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In June of 1994, the term "planetary defense" was first published in a white paper included in a U.S. Air Force report called SPACECAST 2020. The white paper warned of the threat of potentially hazardous asteroids to Earth and suggested methods of asteroid impact mitigation through an organized Air Force program. Today, the United States strongly contributes to the world-wide effort to find, track, characterize, and mitigate potentially hazardous objects (PHOs) via the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). This paper analyzes the evolution of U.S. planetary defense since SPACECAST 2020 and evaluates the influence of the white paper's recommendations nearly thirty years on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of the following chapters, Spencer charts the inability of Britain to corral its Pacific dominions into a fully functioning empire-wide air defence program during the 1920s. For example, the introductory chapters of the Australian and New Zealand official histories of air power in World War II examined their military aviation history largely through nationalist lenses, with a view to explaining their respective nations' war preparedness. British Imperial Air Power: The Royal Air Forces and the Defense of Australia and New Zealand between the World Wars: By Alex M. Spencer. [Extracted from the article]

In the event of a conflict or contingency on the Korean Peninsula, one of the five People’s Liberation Army (PLA) theater commands is responsible for implementing China’s military strategy and operations in Korea—the Northern Theater Command (NTC). What capabilities does China deploy to the NTC? How does it compare to the other theater commands? And do NTC’s military capabilities change the existing balance of power on the Korean Peninsula? Using the most up-to-date data, this paper offers, first, a theater-level comparative analysis of the PLA and, second, a quantitative assessment of how China’s NTC capabilities affect the military balance of power between North Korea on the one hand, and South Korea and the U.S. Forces Korea on the other. Of PLA’s five theater commands, the paper finds that the NTC has maintained the largest and heaviest ground force, the largest air force, and the second most powerful naval fleet. When NTC military capabilities are added to the existing military balance between North Korean forces and the U.S.– South Korean alliance forces, the United States and South Korea’s air supremacy is challenged and naval dominance is overturned. This is especially the case in the West Sea of Korea, the Yellow Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article documents the beginning of the intellectual companionship between the founder of ethnomethodology, Harold Garfinkel, and Edward Rose, who is most often associated with his program of "ethno‐inquiries." I present results from archival research focusing on the contacts and collaborations between Rose and Garfinkel in the years 1955–1965. First, I describe the review process for Rose and Felton's paper, submitted to the American Sociological Review in 1955, which Garfinkel reviewed and after Rose's rebuttal recommended for publication. The paper induced Garfinkel to write an extensive commentary that has remained unpublished. Second, I discuss the 1958 New Mexico conference sponsored by the Air Force, which was an opportunity for Rose and Garfinkel to work together on topics related to common‐sense knowledge and scientific knowledge. Third, I give an overview of the ethnomethodological conferences in 1962 and 1963, supported by an Air Force grant written collaboratively by Rose and Garfinkel. Here I focus primarily on Rose's research on "small languages," which stimulated many discussions among the early ethnomethodologists. Rose's work and exchanges with Garfinkel demonstrate the former's affinity for miniaturization as a research approach and search for ways to empiricize topics of sociological theory in locally observable settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasonable distribution of braking force is a factor for a smooth, safe, and comfortable braking of trains. A dynamic optimal allocation strategy of electric-air braking force is proposed in this paper to solve the problem of the lack of consideration of adhesion difference of train wheelsets in the existing high-speed train electric-air braking force optimal allocation strategies. In this method, the braking strategy gives priority to the use of electric braking force. The force model of a single train in the braking process is analyzed to calculate the change of adhesion between the wheel and rail of each wheelset after axle load transfer, and then the adhesion of the train is estimated in real time. Next, with the goal of maximizing the total adhesion utilization ratio of trailer/ motor vehicles, a linear programming distribution function is constructed. The proportional coefficient of adhesion utilization ratio of each train and the application upper limit of braking force in the function is updated according to the change time point of wheelset adhesion. Finally, the braking force is dynamically allocated. The simulation results of Matlab/Simulink show that the proposed algorithm not only uses the different adhesion limits of each trailer to reduce the total amount of braking force undertaken by the motor vehicle, but also considers the adhesion difference of each wheelset. The strategy can effectively reduce the risk and time of motor vehicles during the braking process and improve the stability of the train braking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the well-posedness and asymptotic behavior of solutions for the following extensible beam equation with non-local energy damping u tt + Δ 2 u - κ ϕ (‖ ∇ u ‖ 2 ) Δ u - φ (‖ Δ u ‖ 2 + ‖ u t ‖ 2) Δ u t + f (u) = h. More specifically, this is a complementary work to the paper by Sun and Yang (Discrete Contin Dyn Syst Ser B 27(6):3101–3129, 2022), where the authors consider this model assuming the hypothesis that φ ∈ C 1 (R +) with non-degenerate condition φ (s) > 0 , s ∈ R + . They prove the existence of strong global and exponential attractors and their robustness on the perturbed extensibility parameter κ . In this paper assuming φ (s) ⪆ γ s q which contemplates the degenerate condition φ (0) = 0 , we prove the existence of weak and regular solutions to the problem proposed and employing the method given in Temam (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1998) we show that the dynamic system (X , S t) given by the weak solutions of the problem has a compact global attractor in the weak topology of the phase space X. This class of nonlinear beams arising in connection with models for flight structures with non-local energy damping is proposed by Balakrishnan and Taylor (Proceedings Damping 89, Flight Dynamics Lab and Air Force Wright Aeronautical Labs, WPAFB, 1989). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adhesively bonded doublers and adhesively bonded repairs are extensively used to extend the operational life of metallic aircraft structures. Consequently, this paper focuses on the tools needed to address sustainment issues associated with both adhesively bonded doublers and adhesively bonded repairs to (metallic) aircraft structures, in a fashion that is consistent with the building-block approach mandated in the United States Air Force (USAF) airworthiness certification standard MIL-STD-1530D and also in the United States (US) Joint Services Structural Guidelines JSSG-2006. In this context, it is shown that the effect of biaxial loads on cohesive crack growth in a bonded doubler under both constant amplitude fatigue loads and operational flight loads can be significant. It is also suggested that as a result, for uniaxial tests to replicate the cohesive crack growth seen in adhesively bonded doublers and adhesively bonded repairs under operational flight loads, the magnitude of the applied load spectrum may need to be continuously modified so as to ensure that the crack tip similitude parameter in the laboratory tests reflects that seen in the full-scale aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an opinion paper of an examination of effects-based ideas. It examines the idea from its fundamental concept. This is developed to examine its broader application to more than air force operations to almost any project concerning military, social, political, and business. In fact, this approach can be used wherever effects of project development have external implications outside systems boundaries and where unforeseen internal implications can affect society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ordnance Industry Automation is the property of Editorial Board for Ordnance Industry Automation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper represents AFAHC's conception of the beginning of digitization in the academy. The poor digitalization in the institution has made itself felt during the pandemic. The paper is a brief summary of what has been done over the course of a year to mitigate the effects of a weak digitization in the teaching/learning process. The beginning of solving the problem of digitalization, of understanding the digital educational process was made with the submission by a consortium with 4 partner universities of a project under the action Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness of the Erasmus program that is talked about in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes possible solutions for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to implement best practices, particularly in terms of the skills to be identified and developed for project managers. It has been clearly established that project performance and success are closely linked to the skills of project managers. The more skills are adapted to the characteristics and complexities of major RCAF projects, the greater the chances of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a proximal bundle (PB) framework based on a generic bundle update scheme for solving the hybrid convex composite optimization (HCCO) problem and establishes a common iteration-complexity bound for any variant belonging to it. As a consequence, iteration-complexity bounds for three PB variants based on different bundle update schemes are obtained in the HCCO context for the first time and in a unified manner. Although two of the PB variants are universal (i.e., their implementations do not require parameters associated with the HCCO instance), the other newly (as far as the authors are aware) proposed one is not, but has the advantage that it generates simple—namely, one-cut—bundle models. The paper also presents a universal adaptive PB variant (which is not necessarily an instance of the framework) based on one-cut models and shows that its iteration-complexity is the same as the two aforementioned universal PB variants. Funding: Financial support from the Office of Naval Research [N00014-18-1-2077] and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research [Grant FA9550-22-1-0088] is gratefully acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sample average approximation (SAA), the standard approach to stochastic mixed-integer programming, does not provide guidance for cases with limited computational budgets. In such settings, variance reduction is critical in identifying good decisions. This paper explores two closely related ensemble methods to determine effective decisions with a probabilistic guarantee. (a) The first approach recommends a decision by coordinating aggregation in the space of decisions as well as aggregation of objective values. This combination of aggregation methods generalizes the bagging method and the "compromise decision" of stochastic linear programming. Combining these concepts, we propose a stopping rule that provides an upper bound on the probability of early termination. (b) The second approach applies efficient computational budget allocation for objective function evaluation and contributes to identifying the best solution with a predicted lower bound on the probability of correct selection. It also reduces the variance of the upper bound estimate at optimality. Furthermore, it adaptively selects the evaluation sample size. Both approaches provide approximately optimal solutions even in cases with a huge number of scenarios, especially when scenarios are generated by using oracles/simulators. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods via extensive computational results for "megascale" (extremely large scale) stochastic facility location problems. History: Accepted by Pascal Van Hentenryck, Area Editor for Computational Modeling: Methods & Analysis. Funding: This work was supported by The Office of Naval Research [Grant N00014-20-1-2077] and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research [Grant FA9550-20-1-0006]. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information (https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2021.0324) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository (https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2021.0324). The complete IJOC Software and Data Repository is available at https://informsjoc.github.io/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper aims to examine literature on the issues of the pilot shortage in the United States Air Force and the demographic diversity dilemma within the United States Air Force pilot community and how it relates to the National Defense Strategy. In addition, there is an examination of current initiatives designed to combat these issues. Design/methodology/approach: The paper opted for an exploratory review of 90 sources from 2012 to 2023 to examine the pilot shortage and pilot diversity issues within the United States Air Force. Three theories, the theory of generative interactions, the theory of cognitive diversity and the identity theory, were examined in relation to the barriers to the pilot diversity issue. Findings: The paper provides emergent insights from the literature into the growing pilot shortage and diversity disparity found within the United States Air Force pilot community. These issues were associated with many barriers, including geographic disparity, socioeconomic status, culture, education, mentorship and life balance. Research limitations/implications: The current initiatives examined are new and, as such, warrant future research. In particular, what are the long-term projections for the youth flight programs? An examination of the effectiveness of improving the pilot shortage and pilot diversity within the Air Force should be further scrutinized in the coming years as new cadets enter pilot training after accession. Originality/value: This paper highlights a need to further study the effectiveness of youth flight programs and other United States Air Force initiatives in improving pilot numbers and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) is a highly valued engineering, research, and development resource to the federal government, largely within the US Department of Defense (DoD). Only 15 exist, all under special authority of the US Code. The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), established in 2008, was the first UARC established as a networked research center, gradually growing to include more than two dozen university members, each offering systems engineering research capabilities. This networked model for a UARC has found support within the DoD—exemplified by the newest UARC established recently by the US Air Force. A large diverse pool of faculty and student researchers arguably delivers the most consequential academic research in systems engineering anywhere in the world. In its first few years, the SERC had to overcome challenges that single‐university UARCs did not face in exchange for the advantages that such a sizable network of universities offers. This review paper explores those challenges, offering lessons for new network‐based UARCs and other network‐based university research centers. Systems engineering communities, globally, are exploring such constructs, and this reflective paper may offer useful insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a model-free algorithm of broad interest in reinforcement learning, namely, Q-learning. Whereas substantial progress had been made toward understanding the sample efficiency of Q-learning in recent years, it remained largely unclear whether Q-learning is sample-optimal and how to sharpen the sample complexity analysis of Q-learning. In this paper, we settle these questions: (1) When there is only a single action, we show that Q-learning (or, equivalently, TD learning) is provably minimax optimal. (2) When there are at least two actions, our theory unveils the strict suboptimality of Q-learning and rigorizes the negative impact of overestimation in Q-learning. Our theory accommodates both the synchronous case (i.e., the case in which independent samples are drawn) and the asynchronous case (i.e., the case in which one only has access to a single Markovian trajectory). Q-learning, which seeks to learn the optimal Q-function of a Markov decision process (MDP) in a model-free fashion, lies at the heart of reinforcement learning. When it comes to the synchronous setting (such that independent samples for all state–action pairs are drawn from a generative model in each iteration), substantial progress has been made toward understanding the sample efficiency of Q-learning. Consider a γ-discounted infinite-horizon MDP with state space S and action space A : to yield an entry-wise ε-approximation of the optimal Q-function, state-of-the-art theory for Q-learning requires a sample size exceeding the order of | S ‖ A | (1 − γ) 5 ε 2 , which fails to match existing minimax lower bounds. This gives rise to natural questions: What is the sharp sample complexity of Q-learning? Is Q-learning provably suboptimal? This paper addresses these questions for the synchronous setting: (1) when the action space contains a single action (so that Q-learning reduces to TD learning), we prove that the sample complexity of TD learning is minimax optimal and scales as | S | (1 − γ) 3 ε 2 (up to log factor); (2) when the action space contains at least two actions, we settle the sample complexity of Q-learning to be on the order of | S ‖ A | (1 − γ) 4 ε 2 (up to log factor). Our theory unveils the strict suboptimality of Q-learning when the action space contains at least two actions and rigorizes the negative impact of overestimation in Q-learning. Finally, we extend our analysis to accommodate asynchronous Q-learning (i.e., the case with Markovian samples), sharpening the horizon dependency of its sample complexity to be 1 (1 − γ) 4 . Funding: Y. Chen is supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Google Research Scholar Award, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research [Grant FA9550-22-1-0198], the Office of Naval Research (ONR) [Grant N00014-22-1-2354], and the National Science Foundation (NSF) [Grants CCF-2221009, CCF-1907661, DMS-2014279, IIS-2218713, and IIS-2218773]. Y. Wei is supported in part by the Google Research Scholar Award and the NSF [Grants CCF-2106778, DMS-2147546/2015447, and CAREER award DMS-2143215]. Y. Chi is supported in part by the ONR [Grants N00014-18-1-2142 and N00014-19-1-2404] and the NSF [Grants CCF-1806154, CCF-2007911, CCF-2106778, ECCS-2126634, and DMS-2134080]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2023.2450. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of any Chinese invasion of Taiwan necessarily involves an amphibious landing operation on Taiwan's beaches. The most vulnerable of these beaches have been referred to as "Red Beaches." Despite the threat of China's invasion of Taiwan garnering significant attention in recent years, little of this attention has been devoted to the questions of how Taiwan defends these critical Red Beaches and to what extent Taiwan's Red Beach defensive strategy has evolved. Employing Lykke's Ends-Ways-Means analytical framework, this paper seeks to answer these questions by examining Taiwan's Red Beach defensive strategy during the Tsai Ingwen administration (2017-present). The main findings are that contrary to popular understanding, Taiwan's defense strategy has undergone significant change entering Tsai's second term. The range of Red Beach defensive operations has extended from the littoral zone to as far as Chinese territory, with the planned use of pre-emptive missile and air-to-ground strikes against "key nodes" of PLA forces. Together with the significantly increased role of Taiwan's missile, naval and air force capabilities, Taiwan's current Red Beach defense strategy can be characterized as having greater range, more integrated, and more offensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe the operational transformation of the Colombian army since the 1990s. Special emphasis is placed on the role of the Fuerza Aerea Colombiana – FAC (Colombian Air Force) in the development of the armed conflict and the strategy against drug trafficking that took place in South America. Between 1999 and 2006, the most important and significant air operations in the country’s history took place, developing an offensive strategy that guaranteed a greater capacity for effective control of the regions. This prevented illegal groups from consolidating themselves on the basis of a “war of movements” that would have allowed them to take control of vast areas of the territory. Partly thanks to these operational results, sufficient incentives and pressure were generated as a result of which, before its demobilisation, the guerrilla group with the greatest impact in the country (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – FARC) moved towards a political agreement with Juan Manuel Santos’s government. Finally, taking into account the current challenges, such as the ongoing post-agreement in Colombia, this paper reflects on the need for a transition in the army from a counterinsurgency force to a multi-mission force that considers the implementation of Human Security as a complement to traditional security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia in the international arena has an active free politics, attitudes and views related to Indonesian foreign policy such as Indonesian foreign policy often have differences in attitude with other countries in responding to international issues. The Ministry of Defense, which covers the three branches of the TNI, namely the Army, Navy and Air Force, is very concerned about Military Academy education abroad by providing scholarships to Military Academy cadets / cadets to attend Military Academy education abroad, one of which is in Japan. This paper aims to analyze the collaboration of military education between countries, especially in Japan. The method used is qualitative by means of field case studies. This paper argues that a one-stop policy is needed in sending cadets / cadets of the Indonesian National Army Academy to attend Military Academy education abroad, where the Ministry of Defense must be positioned as the only door in the formulation and implementation of Military education collaboration policies between countries where the three TNI Matras must submit and obey as well as synergy with the Ministry of Defense in Military Education Collaboration between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on internal estimates, the US Air Force (USAF) has a deferred infrastructure maintenance backlog for its real property portfolio of over $33 billion (about 10% is airfield pavements). Without an increase in funding, divestiture of excess infrastructure, or change in strategy, this backlog is estimated to climb to over $50 billion by 2030. Reversing the growing infrastructure backlog trend requires new methods and strategies to rethink how the USAF invests in its infrastructure. This paper studied three areas aimed at improving network-level budget allocation. The algorithm behavioral and economic airfield simulation tool (BEAST), developed herein, creates a simulation tool capable of modeling behaviors and decisions of 109 organizations managing a global network of airfield pavements over 30 years. The BEAST is used to forecast outcomes of USAF investment decisions utilizing its current management strategies and historical behaviors. Analysis findings are compared to outcomes using a lowest life cycle cost tool, known as rapid asset modeling of pavement sustainment strategies (RAMPSS). The USAF's current strategy is unsustainable; however, switching to recommendations from BEAST and RAMPSS provides a potentially significant course correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the longitudinal dynamics performance of the combined heavy haul trains, especially for the cyclic air braking strategy on the long and steep downhill segments. Firstly, the mathematical models for calculating the longitudinal forces in the longitudinal train dynamics simulations are formulated. The brake delay time between neighbouring cars and the pressure variation of the brake cylinders in the braking and releasing processes are considered in the air braking force model. Besides, the nonlinear hysteresis characteristic of the coupler-draft gear system is taken into account in the coupler force model. The Newmark-β method is introduced as a numerical solver in this paper. Finally, the simulations based on the real-word infrastructure and vehicle data of the Shuozhou-Huanghua Line are carried out to study the longitudinal dynamics of the combined heavy haul trains with two distributed locomotives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The final issue of I African Security i for 2022 covers important themes in North and West Africa. The first paper "The end of stability: How Burkina Faso fell apart" provides a compelling analysis of how an oasis of political tranquility in conflict-prone West Africa began to unravel as it experienced major security problems. [Extracted from the article]

The relationship between China and Taiwan today is at the level of its greatest intensity since the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis. Chinese military actions against Taiwan are considered to be the greatest threats from the Taiwanese perspective. As Taiwan sees its air force as a key component of its overall military power, a study on ways Taiwan constructs its airpower based on strategic concepts seems extremely timely, serving as a potential reference point for various future conflict scenarios. Against this backdrop, this paper poses two research questions: 1) what are Taiwan's military strategy and relevant strategic concepts against Chinese military threats? 2) what are the concepts and directions behind utilizing and constructing its airpower to achieve its strategic concepts? This paper finds that Taiwan is currently constructing its airpower to achieve its military objectives with a defensive strategic concept. Understanding and examining Taiwan's security environment and military strategy with strategic concepts put forth by the Taiwanese Air Force could serve as a valuable resource for countries with similar military assets and security environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is one of the most severe environmental problems that Mexico is currently facing. The objective of this paper is to quantify the most relevant socioeconomic driving forces behind air polluting emissions and, more specifically, 7 local pollutants in Mexico. We do so in a multilevel version of the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model that accounts for the spatial heterogeneity at the municipal level across the country. The results show that the most relevant variables to determine the emissions of atmospheric pollutants are the population, the harvested area and the number of cars, while technological development helps to mitigate such emissions. The ecological elasticities are, in all cases, smaller than one. Our purpose is to provide quantitative information about these socioeconomic driving forces of air deterioration as a basis to establish some recommendations for environmental policy decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drone simulations offer a safe environment for collecting data and testing algorithms. However, the depth camera sensor in the simulation provides exact depth values without error, which can result in variations in algorithm behavior, especially in the case of SLAM, when transitioning to real-world environments. The aerodynamic model in the simulation also differs from reality, leading to larger errors in drag force calculations at high speeds. This disparity between simulation and real-world conditions poses challenges when attempting to transfer high-speed drone algorithms developed in the simulated environment to actual operational settings. In this paper, we propose a more realistic simulation by implementing a novel depth camera noise model and an improved aerodynamic drag force model. Through experimental validation, we demonstrate the suitability of our models for simulating real-depth cameras and air drag forces. Our depth camera noise model can replicate the values of a real depth camera sensor with a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) value of 0.62, and our air drag force model improves accuracy by 51% compared to the Airsim simulation air drag force model in outdoor flying experiments at 10 m/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on unpacking the United States Air Force's (USAF) instructional system development (ISD) model as it evolved over time to its present form. In post-World War II training, the USAF was a leader in the study and use of systematic instructional design procedures, with its early efforts often coinciding with the work of the Department of Audio-Visual Instruction (DAVI) and in collaboration with the scholars who shaped both military training and the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). This paper draws from the original research on USAF training design as well as official USAF publications, inspection reports, DAVI and AECT publications, and the Air Training Command's Instructors' Journal. This study revealed that three distinct ISD models have existed in ISD literature. As a framework for examining the evolution of the USAF ISD model, the seven attributes on idealized design posited by Smith and Boling (Educational Technology,49(4), 3–17, 2009) were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defense organizations, like the ministry of defense, the armed forces, the general staff of the armed forces, the army, the navy, or the air force units, use a specific business technology. What makes their business technology specific is a predictable changeability of their business processes. Namely, these organizations function in more than one state, each having its own business processes. An organization transits from one state to another in a predictable manner, thus changing its business processes. This kind of business technology is not exclusively restricted to defense organizations, as it also applies to police as well as crisis management organizations. In order to develop information systems (IS) supporting these organizations properly, the complexity of their future IS should be assessed first. This assessment can be performed by relying on existing genetic taxonomies, i.e., by situating the planned defense IS inside the IS genetic taxonomy space, with regard of relevant characteristics of organizational processes supported by the IS. A behavioral dimension described in this paper addresses the dynamics of states defense systems operate in, offering to contribute to the understanding of defense systems' response to changes in dynamic ecosystems, assisting thereby researchers and practitioners in describing dynamic properties of investigated systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk management has been an essential issue in the evolution of air-force flight safety. In this paper, the investigated risk management of air-force flight training in the Gangshan airbase, Republic of China (ROC) is the main field of study. The main goal of this paper is to conduct a series of risk identification and assessments of the flight training. Firstly, the 16 risk factors (RFs) of flight training were identified according to the related studies of flight safety and risk and three experts' interviews. Then, we created a fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process questionnaire and interviewed 20 flight instructors to obtain the weight of likelihood and consequence of the 16 RFs. Furthermore, a sequential assessment of the risk matrix was constructed to classify the 16 RFs into four groups, namely, extreme risk, high risk, medium risk, and low risk. As the results of the revised risk matrix, we provided four suggestions for the improvement of flight-training policy. These suggestions not only can facilitate the Gangshan airbase to smoothly transfer and reduce the deadly risk of flight training, but also provide exemplary risk management for other similar airbases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Air Force in Nigeria is a compelling subject for sociological enquiry, with an entirely different formative process to the Army. At its inception in 1964, Army officers, not career airmen, commanded the force until 1975. However, whereas the Army cast a long shadow over NAF identity, the Air Force had other institutional pathologies. The "Quota System" of ethnicized recruitment within the military, introduced to balance out ethnic representation, was one such issue. The paper examines how this system, along with the tumultuous politics of 1960s Nigeria, ethnicism and Army influence, shaped the NAF's formative years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how artists create the past. It analyses the aeronautic works of art by Captain Exequiel Martínez as portrayed and used by the painter, the Argentine Air Force and the Argentine officers who took part of the air battle for the Malvinas/Falklands in 1982. Unlike the dominant views condemning the armed initiative of the last Argentine dictatorship (1976–83), this paper delves into the military worldview and reconstructs the premises through which the Argentine Air Force and a pilot-painter have managed to pay homage, acknowledge, and make visible the feats of the Argentine pilots against the British Task Force. Taking advantage of an anthropology of the production of history, the author unravels the process undergone by painter Martínez and the pilots portrayed in his paintings to turn Argentine defeat into visual evidence, solid experience and historical plausibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) estimates it has a $33 billion deferred maintenance backlog within its $263 billion infrastructure portfolio. While the USAF has had recent success advocating for additional funding, new investment and maintenance strategies are ultimately needed to reduce the cost of ownership of its infrastructure while addressing risk and performance-based requirements. This paper documents a simulation-based methodology to implement a portfolio-wide, lowest life-cycle cost strategy projected to provide a $126 million annualized savings. The RAMPSS algorithm developed through this research provides a strategic, decision-making support tool to help reverse the growing maintenance backlog. Analysis from RAMPSS of the USAF's pavement portfolio suggests that airfields are generally more cost-effective to maintain if kept in better conditions with strategies other than localized preventative maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Engineering (DE) and Model‐Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) are transforming existing acquisition processes. Little extant research exists regarding validation of digital system models. In the traditional "design‐build‐test" method, stakeholder requirements validation occurs near the end of development. However, DE is described as a "model‐analyze‐build" approach where validation is required earlier in the lifecycle to refine and add digital elements to the authoritative source of truth. This paper describes a framework for model‐based design reviews (MBDR) and extends previous work by Hecht and Chen. Validation use case development is emphasized to capture both the intent, the "why," and the evidence, the "what," required to enter or exit a preliminary design review (PDR). Model requirements are derived from model use cases, and validation test cases enable automated and manual assessment of quality, completeness, and consistency. The framework is successfully prototyped on a small unmanned airborne system (sUAS) model created for a graduate course PDR. There appears to be wide interest across the U.S. Air Force for a similar framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors aim to analyze the requirements for the use of simulation technologies for the Air Traffic Pilot License Theory and, based on the selected, measured, and interpreted parameters, to compare the platforms used by the Czech Air Force. At the University of Defence, the simulation center is used as a support instrument. The objective of this paper is to determine the most appropriate flying platform for student-pilots when employing basic radionavigation theory. To verify the analysis, simulated student flights were carried out. The first group of approaches was performed on the simulated platform of the Zlin Z142 aircraft, and the second group on the L39 Albatros aircraft. Individual flights were statistically evaluated and compared. The parameters for comparison were the deviation of the flight altitude compared to the recommended approach altitude and the deviation of the heading compared to the final approach course. Statistical evaluation of the performed simulated flights was made by F-test and verified confirmed that to teach the theoretical subject of Radionavigation, a slower-flying Zlin Z-142 is more suitable. According to the results, the Z142 platform gives the student more time to observe a pilotage error and correct it before starting the final approach phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar (RUHM) is the property of Centro de Estudios de la Guerra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)