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Volume 02 Issue 03 - Fall 2019

  • Published
  • Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, Air University Press, Maxwell AFB
  • ARTICLES
  • Australian forces

    Russia, South Asia, and the United States

    A New Great Game?

    Dr. Stephen F. Burgess, US Air War College
    Russia will continue to struggle to regain the level of influence in South Asia that its predecessor, the Soviet Union, had in the 1980s—before it retreated from Afghanistan and before the Central Asian republics gained independence, geographically separating the fledgling Russian Federation from the subcontinent. While Russia has been resurgent in parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has succeeded in creating divisions among NATO members and degrading the Western alliance to a limited extent, the power structure in most of Asia has changed to such an extent that Russia’s reach and influence are limited and will remain so, especially in South Asia.

  • Local and international media outlets film a US Air Force sensor operator inside the 16th Training Squadron MQ-1/MQ-9 simulator at Holloman AFB, which served as a training base for crews of the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper.

    Airmen and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

    The Danger of Generalization

    Drs. Natalia Jevglevskaja and Jai Galliott, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy
    The present inquiry is motivated foremost by continuous developments in technology. As military systems incorporate ever more elements of autonomy, it is essential to assess their potential to become successfully integrated in existing force structures. Given that a human operator is projected to remain a central element of such systems, the success of the integration process is squarely dependent on how humans will adapt to increasing automation. While current unmanned aerial vehicles have only limited autonomous functionality, they nonetheless offer the only example of some of the most technologically advanced systems that have tested human capacity to adapt and where the experience of adaptation has been described by the users of such systems.

  • Trump visits Yokota Air Base, Japan. Pres. Donald J. Trump greets Lt Gen Jerry P. Martinez, US Forces Japan and 5th Air Force commander, during a Troop Talk, 5 November 2017, at Yokota Air Base, Japan. During his talk, Trump highlighted the importance of the US–Japan alliance in the Indo-Pacific.

    Japan and the Nuclear Challenge in a New Era of Rising Tensions

    Balancing between Disarmament and Deterrence

    Dr. Sayuri Romei, Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA
    This article will first examine how Japanese officials and experts have perceived the US security guarantee to their country and the nuclear component of extended deterrence. Subsequently, it will discuss the obstacles that Japan faces to balance the two goals of its nuclear policy. Lastly, it will study how Japan can contribute to the creation of a more favorable regional environment for nuclear disarmament and ensure that the disarmament side of the country’s policy does not remain neglected.  

  • The number of ceasefire violations (CFV) between India and Pakistan has risen dramatically over the past few years. While the increased number of CFVs are a result of the heightened tensions between the two rivals, none of these CFVs has escalated to a full-blown militarized conflict or war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

    Cooperative Rivalry

    Understanding Indo-Pakistani Ties Using Treaty Networks

    Dr. Michael O. Slobodchikoff (Troy University) and Dr. Aakriti A. Tandon (Daemen College)
    The number of ceasefire violations (CFV) between India and Pakistan has risen dramatically over the past few years. While the increased number of CFVs are a result of the heightened tensions between the two rivals, none of these CFVs has escalated to a full-blown militarized conflict or war between the nuclear-armed neighbors. An analysis of CFVs provides an incomplete picture of Indo-Pakistani relations. The bilateral treaties between India and Pakistan are also important indicators of the status of their relationship. This article argues that the increased levels of cooperation through treaties and the use of treaty nesting in their relationship may be serving a conflict management function by preventing CFVs from escalating into militarized conflict.

  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Nomonhan 1939: The Red Army’s Victory that Shaped World War II

    Nomonhan 1939: The Red Army’s Victory that Shaped World War II

    by Stuart D. Goldman. Annapolois, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012
    Reviewed by H. Allen Skinner 

    The beginnings of Nomonhan 1939 came about during Stuart Goldman’s time as a graduate student, when he noticed a connection between the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact of August 1939 and the Khalkhin Gol (Nomonhan) conflict. After graduate school, Goldman enjoyed a rewarding career in academia, culminating with his work as a research specialist at the Library of Congress. Goldman made profitable use of his spare time during those years to continue research on the Nomonhan campaign, and the end result is an excellent book that ties the military history of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border war of 1939 to the broader military and diplomatic history of World War II. 

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed or implied in JIPA are those of the authors and should not be construed as carrying the official sanction of the Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, Air University, or other agencies or departments of the US government or their international equivalents. See our Publication Ethics Statement.