Geographies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam: The Merry Band of Retirees

This review explores the recent development of research on rainbow herbicides as chemical weapons and the geographies of chemical warfare in what is now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. While the use and impacts of Agent Orange have previously been well documented, the production and extensive application of five other rainbow agents by the United States military has only recently been investigated in detail. What is exceptional about this research of chemical warfare landscapes is that the 23 refereed journal publications in this review were designed, implemented, and published in a unique collective research project by Ken Olson and a Merry Band of Military Retirees. Their groundbreaking research portfolio includes many geographical dimensions and the political ecology of chemical warfare. This includes the extensive exposure of civilians in Vietnam to these chemical agents, exposure of US military personnel in Southeast Asia and Panama, exposure of civilians near the private industrial sites that produced these rainbow agents in North America and the hazardous soil contamination that perseveres at these sites in Vietnam and the US. Given this impressive research depth and global scope, this review explores the unique way this research portfolio was developed by a Merry Band of Retirees through an interview with its leader, Ken Olson. It examines the goals and ethical orientation of these military veterans, the political ecology involved, the creative strategies they utilized to produce this innovative research, and how they changed the way Veterans exposed to chemical warfare agents are treated by the US government.

Multiple chemical warfare agent simulant decontamination by self-driven microplasma

Low-temperature plasma is a green and high-efficiency technology for chemical warfare agent(CWA)decontamination.However,traditional plasma devices suffer from the problems of highpower composition and large power-supply size,which limit their practical applications.In this paper,a self-driven microplasma decontamination system,induced by a dielectric-dielectric rotary triboelectric nanogenerator(dd-r TENG),was innovatively proposed for the decontamination of CWA simulants.The microplasma was characterized via electrical measurements,optical emission spectra and ozone concentration detection.With an output voltage of-3460 V,the dd-r TENG can successfully excite microplasma in air.Reactive species,such as OH,O(1D),Hαand O3were detected.With input average power of 0.116 W,the decontamination rate of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide reached 100%within 3 min of plasma treatment,while the decontamination rates of malathion and dimethyl methylphosphonate reached(65.92±1.65)%and(60.88±1.92)%after 7 min of plasma treatment,respectively.In addition,the decontamination rates gradually decreased with the increase in the simulant concentrations.Typical products were identified and analyzed.This study demonstrates the broad spectrum and feasibility of the dd-r TENG-microplasma for CWA elimination,which provides significant guidance for their practical applications in the future.

A framework of force of information influence and application for C4KISR system

The subversive nature of information war lies not only in the information itself, but also in the circulation and application of information. It has always been a challenge to quantitatively analyze the function and effect of information flow through command, control, communications, computer, kill, intelligence,surveillance, reconnaissance (C4KISR) system. In this work, we propose a framework of force of information influence and the methods for calculating the force of information influence between C4KISR nodes of sensing, intelligence processing,decision making and fire attack. Specifically, the basic concept of force of information influence between nodes in C4KISR system is formally proposed and its mathematical definition is provided. Then, based on the information entropy theory, the model of force of information influence between C4KISR system nodes is constructed. Finally, the simulation experiments have been performed under an air defense and attack scenario. The experimental results show that, with the proposed force of information influence framework, we can effectively evaluate the contribution of information circulation through different C4KISR system nodes to the corresponding tasks. Our framework of force of information influence can also serve as an effective tool for the design and dynamic reconfiguration of C4KISR system architecture.

“Cyberspace” or “Cyber warfare”研究热点与趋势分析

运用CitespaceⅡ信息可视化图谱软件对"cyberspace" or "cyber warfare"研究文献数据进行分析,绘制了共引网络图谱,并依据图谱中关键节点文献的知识基础,对研究热点及趋势进行了初步探讨,得出国外研究的热点与前沿的相关结论,对"cyberspace" or "cyber warfare"的研究具有一定的参考价值。

Anthrax: A disease of biowarfare and public health importance

Bioterrorism has received a lot of attention in the first decade of this century. Biological agents are considered attractive weapons for bioterrorism as these are easy to obtain, comparatively inexpensive to produce and exhibit widespread fear and panic than the actual potential of physical damage. Bacillus anthracis(B. anthracis), the etiologic agent of anthrax is a Gram positive, spore forming, non-motile bacterium. This is supposed to be one of the most potent BW agents because its spores are extremely resistant to natural conditions and can survive for several decades in the environment. B.anthracis spores enter the body through skin lesion(cutaneous anthrax), lungs(pulmonary anthrax), or gastrointestinal route(gastrointestinal anthrax) and germinate, giving rise to the vegetative form. Anthrax is a concern of public health also in many countries where agriculture is the main source of income including India. Anthrax has been associated with human history for a very long time and regained its popularity after Sept 2001 incidence in United States. The present review article describes the history, biology, life cycle, pathogenicity, virulence, epidemiology and potential of B. anthracis as biological weapon.

An approach for predicting digital material consumption in electronic warfare

Electronic warfare is a modern combat mode,in which predicting digital material consumption is a key for material requirements planning(MRP).In this paper,we introduce an insensitive loss function(ε) and propose a ε-SVR-based prediction approach.First,we quantify values of influencing factors of digital equipments in electronic warfare and a small-sample data on real consumption to form a real combat data set,and preprocess it to construct the sample space.Subsequently,we establish the ε-SVR-based prediction model based on "wartime influencing factors-material consumption" and perform model training.In case study,we give 8 historical battle events with battle damage data and predict 3 representative kinds of digital materials by using the proposed approach.The results illustrate its higher accuracy and more convenience compared with other current approaches.Taking data acquisition controller prediction as an example,our model has better prediction performance(RMSE=0.575 7,MAPE(%)=12.037 6 and R^2=0.996 0) compared with BP neural network model(RMSE=1.272 9,MAPE(%)=23.577 5 and R^2=0.980 3) and GM(1,1) model(RMSE=2.095 0,MAPE(%)=24.188 0 and R^2=0.946 6).The fact shows that the approach can be used to support decision-making for MRP in electronic warfare.

Waveform design for radar and extended target in the environment of electronic warfare

Transmit waveform optimization is critical to radar system performance. There have been a fruit of achievements about waveform design in recent years. However, most of the existing methods are based on the assumption that radar is smart and the target is dumb, which is not always reasonable in the modern electronic warfare. This paper focuses on the waveform design for radar and the extended target in the environment of electronic warfare. Three different countermeasure models between smart radar and dumb target, smart target and dumb radar, smart radar and smart target are proposed. Taking the signal-to-interferenceplus-noise ratio(SINR) as the metric, optimized waveforms for the first two scenarios are achieved by the general water-filling method in the presence of clutter. For the last case, the equilibrium between smart radar and smart target in the presence of clutter is given mathematically and the optimized solution is achieved through a novel two-step water-filling method on the basis of minmax theory. Simulation results under different power constraints show the power allocation strategies of radar and target and the output SINRs are analyzed.

A joint optimization algorithm for focused energy delivery in precision electronic warfare

Focused energy delivery(FED) is a technique that can precisely bring energy to the specific region,which arouses wide attention in precision electronic warfare(PREW).This paper first proposes a joint optimization model with respect to the locations of the array and the transmitted signals to improve the performance of FED.As the problem is nonconvex and NP-hard,particle swarm optimization(PSO) is adopted to solve the locations of the array,while designing the transmitted signals under a feasible array is considered as a unimodular quadratic program(UQP) subproblem to calculate the fitness criterion of PSO.In the PSO-UQP framework established,two methods are presented for the UQP subproblem,which are more efficient and more accurate respectively than previous works.Furthermore,a threshold value is set in the framework to determine which method to adopt to take full advantages of the methods above.Meanwhile,we obtain the maximum localization error that FED can tolerate,which is significant for implementing FED in practice.Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the joint optimization algorithm,and the correctness of the maximum localization error derived.

Electronic warfare in the optical band:Main features,examples and selected measurement data

The paper presents the possibilities of,and methods for,acquiring,analysing and processing optical signals in order to recognise,identify and counteract threats on the contemporary battleground.The main ways electronic warfare is waged in the optical band of the electromagnetic wave spectrum have been formulated,including the acquisition of optical emitter signatures,as well as ultraviolet(UV)and thermal(IR)signatures.The physical parameters and values describing the emission of laser radiation are discussed,including their importance in terms of creating optical signatures.Moreover,it has been shown that in the transformation of optical signals into signatures,only their spectral and temporal parameters can be applied.This was confirmed in experimental part of the paper,which includes our own measurements of spectral and temporal emission characteristics for three types of binocular laser rangefinders.It has been further shown that through simple registration and quick analysis involving comparison of emission time parameters in the case of UV signatures in“solar-blind”band,various events can be identified quickly and faultlessly.The same is true for IR signatures,where the amplitudes of the recorded signal for several wavelengths are compared.This was confirmed experimentally for UV signatures by registering and then analyzing signals from several events during military exercises at a training ground,namely Rocket Propelled Grenade(RPG)launches and explosions after hitting targets,trinitrotoluene(TNT)explosions,firing armour-piercing,fin-stabilised,discarding sabots(APFSDS)or high explosive(HE)projectiles.The final section describes a proposed model database of emitters,created as a result of analysing and transforming the recorded signals into optical signatures.

Grid architecture model of network centric warfare

NCW(network centric warfare) is an information warfare concentrating on network. A global network-centric warfare architecture with OGSA grid technology is put forward,which is a four levels system including the user level, the application level, the grid middleware layer and the resource level. In grid middleware layer,based on virtual hosting environment, a BEPL4WS grid service composition method is introduced. In addition, the NCW grid service model is built with the help of Eclipse-SDK-3.0.1 and Bpws4j.

Review and Analysis: Successful Use of Soil Tunnels in Medieval and Modern Warfare and Smuggling

For more than 2500 years, soil tunnels have been used in warfare and smuggling. Initially tunnels were utilized to attack fortresses that were underlain by unconsolidated (non-bedrock) soil materials. Later tunnels provided housing and served as smuggling corridors. The medieval warfare undermining technique involved digging soil tunnels with wooden or beam props to hold up the soil ceilings. Then flammable material, such as hay or straw, was put in the tunnel and set on fire. The fire burnt the support beams which collapsed the soil tunnel ceilings and undermined the overlying perimeter wall. Later gunpowder and dynamite replaced fire when attempting to collapse a tunnel, fortress or perimeter defense. Modern warfare soil tunnels were the pathways used to move troops, weapons and supplies to the other side of a border or wall for surprise attacks. Most of the soil tunnels were placed in easy-to-dig unconsolidated soil materials that had a low water table and were not subject to flooding. Eventually, machinery was used to drill through bedrock permitting deeper and longer tunnels for troop movement or smuggling. However, when drilling through bedrock under international borders, the process creates both noise and vibrations which were often detected by the enemy. Once discovered the tunnels were often collapsed by blowing up the tunnel, injection of gas, filling with water or wastewater, or inserting barriers. A series of case studies will be examined with the goal of determining soil and site criteria required to permit successful tunneling. The most restrictive soil and geologic conditions will be identified as well as potential mitigation methods used to overcome the site restrictions will be documented. Countries with warfare or smuggling issues along their borders, such as Israel and United States, need to identify the sections of the border most likely to be undermined by soil tunnels. In the case of Israel their entire border is susceptible as a result of the favorable arid climate, soils and geology. The US border with Mexico can become vulnerable wherever a new wall is created. Without a wall there is usually no need for soil tunnels. The US Department of Homeland Security and border patrol will need to monitor the noise and vibrations, just like the Israel does, to identify future soil tunnel locations. Eventually most of 3200 km border will have a wall that will become the target of more soil tunnels for smuggling goods and people from Mexico into the United States.

New concepts and their applications in underwater acoustic warfare simulation system

An underwater acoustic warfare simulation system (UAWSS) with a structure of high level architecture (HLA) is studied based upon a previous research project. With the experience and lessons learned, some new concepts are adopted in the implementation of UAWSS according to the essence of simulation and the objective of the system, among which are simulation synthetic environment, signal processing at other simulation nodes, decomposition of underwater sound channel, channel varying law and rules on system and parts evaluation, etc. Applications of these new ideas show that they are effective.

Study on QOS Routing in Network Centric Warfare

The concept of network centric warfare （NCW） and the distributed equal-node network architecture in NCW are introduced in this paper. The data flow requirement model in NCW is presented. Based on synthetic analysis of network resource, the QOS （Quality of Service） parameters and their characters, the high requirement of real-time synchronization in NCW, the single QOS routing constraint, and the network latency between the detector and weapon control station, are presented. To take an example for 3-node brigade （regiment） level NCW demonstration platform, the algorithm of end-to-end network latency and path information in NCW are presented. The algorithm program based on Server/Client architecture is developed. The optimal path is the link whose latency between the detector and weapon control station is the smallest. This paper solves the key issue and satisfies the needs on network latency in NCW. The study results can be widely applied in the decision of the optimal path which is based on multiple service provision points.

A prototype portable instrument employing micro-preconcentrator and FBAR sensor for the detection of chemical warfare agents

The presence of chemical warfare agents(CWAs)in the environment is a serious threat to human safety,but there are many problems with the currently available detection methods for CWAs.For example,gas chromatography–mass spectrometry cannot be used for in-field detection owing to the rather large size of the equipment required,while commercial sensors have the disadvantages of low sensitivity and poor selectivity.Here,we develop a portable gas sensing instrument for CWA detection that consists of a MEMSfabricated micro-preconcentrator(μPC)and a film bulk acoustic resonator(FBAR)gas sensor.The μPC is coated with a nanoporous metal–organic framework material to enrich the target,while the FBAR provides rapid detection without the need for extra carrier gas.Dimethyl methylphosphonate(DMMP),a simulant of the chemical warfare agent sarin,is used to test the performance of the instrument.Experimental results show that the μPC provides effective sample pretreatment,while the FBAR gas sensor has good sensitivity to DMMP vapor.The combination of μPC and FBAR in one instrument gives full play to their respective advantages,reducing the limit of detection of the analyte.Moreover,both the μPC and the FBAR are fabricated using a CMOS-compatible approach,and the prototype instrument is compact in size with high portability and thus has potential for application to in-field detection of CWAs.

The Practice and Impacts of Russian-style Hybrid Warfare

The term hybrid warfare was first coined by US military scholars and later widely adopted in the West to refer to Russian military operations in the Ukrainian and Syrian crises. In Russia, it is called"Gerasimovism". Russia adapted the idea of hybrid warfare for its military operations in Ukraine and Syria into a Russian-style hybrid warfare that has seen successful results so far. This model is likely to impact future military developments.

Biological Warfare-The Real Pandora’s Box:Learning From the Past

It is necessary to assess the risks generated by various micro-organisms that can be used as biological weapons and to understand the process of their development and the use of biological agents over time.Biological agents used for military purposes may be more powerful than conventional weapons and chemical weapons.Over the past century,advances in biotechnology and biochemistry have simplified the development and production of such weapons,and genetic engineering probably holds the most dangerous potential for making biological weapons.Ease of production,broad availability of biological agents and technical knowledge has led to the proliferation of biological weapons and a growing desire among developing countries to hold them.

Tensor-Centric Warfare II: Entropic Uncertainty Modeling

In the first paper of the tensor-centric warfare (TCW) series [1], we proposed a tensor model of combat generalizing earlier Lanchester-type systems with a particular emphasis on contemporary military thinking, including the distributed C4ISR system (Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance). In the present paper, we extend this initial tensor combat model with entropic Lie-derivative machinery in order to capture some aspects of this deep uncertainty, while, in the process, formalizing into our model military notion of symmetry and asymmetry in warfare as a commutator, also known as a Lie bracket. In doing so, we have sought to shift the question from the prediction of outcomes of combat, upon which previous combat models such as the Lanchester-type equations have been typically constructed, towards determining the uncertainty outcomes, using a rigorous analytical basis.

Tensor-Centric Warfare VI: A Global Warfare Model

We propose a global warfare model that integrates the models of the whole tensor-centric warfare series, represented as a high-dimensional entangled warfare category. Its underpinning metaphysics is “entangled fusion”: this is the macroscopic entanglement concept inspired by high-dimensional (HD) quantum computation (the “quantum brain”), in which any number of entangled wave-functions can be highly correlated, with neuron-like signaling among them. From this entangled perspective, war and battle is seen essentially as a holistic phenomenon: if any one of a set of mutually entangled warring parties is removed from the equation, then the war as it is instantly stops, possibly to be replaced by a new conflict between the remaining parties but distinct from that which it supplants. The formal global warfare framework developed in this paper expresses this fundamental idea of arbitrary many interrelated/entangled conflicts, each of them defined by its own battle-manifold (with warfighting tensor fields acting on it) and occurring (more-or-less) simultaneously on the planet;we call this entangled

Tensor-Centric Warfare V: Topology of Systems Confrontation

In this paper, as a new contribution to the tensor-centric warfare (TCW) series [1] [2] [3] [4], we extend the kinetic TCW-framework to include non-kinetic effects, by addressing a general systems confrontation [5], which is waged not only in the traditional physical Air-Land-Sea domains, but also simultaneously across multiple non-physical domains, including cyberspace and social networks. Upon this basis, this paper attempts to address a more general analytical scenario using rigorous topological methods to introduce a two-level topological representation of modern armed conflict;in doing so, it extends from the traditional red-blue model of conflict to a red-blue-green model, where green represents various neutral elements as active factions;indeed, green can effectively decide the outcomes from red-blue conflict. System confrontations at various stages of the scenario will be defined by the non-equilibrium phase transitions which are superficially characterized by sudden entropy growth. These will be shown to have the underlying topology changes of the systems-battlespace. The two-level topological analysis of the systems-battlespace is utilized to address the question of topology changes in the combined battlespace. Once an intuitive analysis of the combined battlespace topology is performed, a rigorous topological analysis follows using (co)homological invariants of the combined systems-battlespace manifold.

Tensor-Centric Warfare III: Combat Dynamics with Delta-Strikes

This paper is the third part of the complex combat dynamics series, called tensor-centric warfare (for the first two parts, see [1] [2]). In the present paper, we extend the tensor combat model from [1] and [2] to model the dynamics of delta-strikes/missiles , which are temporally confined strong kinetic effects . The scenarios analyzed here include both deterministic and random delta-strikes which mimic single, multiple and continuous-time missile attacks. We also look at the bidirectional random strike as well as the general Hamilton-Langevin dynamics framework and provide an interpretation of the results obtained through simulation.