Military Realm Research Articles

Transformation, insecurity, and uncontrolled automation: frames of military AI in the EU AI strategic discourse

ABSTRACT Despite the dual-use nature of AI, the emerging EU AI policy has excluded the military from the initial policy scope, by introducing it as a single-market issue and a predominantly civilian matter. However, both the existing EU tools for supporting developments in military AI and the existing literature on dual-use technologies suggest that the military realm is actually present, despite claims to the contrary. This tension raises a question: is the EU manoeuvring between the civil and military elements of AI in order to sideline the conversation on the military role in its self-identification and approach towards technologies? To see where and how the military element appears in the case of AI, the article aims to identify how military AI is framed in the EU. It empirically distinguishes three frames: military AI as a transformative technology (military capability building); military AI as increased insecurity (assessment of international dynamics as based on an arms race); and military AI as uncontrolled automation (calls to establish human control over automating military technology). The frames reveal differing views towards technology, the international environment, and the EU response to both. It argues that the notion of in-betweenness evolves not only in terms of blurring the lines between civil vs military use of the dual-use technology. It is also about EU self-positioning, which differs in the three frames (from military to normative power) by demonstrating manoeuvres between them depending on specific temporal and political circumstances.

A Case Study of Gorkhali: Private Military and Security Companies in Global Security Assemblages

The news about Nepali citizens joining the Russo-Ukraine war has once again sparked attention among stakeholders regarding Gorkhali’s engagement with global private security companies. The engagement of Gorkhali in the Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) is not a new phenomenon; it has been seen since the end of the Cold when it came into existence. As the market of PMSCs rises exponentially, security labourers from countries like Nepal are increasingly joining the same. Gorkhali’s long history of mercenaries and constructed narrative of bravery and loyalty has also attracted PMSCs. Existing literature overlooks the emerging consequence and contradiction of PMSCs-led global security governance to Gorkhali and the complex inter-relationship among PMSCs, client state, Gorkhali, and Nepal. This paper uses the ‘Global Assemblages’ approach to capture multiple actors’ fluid relationships, changes, emerging practices, authority, and institutions. The research looks at consequences and contradictions related to Gorkhali after the 2016 Taliban attack on Nepali security guards and the situation of the same after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021 while serving for PMSCs. It uses the ‘discourse analysis’ to incorporate books, journal articles, and media interviews of security guards and their families on the research topic. Lastly, research argues that the blurred relation between PMSCs and client states in global security assemblages is not only in the security and military realm but is also seen in the case of taking responsibility for any tragic event/accident of Gorkhali in PMSCs-led global security governance. It is also influencing the local institutions and practices of Nepal.

Navigating Cyber Diplomacy in the Governance of Emerging AI Technologies: Lessons from Transatlantic Cooperation

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology presents vast transformative possibilities across various sectors, encompassing economic, industrial, social, political, intelligence, and military realms. Consequently, governing the development and deployment of AI has garnered significant attention not only from policymakers and decision-makers but also from the general public. Given AI's potential to shape state power and its dual strategic applications, the governance of AI has become an integral part of global discussions, falling under the purview of cyber diplomacy. This article delineates key issues surrounding AI governance, discusses the evolving role of the EU as a normative force in this arena, and underscores the importance of transatlantic collaboration amid broader global technological competitions.

Navigating Cyber Diplomacy in the Governance of Emerging AI Technologies: Lessons from Transatlantic Cooperation

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology presents vast transformative possibilities across various sectors, encompassing economic, industrial, social, political, intelligence, and military realms. Consequently, governing the development and deployment of AI has garnered significant attention not only from policymakers and decision-makers but also from the general public. Given AI's potential to shape state power and its dual strategic applications, the governance of AI has become an integral part of global discussions, falling under the purview of cyber diplomacy. This article delineates key issues surrounding AI governance, discusses the evolving role of the EU as a normative force in this arena, and underscores the importance of transatlantic collaboration amid broader global technological competitions.

Interface-induced origin of Schottky-to-Ohmic-to-Schottky conversion in non-conventional contact to β-Ga2O3

β-Ga2O3 is an emerging ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor with wide-ranging applications from civil to military realms. Due to the varied surface states and upward band-bending of β-Ga2O3 with most metals, most of the conventional metal contacts turn out to be Schottky in nature, leading to a paucity of suitable Ohmic contacts to Ga2O3. Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) offer the flexibility of conduction along with optical transparency, useful especially for optoelectronic devices. Herein, we report on the use of indium-zinc oxide (IZO), a TCO, as a suitable, unconventional contact to β-Ga2O3. The devices show a unique conversion from Schottky to Ohmic by annealing at an optimized temperature of 650 °C, while changing back to Schottky at higher temperatures. At 650 °C, the interface chemistry as studied by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy changes drastically with band-bending of β-Ga2O3 shifting from upward to downward at the interface leading to a type II band alignment, responsible for the Schottky-to-Ohmic conversion. The results provide evidence of using IZO layer as an alternate contact material to β-Ga2O3 whose behavior as Ohmic or Schottky contact may be tuned by simply varying the annealing temperature and inducing interfacial changes at the semiconductor–electrode interface, while maintaining excellent device resilience. The proposed conducting oxide layer provides an effective strategy toward control and tunability in nature of contacts toward gallium oxide and its applications for high temperature resilience solar-blind photodetectors.

“Mom Calling the Commanding Officer”: The Changing Relationship Between Mothers and Their Sons Serving in Israel Defense Forces

Anchored in feminist theory, this article examines the relationship between mothers and their sons serving in Israel Defense Forces. A review of the feminist literature reveals that the military is one of the main sources of gender inequality and reproduction of traditional gender roles. The military plays a pivotal role in male socialization and encourages soldiers to distance themselves both physically and psychologically from their mothers and deny any feminine traits that may be attributed to them. Yet this qualitative study, which is based on 28 interviews with mothers and sons, reveals a more complex picture. Although the military does serve as a gatekeeper that distances mothers and reinforces hypermasculinized culture, the participants depict the mothers’ active involvement in the daily life of their soldier sons without any sense of inferiority in confronting the military apparatus. The mothers assume the role of psychologists, save the sons from entanglement with their direct commanders, and even organize their sons’ service route. The extension of maternal practices into the military realm blurs the binary conceptualization of “men in arms and women at home” and sheds more light on contemporary changes that have taken place in military–family relations in Israel.

The Origin of Some Military Terms

Abstract The influence of the Roman Empire on Great Britain was deep, and Latin was the commonly used lingua franca at that time. The terms used for some ranks, weapons, cities, and others in many cases have their etymological origin in Latin or old English, or their derivatives in Romance languages. In the military realm, the hierarchical chain of command is defined by ranks such as the word ‘officer.’ In the case of cities, it is possible to know the influence of Roman locations in Great Britain from their names, as in the example of ‘Chesterfield’. Some words come from acronyms of specifically English etymology, as in ‘radar’, while others represent the full meaning of an organization, hierarchy, and so on, such as the word ‘army’.

Проблемы дифференциации оружия нелетального действия и специальных средств правоохранительных органов (криминалистический и судебно-медицинский аспекты)

Introduction. The article touches upon the topical issues of forensic weapon study connected to the necessity for differentiating so called non-lethal weapon and law enforcement services special tools as well. Theoretical analysis. The lack of any criteria for group pertaining identification of such articles, devices or substances creates many legal conflicts. These collisions, in their turn, hamper adequate criminal evaluation and regulation of their circulation in civil, military and law enforcement realms and development of the schemes and requirements for measuring the optimality of non-lethal weapon kill effects and specific qualities of lawenforcement special services tools, which provokes unbiased difficulties in managing certified diagnostic medico-biological tests. Empirical analysis. The category of destruction means, conventionally referred to as non-lethal weapons, should be considered as a classification subgroup in the common system of forensic weapon classification. The determinant features of this category of weapons, that is called “firearms of limited destruction” for its firearm version, should be the compliance with the forensic definition of the weapon as a means specially designed and technically suitable for hitting a living or other target and having no direct purpose in everyday life or production; ensuring the minimum probability of causing permanent damage to health, life, property, and the environment; intended use for temprorary deprivation of the enemy’s manpower of the ability to attack or resist. Result. There is a need for more profound and detailed research into forensic and medico-biological aspects of the circulation of weapons of limited destruction for military and police purposes and for self-defense.

AI, Great Power Competition & National Security

Abstract Breakthroughs in AI are accelerating global commercial competition and transforming the international security environment. The reach and influence of foreign-based network platforms present risks to American society and require us to confront questions about their origin and purpose. Meanwhile, AI technologies are enhancing several existing national security threats, and will change the way states try to gain leverage against adversaries and exercise coercion and influence in other societies. The open nature of free and democratic societies, combined with their increasing reliance on poorly secured digital networks, makes them especially vulnerable. In the military realm, AI holds the prospect of augmenting cyber, conventional, and nuclear capabilities in ways that make security relationships among rivals more challenging to predict and maintain, and conflicts more difficult to limit. Even as they compete, rivals should explore limits on AI capabilities. The AI ecosystems of the principal global competitors, the United States and China, remain intertwined, and a calibration of the bilateral technology relationship requires both selective decoupling and continued collaboration in areas of mutual interest. These changes require a comprehensive national strategy for the next decade that preserves global leadership advantages for America's economy and security.

ՌԱԶՄԱԿԱՆ ՆՊԱՏԱԿՆԵՐՈՎ ԱՐՀԵՍՏԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՆԱԿԱՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԿԻՐԱՌՄԱՆ ԱՐԴԻ ՄԻՏՈՒՄՆԵՐՆ ՈՒ ՀԵՌԱՆԿԱՐՆԵՐԸ / MODERN TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF ARTIFICIAL INELLIGENCE APPLICATION FOR MILITARY PURPOSES

One of the biggest challenges of the modern world is the penetration of artificial intelligence into military realm. As a result, the types of weapons and approaches to warfare, as well as the nature of war in general have significantly changed. In connection with these changes, the article substantiates the need to target the guidelines for the maintenance and development of the state’s military potential in this direction. Accordingly, the article presents the universal experience of applying artificial intelligence for military purposes, based on new functional capabilities of weapons or military technologies, which have become available thanks to artificial intelligence.

Cybersecurity and cyber defence strategies of Japan

Modern national security strategies of many states attempt at covering risks and threats rising in nontraditional domains of outer space, electromagnetic and cyberspaces. Cyberattacks aim at inflicting financial, psychological, technological and physical damage at various goals from individuals and corporations to states and international organisations. One of the specific features of a cyberattack is uncertainty of its source: it is sometimes impossible to identify the attacker. All these provide incentives for states to qualify cyberthreats as threats to their national security, thus pushing them towards establishing mechanisms of dealing with these threats. As a result, more states attempt at formulating their strategies of cyber security and cyber defence. Japan, as one of the developed countries, relies heavily on its information infrastructure and telecommunication networks, and the military realm is not an exception. Since the early 2000s, the Japanese government has been elaborating its cybersecurity and cyber defence strategies, steadily unfolding its strategic vision of the new security environment. Japan has come up with a complex strategy of information security, cybersecurity and cyber defence. A key approach of the cybersecurity strategy for Japan is acting in a proactive manner while enhancing its reactive capabilities, meaning containment and sustainability capabilities accordingly.

Chemical growth and study of low intensity sensing ability of nanobranch and nanorod structured SnO2 UV detector

Ultra violet (UV) photodetector (PD) has been gaining attention in the fields of environment, medical, civil, and military realms, etc. In this report, nanostructured tin oxide (SnO2) thin films were deposited by a hot-wall nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique. The nanostructured SnO2 UV PDs were fabricated. The structural, optical, and surface morphological properties have been investigated using the characterizing techniques of XRD, UV, PL spectrophotometer, and FESEM, respectively. The growth mechanism of structural transformation from nanobranch (Nb) to nanorod (NR) structure was discussed extensively. The photoelectric properties of the fabricated devices were performed under UV light (365 nm wavelength). The PD devices responded to two bias voltage ranges of 0.0004 V and 0.5 V for Nb and NR devices, respectively. The reason behind its due to the influence of surface states in the material that has been explained. Based on the results, the as-fabricated devices detect low light intensity in the microwatt power range. The transient photoresponse profiles exhibit the abundant surface states formation in nanostructures which showed as persistent photocurrent. Quenching of photocurrent for NR PD was observed at 0.5 bias voltage. We attained large photosensitivity and low bias sensing ability of SnO2 PD devices which clearly indicate that the possibility of the development of environment monitor supported self-powered devices.

The Refractive Periscope – a Novel Concept

A periscope is an optical device whose function is to allow sighting of objects that are not in direct line of sight with the observer Eye/Screen/Detector. The concept behind the periscope is tilting the optical axis by breaking the rays of light with a mirror or prism so that the image is obtained in the desired location. The periscope has a variety of uses, many of which belong to the military realm. For example, observing from submarines above the sea level surface, looking at the war zone from inside of a tank, directing light into hidden places and more. In this article, the authors will review a new development based on wave guide concept which composes a tube with light reflective walls. This allows us to build a significantly Small-dimensional periscope with respect to a standard periscope that does not use lenses. The authors will also review a number of applications suitable for the reflection periscope.

Introduction

Introduction

Acceptance of Transgender Veterans in Social Settings: An Experimental Study

U.S. society has become more exposed to and aware of the issues facing veterans who identify as transgender, but there is limited research surrounding this topic and the levels of acceptance society has of these individuals in social settings. With the growing “out” transgender population and changing views within political and military realms on transgender identities, there are concerns for the mental health and equal treatment of these individuals. This experimental study examined how participants reacted to a scenario in which they met a veteran in a social setting who shared a similar hobby (conditions: someone who either self-discloses they are transgender or an identical scenario except with no self-disclosure of transgender identity). This study explored the psychological attitudes that may impact these judgements and examined participants’ expected future behavior regarding the extent to which they would want further contact with that person. Results regarding likability were in the opposite direction hypothesized, such that participants reported the individual to be more likable in the condition where the person self-disclosed their transgender identity compared to the condition where transgender identity was not indicated, t(120) = −2.87, p = .005, d = 0.52. Perceptions of similarity and willingness to spend more time with the person were not significantly different across conditions. These results suggest more positive attitudes toward transgender veterans than initially expected, which is surprising and also promising for future research with the veteran transgender community, yet future research to further understand how generalizable these findings are may be critical.

Biden’s China policy: concepts, events, preliminary results

Biden’s foreign policy team worked out the new concept of its relations with China. The main idea of this concept is more nuanced approach to China’s behavior, reassessing bilateral ties with China to separate the spheres of confrontation, regulated competition and possible cooperation for commonly shared goals. However, this concept and ideology still failed to be applied to practical policy. Biden’s many steps towards China, especially in economic and military realms, are in fact showing the inertia and obvious continuity with Trump’s policies. In political sphere, Biden’s stress for «human rights» issues, so typical for Democratic Party, make the dialogue with China the same unproductive, as it was in the Trump’s era. In economic relations Biden’s administration is not cancelling high trade tariffs on China goods, being oriented on “regulated trade” approach in its ties with PRC. Biden’s administration is more successful and active than Trump in pushing through Congress the legislation for spending on innovation and technological upgrading of the U.S. economy, that is vital to successful competition with China.

Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War by David Silkenat

Reviewed by: Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War by David Silkenat Lorien Foote Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War. David Silkenat. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. ISBN 978-1-4696-4972-6. 368 pp., hardcover, $39.95. In the acknowledgments to Raising the White Flag, David Silkenat writes, the "idea for this book came to me in a dream" (299). His subconscious mind did him a big favor, because the book's topic itself makes an original contribution to the literature on the American Civil War. It should be obvious, given that one of every four soldiers became a prisoner at some point (at least 673,000 men), that surrender shaped the contours and outcome of the conflict. Yet no one had thought to analyze what this meant for the military and cultural history of the war. Silkenat fortunately did, and this outstanding study fulfills the dream. Formal surrenders of entire garrisons or units at Fort Sumter, San Antonio, San Augustin Springs, Harper's Ferry, Fort Donelson, and Fort Jackson marked the opening phase of the war, established the rituals, and set the terms for how Americans perceived the difference between honorable and dishonorable surrender. There were contradictory notions of surrender in American society. In the military realm, the ability to surrender exemplified a nation's participation in the civilized rules of war, but in the political and social realms, surrender implied weakness, subordination, and cowardice. Silkenat explores how military commanders included surrender as part of their strategic, operational, and tactical thinking. He contrasts Ulysses S. Grant with Nathan Bedford Forrest, who used "unconditional surrender" as "a tactical weapon, a stratagem designed to engender terror (139)." Campaign and battle histories usually give no more than token nods to prisoners, even when the number of captives exceeded the number of deaths. Silkenat challenges scholars to consider how the surrender of soldiers shaped the contours and outcome of battles, and provides a narrative of the Battle of Gettysburg that exemplifies his point. Although we have a number of excellent studies of Civil [End Page 229] War soldiers, Silkenat fills a gap with his chapter about their decisions and experiences with surrender on the battlefield. Linear formations and differences in a soldier's assignment affected opportunity. Although surrender was an instinctive decision in the heat of the moment, white Civil War soldiers surrendered in such high numbers because they believed that if they threw down their weapons, their enemy would accept their surrender. They were generally right. This stands in contrast to the Napoleonic Wars, the Franco-Prussian War, the Great War, and World War II, where soldiers were loath to surrender because would-be captors killed would-be prisoners as often as not. Silkenat addresses the recent concern of scholars to characterize and measure the violence of the war. Although historians debate how "hard" or "dark" the Civil War was, Americans at the time cared about whether the war was "civilized" or "savage." Silkenat argues that it was both. Soldiers surrendered "in droves" because most of them believed they fought in a "civilized" war, which ultimately limited the overall death toll of the war (297). There was a noticeable change across time in how soldiers evaluated their fate after surrender, however. After the Dix-Hill Cartel collapsed, and soldiers believed they would face extended time in prison camps with poor chances for survival, they chose to fight to the death rather than surrender. Although the notes do not show clearly how Silkenat made these important calculations, or what the estimated numbers are, he claims that muster reports from 1864 show that the ratio of killed to captured soldiers came to parity. African Americans, white unionists, and Confederate guerrillas experienced a "savage" war shaped by the "absence of surrender" (297). Their enemies did not consider them legitimate combatants and summarily executed them on the battlefields. They did not expect quarter, and, accordingly, they did not always give it. For all participants, combat in 1864 marked the "nadir of surrender's acceptability" (168). Although Silkenat discusses the surrender at Appomattox, his more important contribution is an analysis of the several that...

4IR technologies in the Israel Defence Forces: blurring traditional boundaries

ABSTRACT This paper explores how Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies obscure the traditional boundaries associated with the military realm. As the first examination of the conditions underlying the assimilation of 4IR technologies in Israel’s armed forces, this paper makes several contributions. It expands the knowledge on the military assimilation of 4IR technologies and describes the interaction between military doctrine and technology using current evidence. It also enriches the evolving discussion on the strategic effect of emerging technologies. Finally, it demonstrates how emerging technologies involve neither straightforward spinoff or spin-on processes but a reciprocal transfer of know-how between the military and civilian sectors.

The neoliberal Houdini who escaped from (poverty and) prison: Chapo’s narcocorridos, political communication and propaganda

Chapo Guzmán was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Although he was a well-known criminal, there is a scarcity of first-hand information about his career. This situation raises a question: how did Guzmán become a public figure without having public exposure? This communicative phenomenon is possible because drug cartels have sophisticated propaganda techniques that allow them to challenge the state not only in the military realm but also in the cultural realm. Among other media, these criminal organizations use narcocorridos, a popular music genre, as a medium for propaganda. This article studies, through a narrative analysis of 66 lyrics, how music, as a form of political communication, is used as propaganda. This study found three main narratives in the narcocorridos dedicated to Guzmán: (i) the origins of this drug dealer; (ii) the masculine features that led him to be a global kingpin; and (iii) his genius for corrupting political systems. These lyrics are propaganda because: (a) they spread knowledge in the form of stories about Guzmán; (b) they create a mythology about the kingpin and the narco-world; and (c) they distort reality by picturing Guzmán as a great man and blur reality by suppressing any reference to the drug wars.

УГОРСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКЕ ВОЄННЕ ПРОТИСТОЯННЯ НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ ВОЛИНСЬКИХ ОКРУГІВ РАЙХСКОМІСАРІАТУ «УКРАЇНА»

The article deals with several of issues related to the circumstances and conditions of stay of the Hungarian military units, in particular parts of the VII Hungarian Royal Corps on the territory of Volyn’ districts of the Reich Commissariat «Ukraine» during the Second World War. The author outlines the participation of the Hungarian units in the military confrontation with the combat units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The facts of combat clashes of UIA units with units of the VII Hungarian Royal Corps were investigated and analyzed. Attention is drawn to the directions of the Hungarian soldiers’ involvement by the German military command and the civil administration for the protection of military and strategic objects, communications, logistic structures, as well as anti-insurgency operations, requisition actions and peaceful measures.The author fragmentary covers the struggle of the Hungarian fighting units with the Soviet guerrillas and negotiations with the commanding staff of the Ukrainian formations. Outline of the reasons for the moderate armed confrontation of the Hungarian regular troops with the Ukrainian rebel units is made. The general analysis of the attitude of the local Ukrainian population to the Hungarian soldiers is provided.Based on the modern domestic historiographical base – documents, memoirs and research publications – the author reproduced the peculiarities of the relations between the Hungarian and Ukrainian soldiers (serving in the Volyn’ territory during 1943–1944), mostly, in the military realm. The author's vision of this problem is expressed as concerning military events of the Second World War in the Ukrainian and adjacent territories.