Conventional Forces Research Articles

Operation Devon, Termoli 1943: ‘A catalogue of errors’?

The little-known World War II battle for Termoli, code named Operation Devon, took place in early October 1943 and began with the only Allied amphibious landing on Italy’s Adriatic coast. It was a joint operation between newly formed elite groups and regular units of the Allied armed forces. A brigade made up of two units of commandos and the 1st Special Air Service, known during this operation as the Special Raiding Squadron, was given the task of making the first landing. Despite the initial success of the operation, a drawn out and fierce battle ensued. With the help of archival material from the Imperial War Museum, London, and The National Archives, Kew, this article reconstructs the key elements of a battle that has received little scholarly attention, particularly in relation to the role of conventional forces in the fighting. In doing so, it provides an overview of the battle, analysing the main factors that led to a chaotic handover between special and regular infantry forces and what made the action ultimately successful. Finally, it reveals how the operation was part of an evolutionary process for special forces and helped to cement their role in UK military doctrine.

Topological Defects in Solids with Odd Elasticity.

Crystallography typically studies collections of point particles whose interaction forces are the gradient of a potential. Lifting this assumption generically gives rise in the continuum limit to a form of elasticity with additional moduli known as odd elasticity. We show that such odd elastic moduli modify the strain induced by topological defects and their interactions, even reversing the stability of, otherwise, bound dislocation pairs. Beyond continuum theory, isolated dislocations can self propel via microscopic work cycles active at their cores that compete with conventional Peach-Koehler forces caused, for example, by an ambient torque density. We perform molecular dynamics simulations isolating active plastic processes and discuss their experimental relevance to solids composed of spinning particles, vortexlike objects, and robotic metamaterials.

“No first use” in the context of the U.S.-Japan Alliance

No first use (NFU) of nuclear weapons is said to be an effective declaratory policy for advancing nuclear disarmament. In Japan, which suffered two atomic bombings, there are many voices that expect the US to declare the NFU, hoping to promote nuclear disarmament. In the meantime, Japan faces a tough security environment with North Korea's growing nuclear and missile capabilities and, above all, China's more assertive actions along with the expansion of both nuclear and conventional forces. The Japanese strategic community thinks that it is essential to maintain the credibility of the US extended deterrence and to further develop strike capabilities to counter China's medium-range strike capabilities in the region. In this context, there is a concern that a possible US declaration of NFU, while it may reduce the nuclear risk between the US and China, may signal to China that the US would allow China's assertive activities at the regional level. Measures must be taken to dispel concerns about such regional instability, and stakeholders should pursue stability at both strategic and regional levels so that declaratory policies such as NFU can effectively contribute to reducing nuclear threats and risks. To this end, it would be beneficial to discuss arms control and build confidence through a multi-layered strategic and arms control dialogues among primary players, namely one between the US and China, one among the US, Japan, and China, and another that add other regional players.

Does Canada have anything in the way of a strategic warning intelligence culture (and does it need one)?

During the Cold War, Strategic Warning Intelligence (SWI) was a necessary and recognized function within the intelligence community given the threats posed by conventional Warsaw Pact forces in Western Europe and Soviet ballistic missiles. With the end of the Cold War, the focus of intelligence shifted to tactical or operational issues against known threats, and the SWI function and expertise atrophied as a result. With today’s expanding and more complex threat environment, this article examines whether SWI capacities should be reintroduced in order to apprise decision makers of trending threats to national security, albeit based on faint signals, so the necessary policy decisions can be made and prioritized to mitigate said threats in a timely manner.

Health Conditions Among Special Operations Forces Versus Conventional Military Service Members: A VA TBI Model Systems Study.

To examine traumatic brain injury (TBI) characteristics and comorbid medical profiles of Special Operations Forces (SOF) Active Duty Service Member/Veterans (ADSM/Vs) and contrast them with conventional military personnel. The 5 Veterans Affairs (VA) Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers. A subset of participants in the VA TBI Model Systems multicenter longitudinal study with known SOF status. These included 157 participants who identified as SOF personnel (average age = 41.8 years; 96% male, 81% active duty), and 365 who identified as Conventional Forces personnel (average age = 37.4 years; 92% male, 30% active duty). Retrospective analysis of prospective cohort, cross-sectional. The Health Comorbidities Interview. SOF personnel were more likely to have deployed to a combat zone, had more years of active duty service, and were more likely active duty at time of TBI. SOF personnel were more likely to have had mild TBI (vs moderate/severe) and their TBI caused by violent mechanism. SOF personnel had a higher number of comorbidities, with more diagnoses of chronic pain, osteoarthritis, hyperlipidemia, hip fractures, and obstructive sleep apnea. SOF personnel are at a higher risk for multimorbidity after TBI. Current rehabilitation practices should incorporate early screening and treatment of common conditions in this population, while future practices may benefit from a focus on prevention.

Strategies of Extended Deterrence: How States Provide the Security Umbrella

What extended deterrence strategies are available to nuclear patrons, and what factors determine which strategy they adopt? How does each strategy manifest as force employment? The bulk of the literature on extended deterrence focuses on its effectiveness. The question of how nuclear patrons select between and employ strategies of extended deterrence, however, has largely been overlooked. Addressing the first, or strategy adoption, question, I argue that the interaction of two variables—(1) the type of threat posed to a client by an enemy; and (2) the likelihood of an enemy’s quick victory over a client—determines a nuclear patron’s strategy among four options: a conventional defense pact, forward conventional deployment, a nuclear defense pact, and forward nuclear deployment. Addressing the second, or strategy implementation, question, I argue that each strategy is embodied as the unique mixture of conventional and nuclear forces pre-positioned in either forward or rear areas. I test my theory of extended deterrence in two ways. First, I conduct a congruence test. Second, I perform two case studies—US extended deterrence to South Korea and the Philippines. I conclude with a discussion of policy implications for the current US security commitments to Seoul and Manila.

Neutron star structure with a new force between quarks

The discovery of nondiffuse sources of gravitational waves through compact-object mergers opens new prospects for the study of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, we study the effects of a new force between quarks, suggested by the gauging of baryon number, on pure neutron matter at supranuclear densities. This leads to a stiffening of the equation of state, allowing neutron stars to be both larger and heavier and possibly accommodating the light progenitor of GW190814 as a neutron star. The role of conventional three-body forces in neutron star structure is still poorly understood, though they can act in a similar way, implying that the mass and radius do not in themselves resolve whether new physics is coming into play. However, a crucial feature of the scenario we propose is that the regions of the new physics parameter space that induce observable changes to neutron star structure are testable at low-energy accelerator facilities. This testability distinguishes our scenario from other classes of new phenomena in dense matter.

Synthesis, crystallographic investigation, DFT studies and Hirshfeld surface analysis of novel bromo hydrazine derivative: (E)-2-(2-bromo-4,5-dimethoxybenzilidene)-1-(4,5-dimethoxy-2-methylphenyl)-1-hydroxyhydrazine

A novel bromo hydrazine derivative: (E)-2-(2-bromo-4,5-dimethoxybenzilidene)-1-(4,5-dimethoxy-2-methylphenyl)-1-hydroxyhydrazine is synthesized and characterized by different relevant techniques. The Optical bonding conformed using 1H NMR spectroscopic and Uv-vis studies. The crystallographic data confirmed that the bromo hydrazine derivative crystalizes in monoclinic space group P21/n and consists of bromo dimethoxy phenyl ring and methyl dimethoxy phenyl ring interlinked to each other via hydrazide moiety. The molecular geometry, HOMO-LUMO (frontier molecular orbital) energies, Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), MPA (Mulliken population analysis), NBO (natural bond orbital), hypercharge polarizability of the title compound has been explored using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation via B3LYP method with LAV2P** basis set. Moreover, to visualize the intermolecular interactions and their distribution over the crystal structure, Hirshfeld surfaces and 3D energy framework analyses have been investigated using Crystal Explorer 17.5. In the absence of conventional forces, the weak but collective contribution of C-H…O/N/Br interactions along with direction specific π…π, C-H…π interaction having highest contribution from dispersion energy responsible for molecular stability. Lipophilicity index (log P value) represents significant biological activity of the molecule, correlates well with the contribution of C-H…π interaction. The probable binding modes between title molecule with different active sites of S. aureus (PDB code: 4ALI), E. coli (PDB code: 1QG6), colon cancer (PDB code: 2hq6), lung cancer (PDB code: 1x2j) and 1BNA (DNA) receptors are investigated by molecular docking studies using ArgusLab software.

Neurobehavioral Symptoms in U.S. Special Operations Forces in Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury: A TBI Model Systems Study.

Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel are at increased risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI), when compared with conventional forces (CF). Prior studies of TBI in military samples have not typically investigated SOF vs. CF as specific subgroups, despite documented differences in premorbid resilience and post-injury comorbidity burden. The aim of the current study was to compare SOF vs. CF on the presence of neurobehavioral symptoms after TBI, as well as factors influencing perception of symptom intensity. This study conducted an analysis of the prospective veterans affairs (VA) TBI Model Systems Cohort, which includes service members and veterans (SM/V) who received inpatient rehabilitation for TBI at one of the five VA Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers. Of those with known SOF status (N = 342), 129 participants identified as SOF (average age = 43 years, 98% male) and 213 identified as CF (average age=38.7 years, 91% male). SOF vs. CF were compared on demographics, injury characteristics, and psychological and behavioral health symptoms. These variables were then used to predict neurobehavioral symptom severity in univariable and multivariable analyses. SOF personnel reported significantly greater posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms but less alcohol and drug use than the CF. SOF also reported greater neurobehavioral symptoms. When examining those with TBIs of all severities, SOF status was not associated with neurobehavioral symptom severity, while race, mechanism of TBI, and PTSD symptoms were. When examining only those with mTBI, SOF status was associated with lower neurobehavioral symptoms, while PTSD severity, white race, and certain mechanisms of injury were associated with greater neurobehavioral symptoms. Among those receiving inpatient treatment for TBI, SOF SM/V reported higher neurobehavioral and symptom severity. PTSD was the strongest predictor of neurobehavioral symptoms and should be considered an important treatment target in both SOF and CF with co-morbid PTSD/TBI. A proactive human performance approach towards identification and treatment of psychological and neurobehavioral symptoms is recommended for SOF.

Static Modeling of Soft Reinforced Bending Actuator Considering External Force Constraints.

Soft robots are utilized in various operations such as rehabilitation, manipulation, and locomotion. These robots are sometimes excited by means of rubber based bending actuators, which are highly nonlinear and hyperelastic. In addition, in contrast to robots with rigid links and common actuators, continuous deformation of soft bending actuators in the presence of external forces makes the modeling more complicated. Thus, introducing a proper mathematical framework that accurately describes mechanical behavior of these actuators is still a challenge. In this research study, an analytical static model based on the Neo-Hookean material model is proposed. By resorting to the proposed model, a nonlinear relation between the actuator shape and inlet actuation pressure is extracted. Next, by means of the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the effect of external forces on the actuator configuration is investigated. Finally, experimental results are presented to validate the proposed theoretical model. In this regard, first, the actuator nonlinear behavior in a free motion is appropriately verified. Then, the actuator configuration, in the presence of two conventional external forces, called following and fixed direction, is analyzed.

Dynamic sampling bias and overdispersion induced by skewed offspring distributions.

Natural populations often show enhanced genetic drift consistent with a strong skew in their offspring number distribution. The skew arises because the variability of family sizes is either inherently strong or amplified by population expansions. The resulting allele-frequency fluctuations are large and, therefore, challenge standard models of population genetics, which assume sufficiently narrow offspring distributions. While the neutral dynamics backward in time can be readily analyzed using coalescent approaches, we still know little about the effect of broad offspring distributions on the forward-in-time dynamics, especially with selection. Here, we employ an asymptotic analysis combined with a scaling hypothesis to demonstrate that over-dispersed frequency trajectories emerge from the competition of conventional forces, such as selection or mutations, with an emerging time-dependent sampling bias against the minor allele. The sampling bias arises from the characteristic time-dependence of the largest sampled family size within each allelic type. Using this insight, we establish simple scaling relations for allele-frequency fluctuations, fixation probabilities, extinction times, and the site frequency spectra that arise when offspring numbers are distributed according to a power law.

Hybrid Warfare in Vietnam: THE U.S. AND SOUTH VIETNAMESE SUCCESS AGAINST THE VIET CONG INSURGENCY

In the past decades, most conformist studies dedicated to the Vietnam War were overly critical of the U.S. military’s so-called reliance on conventional warfare in a country deemed to be plagued by an insurgency. Counterinsurgency programs were labeled weak and powerless to shift the Americans’ momentum against the Viet Cong, which outsmarted the U.S. military. This article opposes these theories and suggests that by 1969, the U.S. force’s reliance on conventional warfare against the guerrillas progressively morphed into a strategy that fully supported the military’s counterinsurgency initiatives. Vietnam was a hybrid warfare theater, which required the Americans to fight both the Viet Cong guerrillas and Hanoi’s conventional forces. Through the analysis of U.S. and Communist documents, this study suggests that the Americans succeeded in offsetting the Communists’ tactical approach to hybrid warfare. As they skillfully synchronized regular warfare with counterinsurgency, the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces succeeded in defeating the Viet Cong insurgency by the spring of 1972.

Resistance Resurgent: Resurrecting a Method of Irregular Warfare in Great Power Competition

ABSTRACT The U.S. has spent the last two decades, during its short time as the singular superpower, engaging relatively successfully in counterterrorism. However, we have now entered a new era of Great Power Competition (GPC) with adversaries; Russia and China. In the last decade, these nations have either caught up to the U.S. or have gained a slight edge in several types of warfare, while they challenge the international order created and dominated by the U.S. In particular, Russian threats loom over our NATO Baltic allies, while Chinese threats loom over the South China Sea and Taiwan. The U.S. has inadequate conventional deterrence forces ing each of these theaters and likely could not respond to crisis in each area simultaneously. Concurrently, though not allied, Russia and China have increased cooperation. It will take many years for the U.S. to build adequate conventional forces to prevent each of these adversaries from asserting their will and taking and holding the sovereign territory of our allies or partners. Yet history reveals a type pf warfare for which we and our allies and partners can prepare for immediately at little cost to add a layer of deterrence to assist in denying ultimate victory to our adversaries with scarce dedication of resources. It is a type of warfare that can asymmetrically impose costs on an occupier by forcing him to devote substantial resources to his own security while also making his political consolidation of the occupied territory very difficult if not impossible. Its methods range from violence led by an authorized organization fighting to reclaim sovereignty, to passive and peaceful activities by the general population. This method of warfare, which must be organized, trained and equipped immediately, is resistance.

To Escalate, or Not to Escalate? Private Military and Security Companies and Conflict Severity

The existing literature is unclear about whether private military and security companies (PMSCs) are a cause of increased conflict severity, or rather are simply hired within more severe conflicts. We argue that PMSCs do increase conflict severity, yet this is the result of an escalation strategy by states to regain territory from rebels. If contracted, PMSCs either substitute for host nation forces, or free up such conventional forces to engage in offensive operations. In both cases the conflict severity increases substantially. This argument is tested with OLS regression using data from 30 weak states from 1990 to 2007.

United States military fatalities during Operation New Dawn.

Military operations vary by scope, purpose, and intensity, each having unique forces and actions to execute a mission. Evaluation of military operation fatalities guides current and future casualty care. A retrospective study was conducted of all US military fatalities from Operation New Dawn in Iraq, 2010 to 2011. Data were obtained from autopsies and other records. Population characteristics, manner of death, cause of death, and location of death were analyzed. All fatalities were evaluated for concomitant evidence of underlying atherosclerosis. Nonsuicide trauma fatalities were also reviewed for injury severity, mechanism of death, injury survivability, death preventability, and opportunities for improvement. Of 74 US military Operation New Dawn fatalities (median age, 26 years; male, 98.6%; conventional forces, 100%; prehospital, 82.4%) the leading cause of death was injury (86.5%). The manner of death was primarily homicide (55.4%), followed by suicide (17.6%), natural (13.5%), and accident (9.5%). Fatalities were divided near evenly between combatants (52.7%) and support personnel (47.3%), and between battle injury (51.4%) and disease and nonbattle injury (48.6%). Natural and suicide death was higher (p < 0.01, 0.02) among support personnel who were older (p = 0.05) with more reserve/national guard personnel (p = 0.01). Total population prevalence of underlying atherosclerosis was 18.9%, with more among support personnel (64.3%). Of 46 nonsuicide trauma fatalities, most died of blast injury (67.4%) followed by gunshot wound (26.1%) and multiple/blunt force injury (6.5%). The leading mechanism of death was catastrophic tissue destruction (82.6%). Most had nonsurvivable injuries (82.6%) and nonpreventable deaths (93.5%). Operation New Dawn fatalities were exclusively conventional forces divided between combatants and support personnel, the former succumbing more to battle injury and the latter to disease and nonbattle injury including self-inflicted injury. For nonsuicide trauma fatalities, none died from a survivable injury, and 17.4% died from potentially survivable injuries. Opportunities for improvement included providing earlier blood products and surgery. Therapeutic, level V and epidemiological, level IV.

Eddy-Current Losses Estimation on Nonlinear Magnetic Property in Single-Phase Wound Core

Eddy-current analysis and losses estimation are significant components in the optimized design of the tractive transformer. The conventional analytical method forces to linearize the nonlinear magnetic property and as an important quantity in the calculation, the permeability is only acquired dependent on the empirical method. Furthermore, the computational precision is often difficult to assure in losses estimation when distorted excitation originated from nonlinear magnetized relation in electrical steel is neglected. In our study, the eddy-current field problem is delicately solved by analytical deduction, in which the nonlinear constitutive relation toward media and the harmonic component in the excitation source are sufficiently considered. Compared with the accuracy of the traditional formula, the proposed model achieves better accuracy on eddy-current losses with finite-element analysis, especially when the operating condition is closed to magnetic saturation.

Strengthening Multi-Domain Deterrence and Defense in the Asia–Pacific Region

Novel strategic technologies are posing major challenges to Asian security. These disruptive systems include high-precision and hypersonic delivery vehicles, advanced cyber capabilities, and space weaponry. The proliferation of these new capabilities among states could complicate military planning, reduce strategic predictability, and decrease crisis stability by amplifying preemption incentives. Developments regarding these technologies have already contributed to the collapse of longstanding arms control agreements and have raised dangers of miscalculations or misperceptions that could lead to inadvertent escalation. Yet, revisionist powers in Asia―such as China, Russia, and North Korea―perceive these strategic technologies as helping them realize their theory of victory. In particular, they hope to employ them to negate superior U.S. conventional forces to secure important gains in a limited conflict through multi-domain coercion, while managing escalation dynamics to prevent an all-out war. Chinese, Russian, and DPRK strategists see having strong offensive capabilities as their best means of crippling U.S. military alliances in Asia. Indeed, these strike systems enhance the anti-access/ area-denial barriers these Asian land powers have erected to keep U.S. forces from reinforcing U.S. allies and partners. Fortunately, emerging strategic technologies can enhance U.S. alliances in Asia in critical ways, while some of their potentially destabilizing impacts can be mitigated by managing competition and reducing the risks of miscalculations in these domains.

Musculoskeletal injury in military Special Operations Forces: a systematic review

IntroductionSpecial Operations Forces conduct military activities using specialised and unconventional techniques that offer a unique and complementary capability to conventional forces. These activities expose Special Operations Forces personnel to different...

Transformation of war – use of conventional military forces against state actors

Transformation of war – use of conventional military forces against state actors

The Dutch Uzi: Service Variants of the Army, Navy &amp; Air Force, 1957–1997

The well-known Israeli Uzi sub-machine gun saw service with the Dutch Armed Forces between 1957 and 1997. Other than the Israel Defense Forces, the Netherlands were the first nation to adopt this weapon for their conventional military forces—and also the first to use the Uzi in combat. The Dutch Navy, Air Force, and Army all adopted the Israeli sub-machine gun, although each service selected a slightly different configuration, including variants with different stocks and modes of fire. This article presents a brief history of the Uzi in Dutch service, tracing the primary variants in service with all three branches of the armed forces and examining how this variety highlights a recurring small arms acquisition trend within the Dutch military.