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Studiengruppe Alternative Sicherheitspolitik
(Study Group on Alternative Security Policy)
Publications


A Note on the State of Israel, Dr. Lutz Unterseher, November 2007. Focuses on selected aspects of Israel's military security. It looks at the basic pattern of this country's recent war, against Hezbollah in 2006, and attempts to give a sketch of the problems affecting Israel's military position today. In addition to objective factors, the subjective side has been considered too: in the form of impressions gained in casual conversations with Israeli citizens. In English

A Few Thoughts on the Evolution of Infantry: Past, Present, Future, Dr. Lutz Unterseher, May 2006. Subduing resistance and guarding the peace in modern interventions requires high quality infantry, but it is erroneous to think the job could be done by elite SOF forces, because there can never be enough of these. The vast majority of the all-volunteer armies in the industrial West face a problem when it comes to attracting sufficient personnel: relatively few recruits are good enough to receive the more demanding training needed -- creating a dilemma that has rarely been addressed and one that certainly is yet to be solved by today's armies. In English

Die Europäische Union: Stolpersteine auf dem Weg zur Integration (The European Union: Stumbling Blocks on the Road to Integration), Dr. Lutz Unterseher, May 2006. The EU is entering a sustained period of conflict-prone development with grossly different paths of adjustment and modernization stimulating constant fighting for a redistribution of notoriously scarce central resources. If Europe does not want to fall back onto the level of a mere free-trade arrangement, if it intends to become a unified actor in the international arena that transcends the role of just an economic bloc and is also capable of generating and executing global policies with respect to the environment, security and other issues, there is no alternative to an 'open-club régime'. In German with English abstract.

Mechanized Tube Artillery as an Integral Element of Expeditionary Forces, Dr. Lutz Unterseher, May 2006. In seeking improved strategic mobility of indirect fire assets nations are advised to trade on tactical performance with care. In English

Saving General Shinseki: on the future of wheeled armor., Dr. Lutz Unterseher, February 2004. Presents the specifications for a 'hybrid' combat vehicle featuring: considerable, versatile firepower (kinetic energy and fragmentation) without the weight penalty of a main gun system; a high degree of crew protection; better strategic mobility than current tracked armor; superior operational mobility; and acceptable tactical mobility. In English

European Armed Forces of Tomorrow: A New Perspective., Dr. Lutz Unterseher, 20 October 2003. Models an integrated European Armed Forces. Details the conceptual framework, strategic orientation, key functions, posture, resources, personnel, and budget of a viable all European force, as a complement to a foreign policy of reconciliation. In English

German Defense Spending: Insufficient Adjustment. PDA Guest Publication, Dr. Lutz Unterseher, February 2002. This reports and the next review recent German defense planning with attention to the difficulty of reconciling personnel and force modernization goals within the budget constraints imposed by the process of currency integration in the UE. It also assesses the effect of the Bundeswehr's new emphasis on power projection on German defense budgeting and planning. In English

German Defense Planning: In a Crucial Phase, by Dr. Lutz Unterseher, October 2001. These two reports review recent German defense planning with attention to the difficulty of reconciling personnel and force modernization goals within the budget constraints imposed by the process of currency integration in the UE. It also assesses the effect of the Bundeswehr's new emphasis on power projection on German defense budgeting and planning. In English

Rotocraft for War: Descending on a Military Dilemma, by Dr. Lutz Unterseher, PDA Briefing Memo #19, May 2001. Offers a critical assessment of the value of combat helicopters in modern war with examination of the technical characteristics and limits of combat helicopters, the doctrine for their use, and issues of cost. Case studies include the Gulf War, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. In English

Wheels or Tracks? On the "Lightness" of Military Expeditions, by Dr. Lutz Unterseher , July 2000. Can the U.S. Army achieve its vision of a "full-spectrum" ground force riding entirely on wheeled vehicles? This paper examines the key technical and tactical issues and reviews the history of the "wheels vs. tracks" debate, looking both at international experience and recent technological developments. In English

Europe's Armed Forces at the Millennium: A Case Study of Change in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, by Dr. Lutz Unterseher, December, 1999. Many European nations are currently re-thinking their post-Cold War military requirements in light of NATO's new strategic concept and the experience of the Kosovo war. This article analyzes the process of defense restructuring and modernization in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In each case, it offers an overview of current military posture and closely examines the plans for change in force structure, equipment procurement, and personnel policies. The article also attends to various constraints on defense planning, including military traditions, economic conditions, and domestic politics. It concludes that current plans lack sufficient strategic clarity and also suffer from a number of incongruities or "mismatches" -- for instance, between missions, planned structures, and available resources. In English

Interventionism Reconsidered: Reconciling Military Action With Political Stability, by Dr. Lutz Unterseher, September, 1999. When troops trained, structured, and equipped for traditional peacekeeping are employed in missions such as the protection of humanitarian sanctuaries and convoys under acute threat they are not prepared for forceful measures sufficient to deal with and discourage military challenges. This paper discusses what would constitute "adequacy" of force that does not have a character or magnitude that compromises the primacy of political conflict resolution. A revised version of a paper contributed to a 1999 workshop held at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Philosophy and Public Issues on the topic, "The Ethics of Armed Intervention." In English

On the Threshold of Change: South African Defence Review reflects the continuing struggle to define a military policy for the new era, by Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Lutz Unterseher. This commentary reviews the findings of the draft South African Defence Review (SADR) -- Report on Posture, released in October 1996. Although the SADR represents an important advance in the new democratic control of the South African military, it has a number of shortcomings in assessing policy objectives, design directives and force requirements and design. In English

Building Confidence into the Security of Southern Africa, by Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Lutz Unterseher, July 1996, revised November 1996. This report offers guidelines for the development of co-operative regional security and specifies a South African defence posture that would support and encourage co-operation. Includes a detailed SANDF force structure proposal with particular relevance to the current Defence Review process in South Africa. In English

Defensive Restructuring in the Successor States of the former-Yugoslavia, by Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Lutz Unterseher, March 1996. This report offers an alternative to attempting to "balance" the arms in the former-Yugoslavia with transfers and military aid, instead illustrating the restructuring of the regions militaries toward greater stability with "mutual defensive superiority." This study was initiated at the request of former-Ambassador Jonathan Dean who serves on PDA's Research Advisory Board. In English

Defensive Military Structure in Action: Historical Examples, by Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Lutz Unterseher, May 1994. This article examines three major cases in the last sixty years where defensive preparations, structures, and tactics were of decisive importance in major military operations. Originally published in Confidence-Building Defense: A Comprehensive Approach to Security & Stability in the New Era, Study Group on Alternative Security Policy and Project on Defense Alternatives. In English

Toward Defensive Restructuring in the Middle East, by Carl Conetta, Charles Knight and Lutz Unterseher, February 1991. This paper examines the character of recent military conflict in the Middle East and outlines a nonoffensive defense posture for nations in the region. It also draws the implications of such a posture for arms transfers and arms control policy. An appendix reviews the pertinent lessons of the 1990-91 Gulf War. In English

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