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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Weapons & equipment > General
This book constitutes a multidisciplinary introduction to the
analysis of air defence systems. It supplies the tools to carry out
independent analysis. Individual sections deal with threat
missions, observability, manoeuvrability and vulnerability. With
the support of several examples, the text illustrates 12 air
defence process models. These models form the foundation for any
air defence system analysis, covering initial detection to kill
assessment.
The author, a historian and former Swiss Armoured Corp officer,
uses primary documents to describe tank tactics during the first
two years of World War II, a period in which armour was employed in
the Polish, Western and Russian campaigns. The first year of
'Operation Barbarossa' is examined in great detail using the files
of the second Panzer Army whose commander, Guderian, who has been
called the father of the German armoured force.
This book offers theoretical analysis on the context and on the
dual function of military technology, as well as case studies on
the third generation of nuclear weapons, on the Biological Weapons
Convention Review Conference, on the driving forces of chemical
armament and on the military use of nuclear energy as a possible
propellant for bombers and in outer space. Five chapters written by
three physicists from the USA, USSR and UK and two peace
researchers from Japan and West Germany focus on SDI: its technical
foundations, consequences for strategic stability and war as well
as on its contradictions and on a case of armament dynamics theory.
The book concludes with three chapters on the implications of the
military use of outer space for international law from a Western,
an Eastern and a Third World perspective, with views from West
Germany, Hungary and Barbados, respectively.
"When Virgil sang of arms and the man, words like ""smart"" and
""friendly"" characterized the warrior, not his weapons. Today,
because of modern technology, these terms are more often used to
describe the machine than the man. Dramatic advances have spawned a
generation of weapon systems designed to tell friend from foe, to
stalk the enemy with precision and stealth, and to destroy him with
unprecedented efficiency. But can ordinary Americans operate and
support these advanced systems, or have emerging technologies
pushed military hardware beyond the capabilities of the people the
armed forces can expect to attract and retain? How can the military
better match weapons and skills? Martin Binkin looks at the complex
issues from several angles, starting with skill levels and jobs in
today's military. He profiles America's arsenal in the 1990s and
examines the implications of electronic warfare for manpower needs.
Links among hardware complexity, reliability, and maintenance are
unraveled, and current demographic trends traced. The study
assesses various policy options available to hedge against the
possibility that the military could become squeezed between growing
demands for technologically adept people and a declining supply of
recruits. Among these are efforts to design simpler systems with
more reliable engineering techniques. Binkin reviews ways to make
weapons easier to maintain, stressing component accessibility,
technical documentation, and automated diagnostics. He covers the
use of advanced technology to prepare people to handle new systems.
Finally, he discusses the principal manpower management
alternatives-expanding the role of women, substituting civilians,
retaining more personnel, and returning to conscription. "
So little is known about the weapons, uniforms and living
conditions of World War II Japanese soldiers (Heitai), these almost
undisputed conquerors who operated throughout East Asia during the
conflict. Through this magnificently illustrated book, the reader
can finally have a glimpse into the personal possessions of the
soldiers of the Imperial Army. Drawing upon an impressive
collection - carefully preserved through the decades - every aspect
of an Heitai's daily existence is detailed with beautiful photos
accompanied by a description. All items are classified, from
weapons to clothes (tropical and polar) through to food,
communication equipment, decorations, helmets, badges, devices of
vision, gas masks, water bottles, cameras, tents and shoes. Also
included are Propaganda posters and readings provided to the Heitai
during long quiet periods of service, isolated on the Pacific
islands. By studying the equipment of Japanese soldiers - from the
dagger to the toothbrush, and from the grenade to underwear - we
can uncover the history of these soldiers in a more in depth and
evocative way than the cinema or a text could ever achieve. At the
same time, it is interesting to note the differences and
similarities between the equipment of an Imperial Army fighter and
that of a GI. "Heitai" is an exceptional work on the Imperial Army
that provides unique insights of the Japanese fighters, formerly
America's most formidable enemy.
This volume's contributors offer a new critical language through
which to explore and assess the historical, juridical,
geopolitical, and cultural dimensions of drone technology and
warfare. They show how drones generate particular ways of
visualizing the spaces and targets of war while acting as tools to
exercise state power. Essays include discussions of the legal
justifications of extrajudicial killings and how US drone strikes
in the Horn of Africa impact life on the ground, as well as a
personal narrative of a former drone operator. The contributors
also explore drone warfare in relation to sovereignty, governance,
and social difference; provide accounts of the relationships
between drone technologies and modes of perception and mediation;
and theorize drones' relation to biopolitics, robotics, automation,
and art. Interdisciplinary and timely, Life in the Age of Drone
Warfare extends the critical study of drones while expanding the
public discussion of one of our era's most ubiquitous instruments
of war. Contributors. Peter Asaro, Brandon Wayne Bryant, Katherine
Chandler, Jordan Crandall, Ricardo Dominguez, Derek Gregory,
Inderpal Grewal, Lisa Hajjar, Caren Kaplan, Andrea Miller, Anjali
Nath, Jeremy Packer, Lisa Parks, Joshua Reeves, Thomas
Stubblefield, Madiha Tahir
Assured Destruction: Building the Ballistic Missile Culture of the
U.S. Air Force documents the rapid development of nuclear ballistic
missiles in the United States and their equally swift demise after
the Cuban Missile Crisis, revealing how these drastic changes
negatively influenced both the Air Force and the missile community.
The book contends that the creation of nuclear ballistic missiles
threatened both the dominance of the United States during an
intensifying Cold War and the strategic airpower mission of the
newly created Air Force. The response to these threats led to
political infighting and interservice squabbles to control the new
weapon before the Soviets could build their own version and
annihilate the United States. This highly politicized and hurried
process prevented the successful long-term operational integration
of ballistic missiles into the U.S. Air Force. The book reveals the
strenuous efforts required to create and prepare a missile arsenal
before the Cuban Missile Crisis, which occurred only five years
after the first missile was declared operational. It uses the
personal recollections of former missileers and the professional
military education theses they wrote to highlight some of the
concerns that have faced the missileers who operated and worked on
these powerful weapons from 1957 to the present. The highlight of
the book, however, is the personal stories of the missileers who
served during the missile crisis, revealing the efforts that they
went to in order to prepare these unique and untried weapons for
what many thought might become the third world war.
Uniforms, Equipment and Weapons of the American Expeditionary
Forces in World War I is a detailed look at the uniforms,
equipment, weapons, personal items, insignia, and specialist
equipment of the American Army during the Great War. This
comprehensive study uses over 100 original black and white
photographs of American soldiers, many of which are previously
unpublished. The book also shows over 700 full color photographs of
original items as well as recreated scenes that bring many of these
items to life. Finally, one book that covers all of the nuances of
the American Doughboy during the Great War - from common uniforms
and equipment, to the rare experimental and private purchased
items. This is an indispensable work for any First World War
collector, living historian, modeler, and enthusiast.
World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun. Even though at
the start of the conflict none of the armies possessed any railway
artillery pieces and the very idea was comparatively new, more
railway guns were used during this war than in any other conflict.
Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first
railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting
surplus coastal defence, fortress, and naval guns onto existing
commercial railway carriages. As the war dragged on, railway
artillery development shifted to longer range guns that could shell
targets deep behind enemy lines. This change of role brought much
larger and more sophisticated guns often manufactured by mounting
long-barrel naval guns to specially-designed railway carriages.
This book details the design and development of railway guns during
World War I from the very first basic designs to massive purpose
built "monster" railway guns. Accompanying the text are many rare,
never-before-published, photographs and colour illustrations
depicting how these weapons were used during World War I.
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The Luger
(Paperback)
Neil Grant; Illustrated by Alan Gilliland, Johnny Shumate
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R461
R374
Discovery Miles 3 740
Save R87 (19%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Patented in 1898 and produced from 1900, Georg Luger's iconic semi-automatic pistol became synonymous with Germany's armed forces throughout both world wars.
Initially chambered for the 7.65×21mm round, from 1902 the Luger was designed for DWM's 9×19mm round, which even today remains the most popular military handgun cartridge. It was adopted by the Imperial German Navy in 1904, followed by the German Army in 1908, receiving the name Pistole 08. Despite being supplanted by the Walther P38, the Luger remained in widespread service with all arms of Nazi Germany's armed forces throughout World War II, and even equipped East Germany's Volkpolizei in the years after 1945.
Featuring full-colour artwork, expert analysis and archive and present-day photographs, this engaging study tells the story of the Luger, the distinctive and deadly semi-automatic pistol that has come to symbolize Germany's armed forces in the 20th century.
How did technical advances in weaponry alter the battlefield during
the reign of Queen Victoria? In 1845, in the first Anglo-Sikh War,
the outcome was decided by the bayonet; just over fifty years
later, in the second Boer War, the combatants were many miles
apart. How did this transformation come about, and what impact did
it have on the experience of the soldiers of the period? Stephen
Manning, in this meticulously researched and vividly written study,
describes the developments in firepower and, using the first-hand
accounts of the soldiers, shows how their perception of battle
changed. Innovations like the percussion and breech-loading rifle
influenced the fighting in the Crimean War of the 1850s and the
colonial campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s, in particular in the
Anglo-Zulu War and the wars in Egypt and Sudan. The machine gun was
used to deadly effect at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, and
equally dramatic advances in artillery took warfare into a new era
of tactics and organisation. Stephen Manning's work provides the
reader with an accurate and fascinating insight into a key aspect
of nineteenth-century military history.
John Lambert was a renowned naval draughtsman, whose plans were
highly valued for their accuracy and detail by modelmakers and
enthusiasts. By the time of his death in 2016 he had produced over
850 sheets of drawings, many of which have never been published.
These have now been acquired by Seaforth and this is the third of a
planned series of albums on selected themes, reproducing complete
sheets at a large page size, with an expert commentary and
captioning. The initial volumes concentrate on British naval
weaponry used in the Second World War, thus completing the project
John Lambert was working on when he died. His interest was always
focused on smaller warships and his weapons drawings tend to be of
open mountings - the kind that present a real challenge to
modelmakers - rather than enclosed turret guns, but he also
produced drawings of torpedo tubes, underwater weapons,
fire-control directors and even some specific armament-related deck
fittings. Following the earlier volumes on destroyer and escort
armament, this one covers the multitude of weapons carried by
Coastal Forces, many of which were improvised, ad hoc or
obsolescent, but eventually leading to powerful purpose-designed
weaponry. An appendix covers the main deck guns carried by British
submarines of this era. The drawings are backed by introductory
essays by Norman Friedman, an acknowledged authority on naval
ordnance, while a selection of photographs adds to the value of the
book as visual reference. Over time, the series will be expanded to
make this unique technical archive available in published form, a
move certain to be welcomed by warship modellers, enthusiasts and
the many fans of John Lambert's work.
In this fascinating account of the battle tanks that saw combat
in the European Theater of World War II, Mary R. Habeck traces the
strategies developed between the wars for the use of armored
vehicles in battle. Only in Germany and the Soviet Union were truly
original armor doctrines (generally known as "blitzkreig" and "deep
battle") fully implemented. Storm of Steel relates how the German
and Soviet armies formulated and chose to put into practice
doctrines that were innovative for the time, yet in many respects
identical to one another.
As part of her extensive archival research in Russia, Germany,
and Britain, Habeck had access to a large number of formerly secret
and top-secret documents from several post-Soviet archives. This
research informs her comparative approach as she looks at the roles
of technology, shared influences, and assumptions about war in the
formation of doctrine. She also explores relations between the
Germans and the Soviets to determine whether collaboration
influenced the convergence of their armor doctrines.
During the Second World War, Canadian factories produced mountains
of munitions and supplies, including some 800 ships, 16,000
aircraft, 800,000 vehicles, and over 4.6 billion rounds of
ammunition and artillery shells. However, the end of hostilities in
1945 turned the leftover assets into peacetime liabilities. Alex
Souchen provides a definitive account of the disposal crisis
triggered by Allied victory and shows how Canadians responded to
the unprecedented divestment of public property by reusing and
recycling military surpluses to improve their postwar lives. War
Junk recounts the complex political, economic, social, and
environmental legacies of munitions disposal in Canada by revealing
how the tools of war became integral to the making of postwar
Canada.
Drawing on revealing new research, this richly informative volume
is the definitive concise introduction to the crisis that took the
world to the brink of nuclear war. Cuban Missile Crisis: The
Essential Reference Guide captures the historical context, the
minute-by-minute drama, and the profound repercussions of the
"Missiles of October" confrontation that brought the very real
threat of nuclear attack to the United States' doorstep. Coinciding
with the 50th anniversary of the crisis, it takes full advantage of
recently opened Soviet archives as well as interviews with key
Russian, Cuban, and U.S. officials to explore the event as it
played out in Moscow, Havana, Washington, and other locations
around the world. Cuban Missile Crisis contains an introductory
essay by the author and alphabetically organized reference entries
contributed by leading Cold War researchers. The book also includes
an exceptionally comprehensive bibliography. Together, these
resources give readers everything they need to understand the
escalating tensions that led to the crisis as well as the intense
diplomacy that resolved it, including new information about the
back-channel negotiations between Robert Kennedy and Soviet
ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. 73 alphabetically organized entries
that offer valuable insights into the leaders, events, and ideas
that shaped the Cuban Missile Crisis More than a dozen expert
contributors representing all countries involved in the crisis
Seven primary source documents, including President Kennedy's
speech to the American public and letters exchanged between Premier
Kruschev and Fidel Castro Biographies of major figures, including
the Kennedys, Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, Adlai Stevenson, and
Valerian Zorin A thorough chronology outlining all key events
before, during, and after the crisis A comprehensive bibliography
on the crisis, including a significant number of recent
publications that have brought new understanding of the conflict to
light
In this new paperback editon of German Automatic Weapons of
World War II, the seven classic automatic weapons of the World War
II German Wehrmacht are described and illustrated in color
photographs. Detailed sequences show them in close-up; during
step-by-step field stripping; and during handling, loading, and
live-firing trials in outdoor settings, by gunners wearing
authentic period uniforms. The illustrations are accompanied by
concise accounts of each weapon's historical and technical
background, and by accessible non-technical descriptions of its
firing characteristics. Guns covered are: Mauser Schellfeuer
machine pistol; Erma MP40 sub-machine gun; MG34 machine gun; MG42
machine gun; FG42/1 & II paratroop assault weapons; Sturmgewehr
44 assault rifle.
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