Military Equipment Research Articles

Toward a Global History of the Nuclear Age

The environmental history of the nuclear enterprise has grown increasingly important, not the least because of the strong conviction that an ongoing, and self-proclaimed “renaissance” in nuclear energy must be a major part of world energy scenarios in the battle against global warming and the need to abandon carbon-based energy production. This article suggests a number of ways to take advantage of the recently available primary sources by using a global approach to make sense of nuclear environmental history. It calls for looking at environmental impacts across a variety of ecosystems: desert, Arctic, tropical, limnological and oceanic. It insists on considering the entire nuclear enterprise from mining to enrichment to fission. It suggests focusing on interactions between the atom, nature, and the lives of mammals, fish and birds in the nuclear world. In the end, this analysis shows that the atom is not green, and that the argument that nuclear power is a solution to global warming ignores the troubled relationship between the natural environment and peaceful and military technologies.

Considerable enhancement of nanothermites propagation through worm-like expansion of expandable graphite

Metastable intermolecular composites (MICs) are known for their high energy density, high burn rate, and low diffusion distance, and they have various applications in military and civilian equipment and tasks. However, the introduction of binders, which facilitate shaping, during the processing of MICs for practical applications can lead to a decrease in the energy release rate and an increase in the required ignition energy. Herein, we incorporated graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and expandable graphite (EG) into 90- wt% Al/CuO nanothermites stick using simple extrusion-based direct ink writing to improve their overall performance. The high-temperature expansion characteristics and unique structure after expansion caused EG to perform an important role during Al/CuO nanothermites system combustion, which effectively promotes heat transfer and considerably increases the burn rate (81.6%) and pressure rising rate (103.0%). This study demonstrated EG as a low-cost and efficient combustion catalyst for MICs and introduced a simple approach to modulate the energy release rate, combustion pressure and semiconductor bridge (SCB) ignition performance of MICs through incorporation of small amounts of carbon materials.

Facile process for cost-effective layer-by-layer rGO/SiO2 structure for high microwave absorption

This study introduces a cost-effective and eco-efficient method for fabricating an advanced microwave absorber using a layer-by-layer rGO and SiO2 structure. The rGO/SiO2 composite, synthesized via modified Hummer's and Stöber methods, demonstrates remarkable microwave absorption properties. The resultant porous structure, characterized by an SBET of 294.89 m2/g, enables multiple reflections and scatterings of electromagnetic waves. At a sample thickness of 3.8 mm, the material achieves a reflection loss (RL) of −47.43 dB at 12.56 GHz and an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 11.04 GHz. For a 6 mm thick sample, an exceptionally high EAB of 12.72 GHz is observed, maintaining a high RL of −42.32 dB. These results demonstrate that the rGO/SiO2 material is a promising candidate for applications in electromagnetic wave absorption, offering a simple, scalable solution for mitigating electromagnetic pollution and enhancing military stealth technologies.

UK National Fingerprint Collaborative Exercise 2022-23

In 2022–2023 the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) designed and conducted a two-part fingerprint Collaborative Exercise (CE). The CE focussed on fingermarks contaminated in blood as they provide a complex scenario for forensic units and it involved both fingermark visualisation and comparison elements. Participants were requested to treat the exercise as a major crime submission following internal protocols and were invited to provide comments relating to how the marks were deposited (if appropriate). Overall, forensic units performed well within both parts of the exercise. The exercise highlighted the importance of conducting sequential fingermark visualisation techniques, utilising additional lighting techniques and maintaining detailed notes throughout the fingerprint examination process. The outputs from the CE provided opportunities for forensic units to learn from one another, raise the level of understanding of blood contaminated fingermarks and identify areas of improvement which can be incorporated into internal processes.

Manifeste conspirationniste, Parti imaginaire, Comité invisible: a genealogy of radical critique in twenty-first-century France

ABSTRACT When the Manifeste conspirationniste was published in January 2022 it was widely assumed in France that the manifesto was the work of the same anonymous authors responsible for the radical leftist (or, for some, ‘terrorist’) pamphlets attributed variously to Tiqqun, the Parti imaginaire or the Comité invisible. This article explores this authorial hypothesis through a comparative close reading of the Manifeste conspirationniste and key works by the radical collective. The manifesto interprets the Covid pandemic as marking the logical culmination of a biopolitical apparatus that has weaponised everything from consumer electronics to the pharmaceutical industry in paranoid pursuit of the indefinite reproduction of capitalist oligarchy. Likewise, the essays of Tiqqun diagnose the thorough imbrication of military technologies, police and surveillance powers, as well as the entertainment and consumer industries in the development of what they call ‘cybernetic capitalism’. Tiqqun and the Comité invisible argue that, in a system that is dedicated to ever greater transparency (in the interests of the biopolitical disciplining of citizens), any resistance must deliberately seek out ‘zones of opacity’ by cultivating the kind of noise that won’t be recuperated as carnival, or the kind of slowness that can’t simply be rebranded as luxury. This looks forward to the Manifeste conspirationniste’s strategy of conspiracy, subterfuge and insubordination as the necessary response to an ideological apparatus that is unavoidably conspiratorial in its effects, however theoretically benign it may be in intention.

To Africa

Abstract This article examines how one of modern Japanese literature's inaugural texts envisions Japan's geographical self-image. The focus here is on Ukishiro monogatari (Floating Castle) by Meiji statesman Yano Ryūkei (1851–1931). Ukishiro monogatari tells the story of an adventure undertaken by Japanese men with a shared political objective who are diversely skilled in areas such as military expertise, medicine, geography, and technology. They are so dissatisfied with the delay in Japan's territorial expansion that in 1878 they travel to Southeast Asia as the first step in an ambitious attempt to establish Japanese territory in central Africa. By exploring why and how the crew of the Ukishiro heads to Africa, this article argues that the Ukishiro crew's plans take shape in relation to their drive to eschew Japan's status as an island nation (deislandization) and establish Japan as a continent (pseudocontinent).

MOF-derived ZnCo2O4 @ Ti3C2TX nanosheet with high microwave absorption

Abstract Electromagnetic wave absorbing (EWA) materials have a wide application in military technology, so it is necessary to develop EWA materials with lightweight, and wide absorption bandwidth and strong absorption. Novel two-dimensional material (MXene) with high dielectric constant property and unique structure has attracted extensive focus in microwave absorption. However, the high conductivity of MXene limits its application in microwave absorption. In this work, ZnCO2O4 nanoparticles were obtained via a hydrothermal method and subsequent heat treatment. Then it was anchored on MXene nanosheets. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of the ZnCO2O4@Ti3C2Tx is 4.77GHz at 1.5mm thickness. Composites show great potential in the field of designing a new generation of efficient and lightweight microwave absorbers, which are expected to be used in various EWA applications.

The effect of feed mechanisms on the structural design of flexible antennas, and research on their material processing and applications.

Flexible antennas are widely used in mobile communications, the Internet of Things, personalized medicine, aerospace, and military technologies due to their superior performance in terms of adaptability, impact resistance, high degree of freedom, miniaturization of structures, and cost-effectiveness. With excellent flexibility and portability, these antennas are now being integrated into paper, textiles, and even the human body to withstand the various mechanical stresses of daily life without compromising their performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the basic principles and current development of flexible antennas, systematically analyze the key performance factors of flexible antennas, such as structure, process, material, and application environment, and then discuss in detail the design structure, material selection, preparation process, and corresponding experimental validation of flexible antennas. Flexible antenna design in mobile communication, wearable devices, biomedical technology, and other fields in recent years has been emphasized. Finally, the development status of flexible antenna technology is summarized, and its future development trend and research direction are proposed.

Infrared Weak and Small Target Detection Algorithm Based on Deep Learning

Abstract In the infrared imaging scene where the target is at a long distance and the background is cluttered, due to the interference of noise and background texture information, the infrared image is prone to problems such as low contrast between the target and the background, and feature confusion, which makes it difficult to accurately extract and detect the target. To solve this problem, firstly, the infrared image is enhanced by combining DDE and MSR algorithm to improve the contrast and detail visibility of the image. For the RT-DETR network structure, the EMA attention mechanism is introduced into the backbone to enhance the feature extraction ability of the model by extracting context information. The CAMixing convolutional attention module is introduced into CCFM, and the multi-scale convolutional self-attention mechanism is introduced to focus on local information and enhance the detection ability of small targets. The filtering rules of the prediction box are improved, combined with Shape-IoU, and the convergence speed of the loss function in the detection and the detection accuracy of small targets are improved by paying attention to the influence of the intrinsic properties of the bounding box itself on the regression. In the experiment, the infrared weak target image dataset of the National University of Defense Technology was selected, labeled and trained. Experimental results show that compared with the original DETR algorithm, the average precision of the improved algorithm (mAP) is increased by 3.2%, and it can effectively detect infrared weak and small targets in different complex backgrounds, which reflects good robustness and adaptability, and can be effectively applied to infrared weak and small target detection in complex backgrounds.

Iterated rational quadratic kernel - High-order unscented Kalman filtering algorithm for spacecraft tracking

The high-speed development of space defense technology demands a high state estimation capacity for spacecraft tracking methods. However, reentry flight is accompanied by complex flight environments, which brings to the uncertain, complex, and strongly coupled non-Gaussian detection noise. As a result, there are several intractable considerations on the problem of state estimation tasks corrupted by complex non-Gaussian outliers for non-linear dynamics systems in practical application. To address these issues, a new iterated rational quadratic (RQ) kernel high-order unscented Kalman filtering (IRQ-HUKF) algorithm via capturing the statistics to break through the limitations of the Gaussian assumption is proposed. Firstly, the characteristic analysis of the RQ kernel is investigated in detail, which is the first attempt to carry out an exploration of the heavy-tailed characteristic and the ability on capturing high-order moments of the RQ kernel. Subsequently, the RQ kernel method is first introduced into the UKF algorithm as an error optimization criterion, termed the iterated RQ kernel-UKF (RQ-UKF) algorithm by derived analytically, which not only retains the high-order moments propagation process but also enhances the approximation capacity in the non-Gaussian noise problem for its ability in capturing high-order moments and heavy-tailed characteristics. Meanwhile, to tackle the limitations of the Gaussian distribution assumption in the linearization process of the non-linear systems, the high-order Sigma Points (SP) as a subsidiary role in propagating the state high-order statistics is devised by the moments matching method to improve the RQ-UKF. Finally, to further improve the flexibility of the IRQ-HUKF algorithm in practical application, an adaptive kernel parameter is derived analytically grounded in the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) method and parametric sensitivity analysis of the RQ kernel. The simulation results demonstrate that the novel IRQ-HUKF algorithm is more robust and outperforms the existing advanced UKF with respect to the kernel method in reentry vehicle tracking scenarios under various noise environments.

Damage Control Training: A Cross-sectional Survey of Health care Personnel of French Emergency Medicine Structures.

Terrorist threats are a worldwide phenomenon. The injuries caused with military weapons or explosives are multiple and unusual for civilian care services. Damage control (DC) training has then become a critical need. In response to the November 2015 attacks, the French authorities launched a national DC training campaign for emergency care personnel. The aim was to describe the implementation of DC training campaign and its perception according to the respondent's profession, DC teaching levels, and the history of terrorist attacks in the last decade of the hospital center's activities. A survey was distributed to all Casualty Department staff in France. The answers were collected between June 9, 2020 and July 22, 2020. The project was qualified as not involving humans and participation was on voluntary basis. The study is out of the French Jardé law. Two-thirds of the 1,525 respondents considered themselves trained in DC (emergency physicians [76.8%], nurse anesthetists [68.1%], and ambulance drivers [65.3%]). Less than half considered their theoretical (41.1%) and practical (44.7%) knowledge excellent or good. More than 95% of the untrained personnel wanted to receive this type of training. Trained personnel were in favor of annual refresher training (95.7%) and training for practical applications (95.1%). Personnel at teaching centers were more frequently trained than personnel at nonteaching centers (respectively 75.3% and 64.3%, P < .0001) and had applied their knowledge significantly more often (50.1% vs. 43.4%, P = .038). They often considered their knowledge to be excellent (respectively 50.8% vs. 42.4%, P = .064). The training of emergency personnel in DC is far from being generalized in France. Among the trained personnel, it was often deemed insufficient, in theory and in practice. There was an inequity of training in favor of those in teaching centers. It is therefore essential that training in DC techniques in France be continued, generalized, improved, and standardized throughout the country in order to guarantee an optimal response from the health care systems in the event of new terrorist attacks.

Microstructure evolution and property characteristics in hot-pressed Mo-W-Cu refractory functional alloys with varying tungsten content

Mo-W-Cu refractory functional alloys (RFAs), combining property advantages of MoCu and WCu alloys, have great application potential in microelectronics, aerospace technology, and military equipment due to their excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, low coefficient of thermal expansion, and high-temperature properties. W content in the alloy is a key factor influencing these properties. However, there is a lack of systematic investigation on the microstructure and properties of hot pressing (HP) processed Mo-W-Cu RFAs with different W contents these days. In this study, Mo-W-20Cu alloys with varying W content of 0–50 wt% RFAs are prepared by mechanical activation (MA) followed by hot pressing. The effect of W content on the microstructure and properties of the alloy is investigated in detail. The results show that all Mo-W-Cu RFAs mainly consist of Mo phase, W phase, and Cu phase after adding W. The microstructure observation shows that the Cu powder particles undergo a plastic deformation during the HP processing, resulting in the closure of the pores and the good metallurgical bonding with Mo phase and W phase at a relatively low temperature. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) determination indicates that the MoCu phase interface and that of WCu both possess a semi-coherent structure. The property measurements demonstrate that the electrical and thermal conductivity properties of Mo-W-Cu RFAs continuously increase with W content rising while the relative densities of all the alloys are over 94 %. This study can provide a valuable theoretical and technological guidance for the investigation on preparation, microstructure, and properties of high-performance RFAs.

The implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on cybersecurity: A detailed review for multidomain industry

Cyber threats are becoming increasingly complicated and diverse, posing serious risks to individuals, businesses, and organizations in the cybersecurity sector. The cybersecurity industry needs to change to combat these new dangers as cybercriminals are always coming up with new ways to get past protections. This paper investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) may both simplify and improve cybersecurity efforts. AI has transformed the industry by offering cutting-edge defensive technologies, but it also gives cybercriminals new tools at their disposal to automate and enhance their hacking methods. The effect of AI on authentication procedures—which are crucial for protecting network access—is given special attention. This paper emphasizes the critical need for creative remedies to defend against more complex cyberattacks by examining the dual nature of AI in cybersecurity.

Russia in the system of functioning models of the modern world market for arms and military equipment

In the context of modern geopolitical conflicts, which have led to complications in the international trade and investment cooperation between countries, there are serious changes in the positions of states in the global export of arms and military equipment (hereinafter referred to as AME). Structural transformations in the international exchange of the AME are also conditioned by the clash of economic interests of individual countries due to globalisation of recent decades as well as by the use of various models of production and export of the AME at the national level. As shown in our article, states of the world are seriously differentiated in their own production of the AME according to the degree of their dependence on imports and foreign suppliers of components and technologies. The fact that countries can be advanced participants in the technological chain or be niche suppliers determines new directions for their international specialisation and, largely, the rules and nature of competition in the modern AME market. As part of the presented analysis of the national specialisation models of states, the competitive advantages and weaknesses of Russia as one of the leading arms exporters in the world are shown. At the same time, the foreign policy and economic risks of strengthening its position in the global AME trade have been assessed. Based on the results of the study, directions for reinforcing the potential of the Russian military-industrial complex in the world AME market have been formulated.

Effect of Pouring Temperature Variation on Cooling Rate, Hardness and Microstructure of Al-Zn in Aircraft Structures

Al-Zn alloys are widely utilized in industries such as automotive, aircraft manufacturing, and advanced military equipment due to their exceptional strength-to-weight ratio. Among various fabrication methods, metal casting is a commonly used technique for producing structural components from these alloys. However, a significant challenge with metal casting is the reduction in mechanical properties compared to the base material before melting. This reduction highlights the need for research to identify the optimal casting conditions, particularly the casting temperature, which plays a crucial role in maintaining and potentially enhancing the material's mechanical properties. Aluminum alloy 7075, known for its high strength, was selected for investigation. According to the Al-Zn phase diagram, the melting point of aluminum alloy 7075, based on the weight percentage specified by the Standard Aluminum Association, is approximately 660°C. Experiments were conducted by varying the pouring temperature during casting in 30°C increments above this melting point. Specifically, the alloy was melted and cast at three different temperatures: 690°C, 720°C, and 750°C. The mold temperature was consistently maintained at 220°C to isolate the effects of the pouring temperature. Results indicate that increasing the casting temperature significantly affects the alloy's microstructure and mechanical properties. As the casting temperature increases, the cooling rate decreases, leading to a finer grain structure. This finer grain size directly contributes to an increase in hardness, suggesting that higher casting temperatures can enhance the mechanical properties of Al-Zn alloys. These findings emphasize the importance of precise control over casting temperatures to optimize the performance characteristics of aluminum alloy 7075 in high-strength applications.

SpecRep: Adversary Emulation Based on Attack Objective Specification in Heterogeneous Infrastructures.

Cybercriminals have become an imperative threat because they target the most valuable resource on earth, data. Organizations prepare against cyber attacks by creating Cyber Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) that use various technologies to monitor and detect threats and to help perform forensics on machines and networks. Testing the limits of defense technologies and the skill of a CSIRT can be performed through adversary emulation performed by so-called "red teams". The red team's work is primarily manual and requires high skill. We propose SpecRep, a system to ease the testing of the detection capabilities of defenses in complex, heterogeneous infrastructures. SpecRep uses previously known attack specifications to construct attack scenarios based on attacker objectives instead of the traditional attack graphs or a list of actions. We create a metalanguage to describe objectives to be achieved in an attack together with a compiler that can build multiple attack scenarios that achieve the objectives. We use text processing tools aided by large language models to extract information from freely available white papers and convert them to plausible attack specifications that can then be emulated by SpecRep. We show how our system can emulate attacks against a smart home, a large enterprise, and an industrial control system.

Inf-OSRGAN: Optimized Blind Super-Resolution GAN for Infrared Images

With the widespread application of infrared technology in military, security, medical, and other fields, the demand for high-definition infrared images has been increasing. However, the complexity of the noise introduced during the imaging process and high acquisition costs limit the scope of research on super-resolution algorithms for infrared images, particularly when compared to the visible light domain. Furthermore, the lack of high-quality infrared image datasets poses challenges in algorithm design and evaluation. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an optimized super-resolution algorithm for infrared images. Firstly, we construct an infrared image super-resolution dataset, which serves as a robust foundation for algorithm design and rigorous evaluation. Secondly, in the degradation process, we introduce a gate mechanism and random shuffle to enrich the degradation space and more comprehensively simulate the real-world degradation of infrared images. We train an RRDBNet super-resolution generator integrating the aforementioned degradation model. Additionally, we incorporate spatially correlative loss to leverage spatial–structural information, thereby enhancing detail preservation and reconstruction in the super-resolution algorithm. Through experiments and evaluations, our method achieved considerable performance improvements in the infrared image super-resolution task. Compared to traditional methods, our method was able to better restore the details and clarity of infrared images.

Recent Advances in Graphene Adaptive Thermal Camouflage Devices.

Thermal camouflage is a highly coveted technology aimed at enhancing the survivability of military equipment against infrared (IR) detectors. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have shown low IR emissivity, widely tunable opto-electronic properties, and compatibility with stealth applications. Among these, graphene and graphene-like materials are the most appealing 2D materials for thermal camouflage applications. In multilayer graphene (MLG), charge density can be effectively tuned through sufficiently intense electric fields or through electrolytic gating. Therefore, MLG's optical properties, like infrared emissivity and absorbance, can be controlled in a wide range by voltage bias. The large emissivity modulation achievable with this material makes it suitable in the design of thermal dynamic camouflage devices. Generally, the emissivity modulation in the multilayered graphene medium is governed by an intercalation process of non-volatile ionic liquids under a voltage bias. The electrically driven reduction of emissivity lowers the apparent temperature of a surface, aligning it with the background temperature to achieve thermal camouflage. This characteristic is shared by other graphene-based materials. In this review, we focus on recent advancements in the thermal camouflage properties of graphene in composite films and aerogel structures. We provide a summary of the current understanding of how thermal camouflage materials work, their present limitations, and future opportunities for development.

Study of the dynamic impact spalling of ductile materials based on Gurson-type phase-field model

The formation of void damage and spalling failure in ductile metallic materials under strong impact is a well-established phenomenon. In aerospace and defense technology engineering design, understanding the spalling failure process and related mechanisms is of utmost importance. This paper develops an explicit Gurson-type phase-field model that can simulate the void evolution and spalling damage of three-dimensional ductile metallic materials under high-velocity impacts based on the study of Aldakheel et al.. The model incorporates the Gurson-type void evolution equation and the phase-field approach while taking into account the pressure-dependent bulk modulus and inertia effects. This model is used to study the main processes and mechanisms of impacted layer cracking of metals in different dimensions. Meanwhile based on the study of complex spallation cracking processes in metals in two and three dimensions, observing and proposing the formation mechanism of complex spallation cracking modes in materials due to lateral and edge (base angle) rarefied effects.

“Chasing Queers with Cameras”: Objects, a “Prosthetic Man,” and the Impotent Witnessing of War in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

This paper approaches Shehan Karunatilaka’s novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida as a tongue-in-cheek queer reimagining of Sri Lanka’s bloody 1980s when the government battled Tamil militant groups as well as an armed insurgency in the south. This queer revision is filtered through dysfunctional things. Dead and amnesiac, the protagonist recalls the chain of events as it is reconstituted by broken cameras, blurry photographs, accessories with slippery meanings, and repurposed sports and military equipment. Positing that dysfunctional objects are related to queer positionality and mediate the retelling, I explore their role in producing a satirical queer fictional war history. I argue that objects, in terms of how they symbolize witnessing war, enact impotent witnessing, a conceit discursively premised on the Sinhala queerphobic/transphobic insult ponnaya, which signifies male queerness and/or impotence, including political impotence. Objects make a virtue of impotence when producing a satirical war record, probing whether a queer war photographer has the prerogative to bear witness to human rights violations and atrocities from his subaltern position. The paper finds that objects’ impotent witnessing metaphorically depicts some silenced and non-hegemonic voices from the 1980s war history, reflecting a politics of foregrounding delegitimized and non-normative accounts of that time.