Aviation Commons^™

Mcmaster's Master Work On Geopolitics And The Future Of America: A Review Of Battlegrounds: The Fight To Defend The Free World (Ny: Harpercollins, 2020), Noah Grady

Space and Defense

Student Voice

In his most well-known work, Vom Kriege, Carl von Clausewitz suggested war is a continuation of policy. He proposed governments primarily use warfighting to achieve political ends. Since America's independence in 1776, geopolitics have shaped the nature of America's conflicts overseas. In the last century, the U.S. endured several different geopolitical phases. Despite Woodrow Wilson's reelection slogan, "He kept us out of war," America involved itself in an eruption of imperial interests in Europe during the Great War. Two decades after the First World War, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Naval Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor. President …

Efficacy Of The National Security Innovation Network's Hacking / Designing For Defense Programs, Max Di Lalla

Space and Defense

Student Voices

The National Security Innovation Network requires further reform to achieve its hope for long-term effects on defense innovation.

The National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) was crated in 2016 after a rebranding of the MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator and is actively changed with the mission to "build networks of innovators that generated new solutions to national security problems." NSIN is just one of the plethora of government organizations tasked with some form of "innovation." As the world begins to change and the United States no longer enjoys a period of unrivaled growth and security, government, military, and private …

Climate Change As A Dangerous Accelerant Of Mass Atrocity, Jesse Jenkins

Space and Defense

Student Voices

Investigating potential connections between mass atrocity and climate change reveals that the vulnerability of food systems may be valuable predictive factor in understanding which states will respond to climate change with violence.

An ongoing study by Dr. John Riley and Lt Col. William Atkins shows that strong states tend to be able to cope well with the effects of climate change and not turn to violence. They also argue that the weakest states are already broken and on the path of committing a mass atrocity regardless of the effects of climate change. This leave a middle section of …

No Method To Madness: The Failures Of Madman Diplomacy In All Its Forms, Henry Gilchrist

Space and Defense

Student Voices

Madman diplomacy fails to work as advertised. Internal contradiction of the strategy in it s ideal form reduce the chances it will succeed in future crises.

Effective deterrence requires an actor to pair powerful capabilities with a believable will to use them. The world of United States' dominance has relegated the question of will to the periphery. However, the U.S. is emerging from its hegemony with enough self-awareness to acknowledge the painful consequences of this relegation. Democratic restraint has historically played an important role in nuclear deterrence for obvious reasons, and the issue of will deficit is not …

Boosting Space Diplomacy At State, David A. Epstein

Space and Defense

Notes from the Field:

Space diplomacy remains an esoteric specialty of State.

With ever-increasing speed, humanity is expanding the scope of its activities in outer space, thanks to private enterprise as well as via national pursuits. In the last two years alone, for example, the number of active and defunct satellites in lower Earth orbit has increase by more than 50 percent, to around 5,000, with plans to add tens of thousands more in the coming years. Equally surprising, these satellites are owned and operated by nearly 100 difference countries and organizations around the world - no just the small …

Contextualizing Russia's Hypersonic Threat: Perceptions, Motivations, And Strategic Stability., Jeffery D. Taylor

Space and Defense

Rather than specific military objectives in Europe, Russian hypersonic missile development manifests deep-rooted perceptions of the United States and NATO undermining strategic through missile defense.

Future Directions For Great Power Nuclear Arms Control, T. Justin Bronder

Space and Defense

Extending the current New START regime can help maintain traditional strategic stability; however, such an approach fails to address destabilizing trends related to non-nuclear strategic technologies and China's expanding forces.

Arms control in the nuclear age has proved a useful tool of national security, meeting ends as diverse as reducing the risks of nuclear war to channeling strategic competition. Yet recent trends indicate arms control may be at an inflection point; the suitability of this tool in general and the viability of securing new agreements specifically are both unclear. The New Strategic Arms reduction Treaty (New START) extension somewhat reverses …

Editor's Note Vol. 13 No. 1, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

Editor's Note

Table Of Contents Vol. 13 No. 1, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Vol. 13 No. 1, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Notes For Contributors, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Spies, Lies, And Algorithms: The History And Future Of American Intelligence, Claire Benedix

Space and Defense

The security environment is entering a new threat landscape; one that must be fought in both the physical and virtual world. The seemingly instantaneous progress of digitization and the cyberspace domain threatens to destabilize traditional warfare strategies and intelligence norms. Amy Zegart, an American academic and leading national security expert, outlines the history and future of American intelligence with a specific emphasis on emerging cyber threats in the digital age. In Spies, Lies, and Algorithms, Zegart explains the roles of technological breakthroughs in a world of big data by chronicling the history of intelligence education and organizational reform, the evolution …

Communicating Deterrence Thresholds In Cyberspace Through Global Normas, Leila Yanni

Space and Defense

Student Contribution.

Cyberspace refers to a purely virtual arena that has become increasingly relevant in the past few years, as countries develop more cyber weapons and carry out more cyber attacks. The cyber domain has a large scope because of its virtual nature, and it has a high potential threat level as the full impact of cyber capabilities are not even understood yet. As the possibilities for destructive cyber weapons are virtually endless, the threats are also virtually endless. Because of the growing relevance of cyberspace and the high danger level, deterrence thresholds are a pressing issue in this domain. …

Us Blindness To Russian, Chinese Cultural Motives Risks Nuclear Escalation And Ill-Fit Response, Ryan C. Bushman

Space and Defense

Student Contribution.

This paper was authored prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the publication of the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review.

The United States has taken numerous miscalculated steps with respect to foreign and nuclear policy based on an incomplete understanding of the motives of both China and Russia. This is, in part, due to a failure to acknowledge these nations' strategic culture - an enduring system of values that influence a nation's use of military force. As the US is about to put forth its 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), it is critical that future responses to …

Keynote Address: Dr. Kori Schake, Kori Schake

Space and Defense

2022 United Sates Strategic Command Academic Alliance Conference and Workshop, Mark 30-April 1, 2022, Conducted via Zoom

Addressing The American Approach To Emerging Technologies: Utilizing The Ai Arms Race To Highlight The Need To Develop Public-Private Partnerships In C4isr And 5g, Hugh Harsono, Nicholas Ondovcsik

Space and Defense

he world of emerging technologies has changed countries' access and placement to these digital enablement tools of the future, with blockchain, decentralization, and a myriad of other compounding technologies accelerating the pace of development and growth combining the physical and the digital world. Historically, America's Silicon Valley has led the world's development of new technologies, particularly during the latter part of the digital revolution. In contrast, China focused on enhancing its manufacturing capabilities, becoming a world leader by capitalizing on the ever-connected world and leveraging its economic prowess. These roles became reversed in the early-2000s,1 when China first surpassed the …

Technology: The Air And Space Force's Barrier To Innovation, William F. Cosgrove

Space and Defense

The Department of Defense is a rank-and-file institution that values orders adherence and a zero-error mentality, which has led commanders to be risk averse. This is exemplified in the cybersecurity realm, with controls attempting to protect all information, including uncontrolled unclassified information. Efforts that attempt to employ a new or different type of information technology are made very difficult by a number of existing policies. Additionally, customer surveys, service initiatives, and open user complaints have revealed dissatisfaction with Department of the Air Force (DAF) IT services. The millennial and post-millennial generations are the most technologically adept, yet the majority of …

A Great Nuclear Rejuvenation: What China Can Do With An Expanded Nuclear Arsenal, Grant Van Robays, Chloe Reynolds, Will Jackson, Tom Hammerle

Space and Defense

China's hypersonic glide vehicle test in October 2021 prompted widespread concern in the general public and within the defense intelligence community. General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the test was "very close" to a Sputnik moment.1 More than mere power projection by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Chinese Communist Party ( CCP), the hypersonic test is an exemplification of rapid advancements in Chinese strategic nuclear forces writ large. Improved nuclear weapons capabilities will offer Beijing greater leverage in regional and international disputes with an increased capacity to coerce and compel adversaries into …

Editor's Note, Michelle Black

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

Table of contents for Volume 14 issue 1 of Space and Defense

Front Matter, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Stafford Collection Review, The Conservation Center, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Library Grants

This report evaluating the Thomas P. Stafford Collection has been made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Plastics Collection Reference Packet, Special Collections Research Center

Special Collections Research Center

This reference packet is an informational tool to support further research into the history of plastics—whether interested in companies, individuals within the plastics industry's history, historical plastics materials, essays, and more. All content featured within this packet was previously published on the former plastics.syr.edu website as part of a Syracuse University Libraries and Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) partnership established in 2007 with the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA)—an association of plastics industry professionals interested in preserving the plastics industry's past.

Developing Systems Engineering And Machine Learning Frameworks For The Improvement Of Aviation Maintenance, Fatine Elakramine

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops systems engineering and machine learning models for aviation maintenance support. With the constant increase in demand for air travel, aviation organizations compete to maintain airworthy aircraft to ensure the safety of passengers. Given the importance of aircraft safety, the aviation sector constantly needs technologies to enhance the maintenance experience, ensure system safety, and limit aircraft downtime. Based on the current literature, the aviation maintenance sector still relies on outdated technologies to maintain aircraft maintenance documentation, including paper-based technical orders. Aviation maintenance documentation contains a mixture of structured and unstructured technical text, mainly inputted by operators, making them …

Simulating Dielectric Barrier Plasma Actuators With Varying Geometries, Cass Wiederkehr

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The idea of Ionic Wind Propulsion has long been a topic of research for whether or not it can be used as a practical power source for flight. MIT researchers proved in 2018 that a plane with zero moving parts powered by Ionic Wind Propulsion was possible, and sustained flight could work with an internal power supply. However, due to the thin wire electrodes required to generate the ion cloud that made such propulsion possible, large amounts of drag rendered the plane extremely inefficient and impractical. Dielectric Barrier Discharge Devices (DBDs) are being investigated as to whether they can serve …

Innovation For The Air: A Brief History Of Worldwide Aviation, Lauren Plumley

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The purpose of this report is to present a brief but comprehensive overview of the variety of innovations related to aviation, and to discuss their impact on scientific progress over the course of human history. Relevant discoveries from the fields of physics and aerodynamics, and the numerous technologies built based upon these discoveries, are discussed over a period ranging from ancient times to the twenty-first century. The scope of this report is an overview of the development of powered and unpowered aircraft, including lighter-than-air, heavier-than-air, and aerospace technologies. Aviation developments were generally not limited to one specific country or person, …

Design And Implementation Of High-Efficiency, Lightweight, System-Friendly Solid-State Circuit Breaker, Dehao Qin

All Dissertations

Direct current (DC) distribution system has shown potential over the alternative current (AC) distribution system in some application scenarios, e.g., electrified transportation, renewable energy, data center, etc. Because of the fast response speed, DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) becomes a promising technology for the future power electronics intensive DC energy system with fault-tolerant capability. First, a thorough literature survey is performed to review the DC-SSCB technology. The key components for DC-SSCB, including power semiconductors, topologies, energy absorption units, and fault detection circuits, are studied. It is observed that the prior studies mainly focus on the basic interruption capability of the …

Mask-On Breathing Awareness Trainer (Mobat), Robert Larson, Yuzhong Shen

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Currently there is no low-cost solution to teach large quantities of Naval Aviators on how to correctly breath on an oxygen mask. This report will discuss the design and implementation of a mask-on breathing apparatus for use with United States Naval Aircrew for initial and annual familiarization. With the current uptick in physiological episodes within the naval aviation enterprise, there has been a need to find solutions to this problem. Currently when a naval aircrew is trained in aviation physiological threats, they do so with normobaric hypoxia tools in the form of the 9A19 Normobaric Hypoxia Trainer for aircrew who …

Loss Of Control In-Flight (Loc-I): A Mixed Methods Study Of Voluntary Versus Mandatory Reports From The United States Of America, Roger Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Loss of control in flight (LOC-I) is one of modern aviation’s three most prominent fatal accidents. In the United States, air accidents are mandatorily reported to and investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Established in 1976, the Air Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is a voluntary safety reporting (VSR) system administered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Over 1.7 million ASRS reports have been processed to date. While the NTSB system handles LOC-I accidents, less severe incidents may have been reported voluntarily through the ASRS.

Safety reporting has been deemed the most valuable activity and the centerpiece …

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Operator Workload And Situation Awareness Utilizing First Person View Techniques, Ross Lucas Stephenson Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) sector within the aviation industry is experiencing unprecedented growth. However, the regulatory guidance for the safe integration of sUAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) has not kept pace with this technological growth within the market. Current regulatory limitations of line-of-sight operations may have an impact on the establishment of an equivalent level of safety for sUAS operations as maintained by manned aircraft. The focal point of the discussion of line-of-sight operations has been the ability of the sUAS pilot to see and avoid all obstacles and other aircraft in a safe and timely …