond a degree of mutual sympathy for each others operational needs, and did not address the underlying problems of integrated planning and unified command. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is devoted to a detailed presentation of a new Military Ethics doctrine of fighting terror. It is proposed as an extension of the classical Just War Theory, which has been meant to apply to ordinary international conflicts. Since the conditions of a fight against terror are essentially different from the conditions that are assumed to hold in the classical war (military) paradigm or in the law enforcement (police) paradigm, a third model is needed. The paper proposes such a model in the form of principles that should govern the activity of a democratic state when faced with terror. Eleven principle are proposed. Two are on the level of the state, including the Principle of Self-Defense Duty. Six are related to military preventive acts against activities of terror, including new formulations of a Principle of Military Necessity, a Principle of Distinction, and a Principle of Military Proportionality. Principles of Low Probabilities, Time Span Considerations and Professional Understanding are also included. Finally, three principles that are related to consciousness-directed activities against terror are added: a Principle of Permanent Notice, a Principle of Compensation, and a Principle of Operational Deterrence. The exposition of the principles is accompanied by arguments about their moral justification. The doctrine has been developed on the background of the IDF fight against acts and activities of terror performed by Palestinian individuals and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States military Civil Affairs community desires to increase its relevance to future operations and missions of the U.S. Army as part of the joint force. To do so, it must adapt to the changes and challenges of the dynamic and uncertain operational environments in which the joint force operates. One key component of these environments concerns the ability of the joint force to reestablish and maintain security in the wake of crises and catastrophes. This paper demonstrates that the concept of security itself has evolved and continues to do so in ways that require fundamental changes in the ways and means that the Civil Affairs community goes about its security tasks. Prominent among these changes is the fracturing of the concept of security into specialized forms, especially Human, Environmental and Informational Security. This paper provides some possible adaptations that the Civil Affairs community can make to accommodate these changes in the security environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transatlantic cooperation on security has a long history. In Africa, transatlantic cooperation on security is basically between France and the United States. This paper asks why the two former competitors in Africa started to cooperate and also why they are so willing to engage militarily. The central argument in this paper poses that France and the US cooperate because it is indispensable to both parties. To France, the cooperation is indispensable because the US is the only power with sufficient financial means and with sufficient air-lift capacity to transport French and African troops into conflict-ridden countries. To Washington, cooperation with Paris is indispensable because the French authorities have unique access to intelligence and knowledge about large parts of Africa. By applying a foreign policy analysis framework, the paper analyses how perceptions of decision-makers, the role of personality and leadership, the role of government institutions and political systems have impacted the relevant decisions. It is emphasised that the two different decision-making systems - the French “state dominated” and the American “society dominated” - produce the same result, namely collaboration. It suggests that the perception of a serious threat from terrorism and Islamist radicalisation overrules differences in decision-making systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collection of essays in the special debate tackle the claim that drones deserve their acquired status as a revolutionary technology that has indelibly recast warfare. It is a debate embedded within a long-running and contentious, broader discussion about the role technology plays an independent variable affecting the character and perhaps the nature of war. How far can the introduction of a new technology really alter ways of fighting or radically impact battlefield outcomes? The complexity of the issue is reflected in the diversity of positions and approaches taken by the debaters. The purpose of these papers is not to arrive at a conclusion through a dialectic process; rather, readers are left to form their own views after weighing up the strengths of the arguments presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcomes of warfare have rarely only been characterised by the quantity and quality of individual combatant force elements. The ability to manoeuvre and adapt across force elements through effective Command and Control (C2) can allow smaller or weaker forces to overcome an adversary with greater resource and fire-power. In this paper, we combine the classic Lanchester combat model with the Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model for phase oscillators on a network to create a flexible Networked-Lanchester-C2 representation of force-on-force military engagement. The mathematical model thus unifies three of the military warfighting "functions": fires, manoeuvre and C2. We consider three illustrative use-cases, and show that an analytical treatment of a reduced model characterises global effects in the full system. For inhomogeneous forces, we observe that with appropriate balance between internal organisational coupling, resource manoeuvrability and even weaker lethality, the force can be adaptive to overcome an initially stronger adversary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on the economics of military affairs in Turkey and Greece.

The Australian threat environment has changed as a result of global terrorism and foreign fighters, which are contributing factors to the blurring of the lines between military objectives and law enforcement activities. This shift requires a more integrated and interoperable forensic science framework that is coordinated at the whole-of-Government enterprise level. The forensic science 'system of systems' provides an integrating framework, which recognizes that forensic science supports the criminal justice, law enforcement, intelligence, and military systems. These systems must work together to achieve end-to-end performance, which is coordinated through integration and sharing of information across the systems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why we need a systems thinking approach to military forensic science in the contemporary world. Implementation of a coordinated and interoperable military forensic science system of systems will contribute to the Australian Department of Defence strategic objective to deter, deny and defeat returned foreign fighters and global terrorist networks, such as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for the utility of remote warfare as a means of analysing the geopolitics of American primacy. Through the use of new technologies and surrogate forces to address security challenges with a minimal military footprint, remote warfare (re)imposes political distance between the United States and the sites of its military interventions. Its constitutive modalities of intervention range from drones and Special Operations Forces to Private Military Security Companies, security cooperation programmes and emerging technologies associated with Artificial Intelligence. As public support for large-scale overseas interventions has dwindled and strategic competition with China has intensified, remote warfare represents a means of 'retooling' US primacy, which is both a structural condition and a strategic orientation. As a strategic approach to the use of force, remote warfare enables the American state to project military power in a more flexible and sustainable manner. This has supported the maintenance of US primacy as Washington's strategic focus has shifted from counterterrorism towards a renewed emphasis on great power competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US military has a long and robust history of scientific research programs, often conducted in conjunction with civilian scientists at non-military governmental agencies as well as universities. These programs flourished in the immediate post-Second World War and the early cold war years, as the field of military science expanded to address the sprawling Soviet threat. One area of growth was in atmospheric science, which had already taken off preceding Second World War in conjunction with the growth of air warfare. Advances in meteorology, cloud science and climatology enabled military interests to align with weather forecasters and also agricultural interests, as old ideas about cloud seeding and weather control were revived in the light of new research. The military, largely through the Air Force, advanced a series of projects investigating the potential of weather and climate control, manipulation, and ultimately weaponisation. These programs, which were sometimes linked to US Department of Agriculture programs aimed at improving agricultural production, persisted for decades. Some of the newly developed tools were deployed: local climate manipulation efforts during the Vietnam conflict were aimed at impeding traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with mixed results. Significant efforts came during the Weather Bureau leadership of Francis W. Reichelderfer, whose papers contain a wealth of information about efforts ranging from cloud seeding to proposals to drop atomic weapons on hurricanes. These papers, along with those of Weather Bureau scientist Harry Wexler, provide a fascinating window to a time when the US military and scientific establishment seemed poised to grasp the levers of power over nature itself. This paper describes these little-studied programs, and situates these efforts within the broader military science programs accompanying the emergence of air warfare, as well as post-war science programs aimed at countering the Soviet challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In India, from the time of emergence of empires in circa 300 BCE till the rise of British power in eighteenth century, military mercenaries and private military companies dominated the politico-military landscape. Premodern India had both secular (military guilds) and religious (based on temples and akharas) military corporations. The mercenaries were mostly marginal peasants and demobilised soldiers. They were hired through the agency of their clan leaders, tribal chieftains or the zamindars (large landlords) in whose villages they resided. Historians argue that the presence of the mercenaries and extra state military corporations prevented the rise of strong states in premodern India. In this paper, based mostly on indigenous sources, I argue that the military mercenaries and the private military corporations of pre-British India were at the forefront of technological development. The mercenaries were the channel through which tools, techniques, and ideas of warfare were transferred. The rulers relied on the mercenaries because of their military skills and in the long run they also proved to be cheaper compared to the cost of maintaining permanently a large regular army. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nonlinear optimization model is developed in this paper to identify the optimal replacement strategy for military aircraft. In the model, the aircraft operating and maintenance (O&M) costs per available year are estimated as a function of age during the aircraft life cycle. After determining the optimal replacement policy, the model is applied to the CF Long-Range Patrol CP-140A Arcturus fleet. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out to assess the impact of some key model parameters on the result. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The British Army Reserve, and in particular its logistics component, is currently undergoing profound organisational transformation as part of the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) program. Yet, to date there has been no sustained quantitative analysis of perceptions of cohesion, readiness and morale in the Army Reserve. Moreover, there has been little quantitative examination of FR20’s impact to date. This paper addresses these gaps in the literature by undertaking an examination of the above variables using survey data from a representative sample of AR logistics soldiers collected longitudinally. It finds that cohesion is highly important in explaining variance in perceptions of readiness and morale, and that perceptions of cohesion, readiness and morale are relatively high in the force. Nevertheless, the data indicates that FR20 has failed to increase these significantly over time. Similarly, it finds that confidence in FR20 delivering increased military capability is also declining. These findings are important for understanding FR20’s impact to date and future trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the world, states are establishing military cyber commands or similar units to develop offensive cyber capabilities. One of the key dilemmas faced by these states is whether (and how) to integrate their intelligence and military capabilities to develop a meaningful offensive cyber capacity. This topic, however, has received little theoretical treatment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to address the following question: What are the benefits and risks of organizational integration of offensive cyber capabilities (OIOCC)? I argue that organizational integration may lead to three benefits: enhanced interaction efficiency of intelligence and military activities, better(and more diverse) knowledge transfer and reduced mission overlap. Yet, there are also several negative effects attached to OIOCC.  It may lead to 'cyber mission creep' and an intensification of the cyber security dilemma. It could also result in arsenal cost ineffectiveness in the long run. Although the benefits of OIOCC are seen to outweighs the risks, failing to grasp the negative effects may lead to unnecessary cycles of provocation, with potentially disastrous consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a strategic conflict between a state and a non-state military organization. The non-state military organization decides whether to attack or not to attack the state, while the state decides on its counter-measure. If the state uses a high level of violence against the non-state organization, it may be accused by the international community of ‘non-proportional’ use of force, and both sides of the conflict take this possibility into account. The model predicts that it may be rational for the non-state organization to attack the state, even if as a reaction the state will militarily destroy this organization, due to a positive probability the state will be punished by the international community for non-proportional use of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical commentary on Kasher and Yadlin's article. I start with a few remarks regarding the authors’ claim about the uniqueness of fighting terrorism and their proposed definition of acts of terrorism. The main part of my commentary, however, is devoted to discussing Kasher and Yadlin's Principle of Distinction (Part II of their paper). There, I raise several objections to their proposed ranking of state duties and to the way they use the ranking to justify what they call targeted prevention of terror. Finally, I make a few remarks pertaining more specifically to the Israeli–Palestinian situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1984 the Indian and Pakistani armies have been locked in the world's highest war on Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram Himalaya. This remote location is the world's only nuclear trijunction as well as a source of drinking water for significant portions of India and Pakistan, and its possession is considered by both governments to be key to their national security. In the past, alpine battles were fought predominantly on glaciers with a precipitation-dominated accumulation type; Siachen, however, gains most of its new ice mass from avalanches and icefalls. This has presented unique challenges in tactics and logistics, rendering many of the strategies of modern conventional warfare useless, and the style of mountain warfare these challenges have produced has impacted both the combatants and the glacier itself. Existing literature on Siachen, while it discusses the verticality of the conflict, has done little to analyze the singular nature of warfare on a high-altitude glacier with an avalanche-heavy accumulation type. This paper draws on USGS Landsat data, glaciological mass balance studies, hydrological studies, firsthand combat accounts and historical reviews of the region to examine the unique tactics, logistics and impact of warfare on Siachen Glacier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debates around remote warfare have grown significantly over the last decade, leading to the term acquiring a certain buzz in the media, think-tank, and policy discourse. The lack of any serious attempt to reflect and take stock of this body of scholarship informs the scope of this special issue, in general, and of this article in particular. This paper addresses this former gap and, in doing so, serves a threefold purpose. First, to provide a state-of-the-art review of this emerging debate. Second, to both categorise what properties make a buzzword and to make the case for why existing remote warfare scholarship should be approached in this way. Third, to introduce how the various contributions to this special issue extend the debate's conceptual, theoretical, and empirical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses remote warfare from an ontological security perspective, arguing that remote warfare needs to be understood as a response to states' internal self-identity needs. We develop this claim by analysing an emerging aspect of remote warfare: Security Force Assistance (SFA). SFA is aimed at building up the security forces of partners, sharing best practice, assisting in security sector reform, fostering collaboration, and overall contributing to conflict resolution. Focusing on the UK, we show how and why ontological security needs are a driving force behind the UK's SFA program. We outline the UK's specific autobiographical narrative, which we call a "global engagement identity," explore the crises that induced ontological insecurity, and show how the UK's SFA program can be read as a routinised foreign policy practice aimed at taming uncertainty and reinforcing ontological security. This paper makes three contributions. First, it analyses remote warfare through an ontological security framework, thereby moving the focus from "security-as-survival" to "security-of-being." Second, it highlights the importance of SFA as a remote warfare tool. Third, it shows the centrality of ontological security in understanding UK defence policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the various studies conducted on arms control in the U.S. Study of the available literature gains a general impression that the problem is very difficult. This applies particularly to the physical methods of inspection. To get a fair estimate of the difficulties of physical inspection, an individual must read the papers of the proponents of nonphysical inspection. However, there are two points in studying nonphysical inspection which contains hidden assumptions. The first assumption is that there is no real temptation to conceal armaments while the second is a probability of detection that would deter nations from violations of the disarmament agreements.

Discusses the application of the historiographical method to the study of British military doctrine writing in the 1980s and 1990s. Definition of historiography; Information on several army doctrine writers; Analysis of some of the papers presented at the British Military Doctrine Group meetings.

This article investigates the development of balloon and pigeon-sent microfilm, both for military purposes and as a propaganda technique in besieged Paris in 1870–1871. It examines the aerial press used to communicate with the provinces, to help coordinate the actions of the French army, and to boost civilian morale. It analyses the content and reception of material sent in these ways and its effect on the mood in Paris, the objectives of the authorities and the state of the war effort and shows how early the French military developed techniques of aviation and propaganda for warfare, even though memory of this was lost and had to be re-invented in later wars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the relationship between public narratives and the Italian military contribution to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan (2001-2014). Despite attracting little attention in the literature, Italy has been one of the most crucial contributors of multilateral military missions around the world in the post-bipolar era. Italy has remained consistently engaged militarily in Afghanistan over the entire period of the ISAF mission. However, the country’s involvement has been characterised by differing and controversial views and perspectives among Italian political actors and the media. This study aims to reconstruct the core features of the strategic narratives and the media frames around the military intervention and it does so through a Qualitative Content Analysis on a collection of almost 200 articles published by four main Italian national newspapers. The goal of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, we systematically retrace the main discursive patterns and frames employed by the newspapers on the ISAF. On the other, we evaluate whether in the case of military interventions, the Italian media unveil critical inconsistencies and competitive arguments or whether they function as a repeater of the dominant political discourse. Thanks to the case study, we find that the Italian media supported the mainstream narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern Mission Command philosophy in military operations originated with the German concept of Auftragstaktik (mission tactics). It emphasizes in general terms the exercise of disciplined initiatives by subordinates during the execution of mission-type orders in the course of military operations that are conducted within the overall intent of a commander. The present paper contains an overview of the historical evolution of the mission command concept and its application. The paper compares the mission command concept with the detailed or linear method of command. This paper focuses on the relevance of the mission command concept for the Hellenic Land Forces (HLF) in Greece. The paper provides a historical account on when and where mission command was successfully exercised by the Hellenic Armed Forces in the modern military history of Greece. The authors support the premise that the mission command concept is essential for safeguarding Greek national security in the current environment of evolving symmetric and asymmetric threats, and in meeting operational challenges in a diverse and difficult terrain. The paper examines the cultural reasons that have impeded the adoption of the mission command concept within the HLF and recommends a three-phase model for its permanent implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

By placing China on a more equal footing with the United States, the combine principle could facilitate a dialogue to reduce nuclear risks now, rather than in the future (if China were to build up its nuclear arsenal and achieve a more symmetrical nuclear relationship), or never (if China does not build up its arsenal). The 2017 US National Security Strategy proclaimed that "China seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favor."[7] The 2019 Chinese defense white paper countered that the United States "is engaging in technological and institutional innovation in pursuit of absolute military superiority." Together with the alliance asymmetry described above, this geographical asymmetry also contributes to the asymmetrical stakes in China's favor in the event of a future US-China conflict.[35] China has more to lose than the United States in a future US-China war that remained conventional only, at least in terms of the damage that the PRC and US homelands would likely suffer. But the combination of US extended deterrence to Japan and South Korea, and the US-Russia nuclear relationship, require the United States to have a larger and more sophisticated arsenal than China. [Extracted from the article]

Focuses on the archive collection of the National Army Museum in London, England acquired from 1960-1985. Notable collections collected during 1960; Collections received in 1965; Description of the military manuscripts received from the Royal United Services Institution in 1968; Collection of papers, uniforms and photographs of British soldier Lord Roberts; Change in the pattern of archive acquisition after 1971.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including modern warfare, recovery of a Ju88 reconnaissance plane from the Thames Estuary, and African conflicts.

The heavy direct or indirect reliance of liberal states on the military and security services of the private contractor in contemporary warfare is an undeniable reality. While the literature presents a wide array of different empirical explanations of why liberal states have come to increasingly rely on contractor support, this paper attempts to give a normative explanation to this development. This paper does not aim to refute the existing explanations but merely complement the most commonly stated reasons for outsourcing. It argues that the liberal state's hiring of private contractors can be understood against the backdrop of a wider trend whereby liberal states, increasingly operating in non-trinitarian operations, attempt to replace the soldier as a trinitarian servant with non-trinitarian means of warfare. This correlation between liberal state commitments in non-trinitarian warfare and a growing employment of non-trinitarian means of warfare can be explained by Social Contract theory and lays the foundation for a normative understanding of why liberal states resort to non-trinitarian contractor support amid non-trinitarian crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]