Military Modernization Research Articles

Philosophy of medicine and historiography of medicine

Historiography and philosophy of medicine has met with dramatic disciplinary rise in the recent decades. Philosophers of biomedical sciences response to the rise resulted in writing of some innovative and detailed studies. On contrary the research in historiography of medicine is dominated by the case-studies and non-contextualist approaches. Only recently the history of the early modern medicine has received proper place in the scholarship. Still the philosophy and historiography of the early military modern medicine lacks due research attention. Our contribution attempts to explain why the history of the early military modern medicine is core element of the genesis of modern medicine.

Biotechnology and Biodefense Enterprise: An Industry Perspective on Defence Acquisition

ABSTRACT Biotechnology is gaining priority along with other rapidly evolving disciplines in science and engineering due to its potential for innovating the modern military. The broad nature of biotechnology is directly relevant to the military and defence sector where the applications span clinical diagnostics, medical countermeasures and therapeutics, to environmental remediation and biofuels for energy. Although the process for a commercial biotech research and development (R&D) pipeline and the Department of Defence (DOD) acquisition cycle both aim to result in products, they follow two distinctly different pathways. In the biotech industry, the pipeline progresses from basic to applied science that includes design and R&D, commercialisation and product launch, where market forces and financial returns on investment drive priorities. Along the way, the scientific and iterative nature of R&D often results in several candidates for a given assay, drug, therapeutic or vaccine, many of which are unsuccessful or wind up in the so-called valley of death. The DOD acquisition process is a multi-phase and often multi-decade cradle-to-grave product lifecycle engrained in mission requirements, warfighter needs and creating legacy programmes of record. The biotech industry is composed of many small R&D and ‘big pharma’ companies that meet DOD’s unique medical mission requirements. These small R&D companies considered that non-traditional DOD acquisition partners are developing new innovations in biotechnology, but the complex DOD acquisition process is challenging for these small start-ups to navigate. Technology solutions that gain support through DOD acquisitions are able to successfully develop their products and bridge the valley of death by obtaining much needed funding for advanced development, test and evaluation, and demonstration through clinical trials. Our analysis profiles three case histories involving private-public partnerships that yielded biotech products developed through the DOD acquisition cycle that continues to meet current and future medical mission requirements.

Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti’nin Tayvan Politikası ve Bu Politikanın Dünya Siyasetinde Önemi

Yüzyılın başından beri Çin’in yükselişi küresel tartışmalara yol açmıştır. Bugün, Çin’in uluslararası jeopolitik üzerindeki etkisi yadsınamaz bir gerçektir. Bu bağlamda ekonomik anlamdaki büyümesi ile siyasi zayıflığı arasındaki paradoks, Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti (ÇHC)’nin politikalarını önümüzdeki dönemde daha agresif hale getirebilir. Özellikle son 10 yılda sessiz bir şekilde ekonomik büyümesi ile dikkat çeken Çin, küresel rekabette daha hissedilir hale gelmektedir. Esasen, Çin’in ekonomik ve teknolojik anlamda yükselişi, askeri modernizasyonunu da hızlandırmasını sağladı. Bu gelişmeler 9,6 milyon kilometrekarelik yüzölçümü ile Kanada ve Rusya’dan sonra dünyanın üçüncü büyük ülkesi olan Çin’in, Asya’da tehdit olarak görülmeye başlamasına yol açmıştır. Nihayetinde 6 Ekim 2021 tarihinde Tayvan Savunma Bakanı Chiu Kuo cheng, Çin ile Tayvan ilişkilerinin son kırk yılın en gergin ve en kötü döneminde bulunduğunu ifade etti. Bakan Chiu Kuo cheng, ayrıca Çin’in 10 yıl içerisinde Tayvan’ı tamamen işgal etme kabiliyetine sahip olacağını söyledi. Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti, Tayvan Savunma Bakanının BBC’de yapmış olduğu bu açıklamalar karşısında adanın (Tayvan) anakarayla birleştirilmesi için güç kullanma ihtimalini yalanlamadı. Bu açıklamalar ışığında Çin anakarasının yükselişi karşısında bölgesinde ve dünyada etkisini kaybetmeye başlayan Tayvan’ın, önümüzdeki süreçte Çin açısından bölgesel bir “stratejik rekabet” meselesi olacağı düşünülmektedir. Bu durumdan en fazla zarar görebilecek diğer güç ise ABD olacaktır. Bu makalede, Çin’in Tayvan politikası ve bu politikanın yol açabileceği gelecek senaryoları ele alınmıştır.

The security environment in the Asia-Pacific: the context for arming

ABSTRACT Countries in the Asia-Pacific have many reasons for acquiring new defense hardware and improving national military capabilities. The region is clearly one of constantly shifting security dynamics, with rising great powers, new threats and security challenges, and new military commitments. All of these require new capabilities for power projection, mobility, firepower, intelligence and surveillance, and joint operations, thereby driving regional military modernisation. Consequently, some of the most modern and most advanced armaments are finding their way into the inventories of Asian militaries. Many regional militaries have experienced a significant, if not unprecedented, build-up in terms of both quantity and quality, over the past several years. Recent acquisitions by regional armed forces constitute something more than mere modernisation; rather, the new types of armaments being procured and deployed promise to significantly expand regional maritime and airborne warfighting capabilities.

Policies of Artificial Intelligence in the EU: Learning Curve from the UK and China?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be traced back to John McCarthy who is considered as one of the pioneers of the AI discipline. 1 AI has emerged as one of the most important realities in the first quarter of the 21 st century. AI is being used in many industries including healthcare, production and manufacturing, military modernization, etc. Whereas there are many benefits of AI, it has its drawbacks as well. There is always a possibility that technology getting into the wrong hands. This malicious use of AI is commonly known as “adversarial AI”, which cannot just cause financial loss to countries but also increase the ratio of cybercrimes. This work sheds light on the impact of adversarial AI from the point of view of governance. More specifically, it takes a detailed look at the AI policies of the European Union (EU) and identifies different cyber-security loopholes. Based on some recent events, this study also highlights the role of adversarial AI in promoting cybercrimes in the form of phishing and data breach attacks in the EU. Finally, we provide arguments on how the EU can learn from some countries, like China and the UK, in order to strengthen its AI policies.

A Review on Graphene‐Based Electromagnetic Functional Materials: Electromagnetic Wave Shielding and Absorption

AbstractElectromagnetic (EM) functional materials play an increasingly important role in solving EM wave pollution in both modern military and civil fields. Graphene‐based materials are the most promising candidates in the applications of EM wave shielding and absorption owing to their remarkable structures and enhanced EM properties. Designing graphene‐based materials with elaborately controlled microstructures and optimized EM properties can effectively improve EM energy attenuation and conversion. Herein, the study begins with the EM attenuation mechanism, and multiscale design strategies of graphene‐based EM functional materials are outlined, including molecular‐scale, micro/nanoscale structure, macroscale structure, and integration of multiscale assembly design strategies. Applications in the EM wave shielding and absorption fields are reviewed, focusing on the latest advances in graphene‐based assemblies such as films, fabrics, and composites. Finally, the current challenges and future directions in this fast‐growing field are predicted.

Different Drummers: Military Culture and Its Discontents

Different Drummers: Military Culture and Its Discontents

Osmanlı Ordusunda Modern Ateşli Silah Eğitimin Yazılı Kaynakları ve Mahmud Şevket Paşa’nın Bu Alandaki Eserleri Hakkında Bir Değerlendirme

The Ottoman administration took European armies as a model in all areas of military modernization. Taking modern armies as a model, both in educational and organizational means, provided the new technology weapons, which were the basic need of these armies, to enter the Ottoman army inventory. Each new weapon brought with it the need for training in the familiarization and use of the weapon. The Ottoman officers trained in modern military schools took part in meeting this need. In addition to playing an active role in weapon purchases, this staff shared their knowledge and experience for the effective use of such weapons. Thus, important works on modern firearms were published. Fenn-i Esliha (The Science of Weapon) books, one of these works offered to the use of military students and officers, contained general information about all firearms used in the Ottoman army. In addition to Fenn-i Esliha books, manuals written specifically for a weapon or a model also played a significant role in familiarizing new weapons. Mahmud Şevket Pasha, who gained serious experience in firearms with his duties and later rose to the position of grand vizier, was also one of the officers who penned his experiences. He had a book called Fenn-i Esliha as well as his three of other works were aimed at introducing Mauser rifles. These works containing detailed information on rifles were also supported by images. These three publications, from which the enthusiasts can access extremely specific and technical information, were among the most comprehensive examples of the firearm training literature of the Ottoman army.

Flexible phase change hydrogels for mid-/low-temperature infrared stealth

Infrared stealth technology capable of effectively rendering targets invisible to thermal infrared detectors plays an important role in defense industry and modern military. Therefore, developing novel infrared stealth materials has aroused widespread concern. Phase change materials (PCMs) with thermal storage and management capabilities can modulate temperature to hide infrared radiation, providing a plausible alternative to the rational design of infrared stealth materials. Herein, flexible phase change hydrogels with excellent mechanical and thermophysical properties are fabricated by integrating the hydrogel substrate with phase change microspheres. Owing to the interfacial effect originating from the introduction of the microspheres, the thermal conductivity and the infrared transmittance of the resulting phase change hydrogel are reduced to 0.17 W/(mK) and 0.3%, respectively, enabling the phase change hydrogel to achieve an intriguing infrared stealth function for targets in the mid-/low-temperature range (-20–60 °C). In addition to conforming to arbitrary targets owing to its excellent flexibility and adaptability, the phase change hydrogel can be facilely coated on common fabrics to yield phase change wearable devices, attaining the on-body infrared stealth. This work offers a constructive guidance to prepare high-performance flexible PCMs for emerging infrared stealth applications.

Wearable biosensors for human fatigue diagnosis: A review.

Fatigue causes deleterious effects to physical and mental health of human being and may cause loss of lives. Therefore, the adverse effects of fatigue on individuals and the society are massive. With the ever-increasing frequency of overtraining among modern military and sports personnel, timely, portable and accurate fatigue diagnosis is essential to avoid fatigue-induced accidents. However, traditional detection methods require complex sample preparation and blood sampling processes, which cannot meet the timeliness and portability of fatigue diagnosis. With the development of flexible materials and biosensing technology, wearable biosensors have attracted increased attention to the researchers. Wearable biosensors collect biomarkers from noninvasive biofluids, such as sweat, saliva, and tears, followed by biosensing with the help of biosensing modules continuously and quantitatively. The detection signal can then be transmitted through wireless communication modules that constitute a method for real-time understanding of abnormality. Recent developments of wearable biosensors are focused on miniaturized wearable electrochemistry and optical biosensors for metabolites detection, of which, few have exhibited satisfactory results in medical diagnosis. However, detection performance limits the wide-range applicability of wearable fatigue diagnosis. In this article, the application of wearable biosensors in fatigue diagnosis has been discussed. In fact, exploration of the composition of different biofluids and their potential toward fatigue diagnosis have been discussed here for the very first time. Moreover, discussions regarding the current bottlenecks in wearable fatigue biosensors and the latest advancements in biochemical reaction and data communication modules have been incorporated herein. Finally, the main challenges and opportunities were discussed for wearable fatigue diagnosis in the future.

Red Robots

The article assesses Chinese perceptions of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), in the context of Xi Jinping’s Chinese Dream and China’s broader approach to military modernization and artifcial intelligence (AI).1 It will frst discuss how military modernization is employed by Chinese policymakers in addressing challenges posed by the United States. Secondly, this article will assess the connection between military modernization and the advancement of China’s innovation strategy and civil-military integration, as specifed in sections relating to “Xi Jinping Thought.” The article concludes with an analysis of Chinese diplomats’ statements on LAWS at the United Nations—namely, Beijing’s views on the defnition of LAWS, global AI governance and ethics, and the parameters of arms control. The analysis here suggests that China has sought guardrails to ban specifc uses of LAWS for ofensive purposes, while simultaneously arguing that it is illogical to regulate LAWS in a defensive context.

Proclamation of the All-Russian Empire – the Beginning of the Way to the Great Power Status

Many historians believe that Russia became a great power either as a result of the Poltava victory in 1709, or after the Nystadt Peace of 1721. It is difficult to agree with this. Peter the Great’s rule indeed produced a combat-ready regular army, a guard, an officer corps, a navy with shipyards, military bases, and coastal artillery. There was an upsurge in the metallurgical industry and mining. Schools with high-quality military and secular education, the Academy of Sciences, the Senate, and the Synod were established. St. Petersburg was founded. Talented and enterprising individuals were promoted to military, diplomatic and administrative posts. The main factor in the rise of the state was military modernization. The main geopolitical achievement of Peter I was the conquest of full access to the Baltic Sea. However, a limited resource base, military and diplomatic defeats and setbacks did not allow Russia to rise to the rank of a great power. The disasters of Narva in 1700 and on the Prut River in 1711 were painful. Russia lost access to the Sea of Azov, the city of Azov, city of Taganrog, the Azov squadron, shipyards and shipbuilding in the Voronezh Territory were lost. The damage from three treatises with the Ottomans in 1711-1713 was great. Russia has lost all of Zaporozhye. The demarcation of the borders of 1714 threw Russia back several hundred kilometers from the Black Sea region. In 1719, the Russian military force was squeezed out of Central Europe – from Mecklenburg. The sphere of influence of Russia after the victorious Peace of Nystad in 1721 was established only in Northern and Eastern Europe – in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Swedish and Danish-Norwegian kingdom, partly in Prussia. The tsar had no claims to hegemony in Europe and no claims to join the circle of the then great powers. Russia was not a great power like the Habsburg monarchy, France, Great Britain, and the Eurasian-African Ottoman Empire. Russia could not compare with the great powers of that time neither in terms of economic (industrial, financial) power, nor in terms of the intensity of expansionism. The entry of the Russian Empire into the system of international relations as one of the five great powers – France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia – occurred during the Seven Years War of 1756-1763. Another rise to great power took place during the reign of Catherine II. The apogee of greatness and the culmination of Russia's influence on European affairs was the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815.

D-CEWS: DEVS-Based Cyber-Electronic Warfare M&S Framework for Enhanced Communication Effectiveness Analysis in Battlefield.

Currently, in the field of military modernization, tactical networks using advanced unmanned aerial vehicle systems, such as drones, place an emphasis on proactively preventing operational limiting factors produced by cyber-electronic warfare threats and responding to them. This characteristic has recently been highlighted as a key concern in the functioning of modern network-based combat systems in research on combat effect analysis. In this paper, a novel discrete-event-system-specification-based cyber-electronic warfare M&S (D-CEWS) was first proposed as an integrated framework for analyzing communication effects and engagement effects on cyber-electronic warfare threats and related countermeasures that may occur within drones. Accordingly, for the first time, based on communication metrics in tactical ad hoc networks, an analysis was conducted on the engagement effect of blue forces by major wireless threats, such as multi-layered jamming, routing attacks, and network worms. In addition, the correlations and response logics between competitive agents were also analyzed in order to recognize the efficiency of mutual engagements between them based on the communication system incapacitation scenarios for diverse wireless threats. As a result, the damage effect by the cyber-electronic warfare threat, which could not be considered in the existing military M&S, could be calculated according to the PDR (packet delivery ratio) and related malicious pool rate change in the combat area, and the relevance with various threats by a quantifiable mission attribute given to swarming drones could also be additionally secured.

China’s Rise in the Contemporary World

The advent of the 21st century has seen a shift from uni polarity to multi polarity, mainly due to China's rise. Chinese ambitions are aligned and expansive, which are driven by nationalism, economic uplift and military modernization. China is evolving as a major powerhouse of the current world order. Trade,economic reforms, up gradation of the military, appealing to the masses through its culture and peaceful settlement of disputes are Chinese means for shaping new world order. America's decreasing sphere of influence in multilateral agreements such as the Paris Agreement and the Iran Nuclear deal is proving windows of opportunities for rising powers like China. China aims to strengthen its position in the international system.

Revisiting Institutional/Occupational Model in Turkish Military

This article questions the applicability of Moskos’ institutional/occupational model in a non-Western country whose modernization process resembles that of Western countries. This may be important for two reasons: First, most military sociologists have based their theories on the military’s position and development in Western societies. Whether the historical military development in Turkey resembles Western militaries due to the 19th-century military modernization efforts through Western experts’ guidance with the military as leader in the nation’s modernization or whether this historical military development had a unique structure and mission involving founding the country is debatable. Second, most existing studies on the Turkish military and civil-military relations in Turkey have been conducted by journalists, political scientists, and historians and lack a background in sociological theory. Instead, these studies have discussed the direct or indirect interventions of armed forces in politics. This paper begins building the theoretical foundation for a discussion of the opportunities and challenges of reorganizing Turkey’s civil-military relations by examining the applicability of one Western model to this non-Western country.

Addressing Nuclear Challenges, Misperceptions and Geopolitics in South Asia

India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed neighbours, have vital stakes in maintaining strategic stability in South Asia. However, some disturbing shifts are now being observed in India’s approach towards the imperatives of strategic stability. Its aggressive pursuit of military modernisation and acquisition of emerging technologies, coupled with reported doctrinal shifts, such as pre-emptive counterforce strategy, pose a serious challenge to nuclear deterrence. The Indian leadership seems to have been emboldened by the US tilt towards India, manifested by the growing US-India strategic partnership. These developments have heightened Pakistan’s sense of insecurity. This essay seeks to assess the short-, medium- and long-term challenges to strategic stability in South Asia. It suggests a three-tiered framework of confidence-building measures at the bilateral level between India and Pakistan, the trilateral level among China, India and Pakistan, and the multilateral level whereby the major powers could facilitate conventional and nuclear confidence-building measures in the region. Keywords: South Asia, Strategic Stability, Nuclear Deterrence, Confidence-building Measures

Modernizing or equalizing? Defence budget and military modernization in the Philippines, 2010 – 2020

ABSTRACT The Republic Act (R.A.) 10,349, otherwise known as the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program, is a recapturing of the AFP’s initial efforts at modernizing. Successor to R.A. 7898, the document reorients the priorities and the fiscal responsibilities of the Philippine government in ensuring the modernization of the armed forces into the twenty-first century. The concept of modernization 25 years onward has matured but it has barely deepened in implementation much to the detriment of AFP itself. Despite warnings of external security threats, the study has found nominal evidence hinting at the defence budget’s continuous prioritization of internal security threats. The study has likewise found that modernization funds set forth by R.A. 10,349 are not utilized to “modernize” the armed forces in the truest sense of the word. The study recommends addressing this issue of prioritization before any further attempt at military modernization.

The Future of the U.S.-Philippines Alliance: Declining Democracy and Prospects for U.S.-Philippines Relations after Duterte

executive summary: This article examines the Philippines' democracy under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte and assesses the ramifications of democratic decline for the future of the U.S.-Philippines alliance under the next administration. main argument The anti-democratic policies of the Duterte administration have subverted institutional and societal checks on executive power, threatening the U.S.-Philippines alliance as an instrument of U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Duterte successfully reshaped domestic politics to augment his regime's influence over the legislature, judiciary, local governments, military, and economy, and openly sought to jettison the alliance for closer diplomatic and economic ties with China that would help him subvert domestic checks and balances on his administration. To repair and augment its alliance with the Philippines, the U.S. must recognize that the country's democratic decline is highly unlikely to reverse once Duterte leaves office and should transparently develop policies to incentivize the next administration and policymakers in the Philippines to roll back Duterte's anti-democratic policies. policy implications • If Duterte's successor continues to consolidate power domestically by weakening institutional checks on the administration's authority and coercing political opposition into silence or compliance, military cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines will falter and create new vulnerabilities threatening U.S. interests in the Pacific region. • The Biden administration should reconfigure U.S. security assistance under the schema of positive conditionality to discourage further efforts to undermine democratic governance and degrade human rights conditions from the next presidential administration in the Philippines. U.S. assistance should also be optimized to support the Philippines' military modernization while prioritizing economic and technical cooperation to mitigate the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, economic recession, and pervasive low-intensity conflict. • Whereas the application of sanctions on individuals responsible for supporting human rights violations can be a coercive tool of diplomacy in extremis, it is more important that the U.S. offer inducements for curtailing these violations through bilateral efforts to expand investments from U.S. companies to Philippine business, particularly through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Implementation of Indo-Pacific military policy in North-East Asia and China's response

This article examines the current structure of US military forces in Japan and South Korea and the implementation of the Indo-Pacific military policy of the United States in Northeast Asia, and briefly describes China's response to the Indo-Pacific military policy of the United States. Since the Second World War, the US has had huge national interests in Northeast Asia, and the region is one of the main areas in which the US promotes its democratic values and concentrates its military and strategic planning. In recent years, as China's military modernization has accelerated, the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) has become increasingly active in East Asia and the Western Pacific. The rapid rise of mainland China is being felt by the US and is one of the main reasons why the US has shifted its attention to the Asia-Pacific region in the second half of the Obama administration's presidential term. The Indo-Pacific strategy is an important component of the US security strategy formally proposed by the Trump administration, and its effectiveness in Northeast Asia will largely determine the continuity and success of US strategy in the Indo-Pacific. The concrete implementation of US military policy in the Indo-Pacific region will inevitably affect the security situation in the region, change relations between countries in the region, and will also have an important impact on the future political landscape of the world.

Аналіз та оцінка викладачами досвіду дистанційного навчання при вивченні графічних дисциплін

The article presents the results of a study that was conducted to analyze and evaluate the new pedagogical experience of teachers obtained in distance learning in the context of a global pandemic. According to the results of the survey, most teachers assess this period as more difficult than the period of traditional education, but they consider the experience gained as positive and useful for the future. The teachers noted the need to master modern digital tools suitable for distance learning (video conferencing and communication services, recording audio and video lectures, etc.), design and transform their lecture courses, methodological materials and all auxiliary materials for successful online learning. Teaching graphic disciplines, as well as a new look at the possibilities of social networks, instant messengers and the e-learning system of the Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture. At present, an urgent task is to comprehend this experience in order to understand its essence, identify positive and negative factors, determine the most effective technologies in terms of teaching disciplines by teachers and assimilation of material by students, predicting possible options for the development of the education system within the framework of not anti-pandemic measures, but during hostilities and after the introduction of martial law in Ukraine. This experience was very useful for the teachers of our country, because, despite today’s conditions, the educational cycle continues in some regions of the country. Teachers were asked questions about their psychological state in the initial period of online learning, when they had not yet gained some experience in this area, and questions about the experience, quality and achievements of the students and teachers themselves during distance learning. The opinions of teachers differed in assessing the degree of assimilation of educational material by students in the context of online learning. Most teachers believe that students have mastered the material at the same level as in full-time study, or even better; some teachers noted a decrease in this level. The need to ensure the appropriate quality of education requires finding ways to solve problems that arise in the process of distance learning in modern military and post-war conditions in Ukraine.