Primitive Weapons Miscellany collects seven early papers on primitive weapons like boomerangs, harpoons, slings, and blowguns, taken primarily from anthropological journals. These papers show examples of the weapons, and describe their use in hunting prey. This volume includes facsimile reprints of The Cane Blowgun in Catawba and Southeastern Ethnology (Frank G. Speck), Boomerangs (Gilbert T. Walker), Australian Throwing Sticks, Throwing-Clubs, and Boomerangs (D. S. Davidson), Distribution and Use of Slings in Pre-Columbian America . . . (Philip Ainsworth Means), Sling Contrivances for Projectile Weapons (F. Krause), Throwing Sticks in the National Museum (Otis T. Mason), and Aboriginal American Harpoons (Otis T. Mason).

Developed to replace the UH-1 Iroquis, Sikorsky 's UH-60 Black Hawk first entered service in 1979. A four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter, the UH-60 serves as the U.S. Army 's primary tactical transport helicopter. Modified versions include models for the U.S. Navy and Air Force, and specialized versions including the UH-60C (modified for Command and Control missions), EH-60A (electronic systems operations and electronic warfare), and the UH-60Q (medical transport). Two major variants of the Black Hawk currently exist: the UH-60L and UH-60M. The UH-60L incorporates improvements to the basic design that provide more power and lifting capability, as well as automatic flight control. The newer UH-60M features upgraded engines, improved rotor blades, and state-of-the-art flight controls that will allow the helicopter 's service life to extend to 2020 and beyond. Over 2500 Black Hawks have been built, and nearly 1000 more are currently on order. Black Hawks have seen combat service for the U.S. Military in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Other nations also employ the UH-60 including Brazil, Colombia, Israel, Mexico, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, and Turkey. Created by Sikorsky and the U.S. Army, this pilot 's flight operating manual profiles the UH-60Q Black Hawk. Over 500 pages long, this unclassified document is reprinted here in its entirety.

This unique book serves as both text and practical reference for all personnel involved in avionics and weapons system evaluation and testing, in the air and on the ground. Whether you are training pilots and personnel or actually planning to test systems, this book will provide you with the fundamentals and practical information you need to get the job done. The book is a compilation of experiences and methods from over 25 years in the business and interaction with Test Pilots and Test Engineers over the last 15 years as an Instructor/Director at the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, California. The book was also reviewed by a dozen voluntary experts from the military and industry to ensure all critical components are covered properly. Their comments and suggestions were integrated into the text toward the goal of creating this invaluable textbook and companion to the fighter or heavy aircraft test team, no matter their geographical location. Lessons learned, good and bad, are addressed in each chapter so readers can avoid the pitfalls common to test and evaluation of these systems. Exercises at the end of each chapter provide instructors with the ability to reinforce critical concepts and all the war stories in the book are true.

On the battlefield, a soldier's best friends are his gun and his gear-because his life depends on them. But what will it take to fight and survive on the battlefields of tomorrow? What will those combat arenas consist of, and where will they be? And what will our nation's fighting men and women carry with them into battle? This is a compendium of the weapons of war that may accompany our soldiers in the near and far future, as well as an insightful look at the soldier, sailor, and airman of today and tomorrow. All manner of military hardware is covered, as well as information about cutting-edge technology that will become standard in weapons to come, the possibility of robotic soldiers, vehicles, protective armor, and the prospects of fighting a war in both space and cyberspace.

Bombs are as old as hatred itself. But it was the twentieth century--one hundred years of incredible scientific progress and terrible war--that brought forth the Big One, the Bomb, humanity's most powerful and destructive invention. In "The Bomb: A Life," Gerard DeGroot tells the story of this once unimaginable weapon that--at least since 8: 16 a.m. on August 6, 1945--has haunted our dreams and threatened our existence.

The Bomb has killed hundreds of thousands outright, condemned many more to lingering deaths, and made vast tracts of land unfit for life. For decades it dominated the psyches of millions, becoming a touchstone of popular culture, celebrated or decried in mass political movements, films, songs, and books. DeGroot traces the life of the Bomb from its birth in turn-of-the-century physics labs of Europe to a childhood in the New Mexico desert of the 1940s, from adolescence and early adulthood in Nagasaki and Bikini, Australia and Kazakhstan to maturity in test sites and missile silos around the globe. His book portrays the Bomb's short but significant existence in all its scope, providing us with a portrait of the times and the people--from Oppenheimer to Sakharov, Stalin to Reagan--whose legacy still shapes our world.

Addressing its technical evolution as well as its military and social impact, this comprehensive reference shows how historic leaders such as Dionysus of Syracuse, the Ottoman sultan Mohammad II, Oliver Cromwell, and Napoleon Bonaparte were successful in battle because of their innovative use of artillery. Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact charts the development of large, crew-operated battlefield weapons from the dart firers and catapults of the ancient world to the invention of gunpowder in China and its applications in medieval Europe, and from the emergence of naval and land gunnery four centuries ago to the latest rapid-fire, rocket propulsion, laser guidance, and antiaircraft technologies. Written by an expert on military history, Artillery explores the technological and strategic innovations that have made these weapons increasingly effective at breaking through fortifications, inflicting casualties from a safe distance, providing cover for advancing forces, demoralizing opponents, and defending positions from attack. Beyond the battlefield, the book also looks at the impact of artillery on history and on the lives of civilians as well as soldiers. Includes case studies of the wars of Louis XIV, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, and the Franco-Prussian War illustrating the impact of specific technical and strategic innovations in artillery Dozens of photographs and illustrations show various types of artillery, artillery mechanisms, and projectiles

This unique book covers the whole field of electronic warfare modeling and simulation at a systems level, including chapters that describe basic electronic warfare (EW) concepts. Written by a well-known expert in the field with more than 24 years of experience, the book explores EW applications and techniques and the radio frequency spectrum, with primary emphasis on HF (high frequency) to microwave. A detailed resource for entry-level engineering personnel in EW, military personnel with no radio or communications engineering background, technicians and software professionals, the work helps you understand the basic concepts required for modeling and simulation, as well as fidelity and other practical aspects of simulation design and application. You get clear explanations of important mathematical concepts, such as decibel notation and spherical trigonometry. This informative reference explains how to facilitate the generation of realistic computer models of EW equipment. Moreover, it describes specific types of EW equipment, how they work and how each is mathematically modeled. The book concludes with a description of the various types of models and simulations and the ways they are applied to training and equipment testing tasks.

In light of the spectacular performance of American high-technology weapons in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, as well as the phenomenal pace of innovation in the modern computer industry, many defense analysts have posited that we are on the threshold of a revolution in military affairs (RMA). The issue has more than semantic importance. Many RMA proponents have begun to argue for major changes in Pentagon budgetary priorities and even in American foreign policy more generally to free up resources to pursue a transformed U.S. military --and to make sure that other countries do not take advantage of the purported RMA before we do. This book takes a more measured perspective. Beginning with a survey of various types of defense technologies, it argues that while important developments are indeed under way, most impressively in electronics and computer systems, the overall thrust of contemporary military innovation is probably not of a revolutionary magnitude. Some reorientation of U.S. defense dollars is appropriate, largely to improve homeland defense and to take advantage of the promise of modern electronics systems and precision-guided munitions. But radical shifts in U.S. security policy and Pentagon budget priorities appear unwarranted --especially if those shifts would come at the expense of American military engagement in overseas defense missions from Korea to Iraq to Bosnia.

This study focuses on the sheaths and scabbards of the Anglo-Saxon period, rather than the blades once held within them. Esther Cameron presents a largely technical approach to the study of material from the period of the first Anglo-Saxons in England in the 5th century, through to the 11th century. Alongside a large corpus of examples, she looks at the nature of the material evidence, of skin, leather and wood, and the composition of the materials used, their decomposition and preservation in the archeological reord. The wider significance of her findings for Anglo-Saxon archaeology and for the study of organic materials form archaeological contexts in general, are revealed in the final chapter.

"Bar none, the best book on fire support in the English language and one of the most accessible works on tactics I have ever read."--Bruce Gudmundsson, author of On Artillery The military of the United States is the world's strongest. Our armed forces are equipped with weapons of remarkable accuracy and unprecedented destructive power. In the Gulf War, allied forces used these weapons in what turned out to be a high-tech shooting gallery. The pinpoint accuracy of the sharpshooter's rifle is now routinely expected in the delivery of thousand pound bombs. Events in Somalia and the Balkans have aptly demonstrated, however, the profound limitations of firepower in limited conflicts of low intensity. Yet, these are the kinds of war we are most likely to encounter as we proceed down the path of the new world order. Robert Scales examines this problem through his analysis of the role of firepower in the wars in Indochina, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Falklands War, and the Gulf War. Chosen for the prestigious Marine Corps Commandant's Reading List, Firepower in Limited War is must reading for everyone interested in national defense and all military professionals.

Why did some central African peoples embrace gun technology in the nineteenth century, and others turn their backs on it? In answering this question, The Gun in Central Africa offers a thorough reassessment of the history of firearms in central Africa. Marrying the insights of Africanist historiography with those of consumption and science and technology studies, Giacomo Macola approaches the subject from a culturally sensitive perspective that encompasses both the practical and the symbolic attributes of firearms. Informed by the view that the power of objects extends beyond their immediate service functions, The Gun in Central Africa presents Africans as agents of technological re-innovation who understood guns in terms of their changing social structures and political interests. By placing firearms at the heart of the analysis, this volume casts new light on processes of state formation and military revolution in the era of the long-distance trade, the workings of central African gender identities and honor cultures, and the politics of the colonial encounter.

Perhaps the most easily recognized military helmet of the 20th century is the German Stahlhelm. In the revised and expanded edition of this classic, Floyd R. Tubbs and Robert W. Clawson identify and classify the Stahlhelm and relate its history, designs, features, and uses.

No single nation has produced such a wide variety of helmets as did Germany in the early part of the last century, from civil defense to fire and police forces to airborne forces. Though based on the same concept, each model, design, and variation was constructed with a specific purpose, with the shapes of the helmets differing, the metals occuring in various weights, and the strengths and qualities and the liners being unique to each category.

As the only book on the German combat helmet currently in print, this edition, with its detailed drawings and illustrative photographs, will appeal to the collector as well as the military historian.

Techne's Paradox-a frequent theme in science fiction-is the commonplace belief that technology has both the potential to annihilate humanity and to preserve it. Advocating Weapons, War, and Terrorism looks at how this paradox applies to some of the most dangerous of technologies: population bombs, dynamite bombs, chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, and improvised explosive devices. Hill's study analyzes the rhetoric used to promote such weapons in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By examining Thomas R. Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population, the courtroom address of accused Haymarket bomber August Spies, the army textbook Chemical Warfare by Major General Amos A. Fries and Clarence J. West, the life and letters of Manhattan Project physicist Leo Szilard, and the writings of Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski, Hill shows how contemporary societies are equipped with abundant rhetorical means to describe and debate the extreme capacities of weapons to both destroy and protect. The book takes a middle-way approach between language and materialism that combines traditional rhetorical criticism of texts with analyses of the persuasive force of weapons themselves, as objects, irrespective of human intervention. Advocating Weapons, War, and Terrorism is the first study of its kind, revealing how the combination of weapons and rhetoric facilitated the magnitude of killing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and illuminating how humanity understands and acts upon its propensity for violence. This book will be invaluable for scholars of rhetoric, scholars of science and technology, and the study of warfare.

The Science of Armour Materials comprehensively covers the range of armor materials from steels and light alloys, through glasses and ceramics, to fibers, textiles, and protective apparel. The book also discusses aspects of analytical and numerical modeling, as well as laboratory-based high-strain rate testing and ballistic testing methodologies. Each chapter is written from an international perspective, including reviews of the current global literature, and incorporates case studies that focus upon real life applications, research outcomes, and lessons learned. The threat spectrum is restricted to small arms ammunition, high velocity fragments, and stab and spike attacks, as well as blast loadings.

Recent advances in ultra-high-power lasers, including the free-electron laser, and impressive airborne demonstrations of laser weapons systems, such as the airborne laser, have shown the enormous potential of laser technology to revolutionize 21st century warfare.

"Military Laser Technology for Defense," includes only unclassified or declassified information. The book focuses on military applications that involve propagation of light through the atmosphere and provides basic relevant background technology. It describes high-power lasers and masers, including the free-electron laser. Further, "Military Laser Technology for Defense" addresses how laser technology can effectively mitigate six of the most pressing military threats of the 21st century: attack by missiles, terrorists, chemical and biological weapons, as well as difficulty in imaging in bad weather and threats from directed beam weapons and future nuclear weapons. The author believes that laser technology will revolutionize warfare in the 21st century.

"Engineering the Revolution "documents the forging of a new relationship between technology and politics in Revolutionary France, and the inauguration of a distinctively modern form of the "technological life." Here, Ken Alder rewrites the history of the eighteenth century as the total history of one particular artifact--the gun--by offering a novel and historical account of how material artifacts emerge as the outcome of political struggle. By expanding the "political" to include conflict over material objects, this volume rethinks the nature of engineering rationality, the origins of mass production, the rise of meritocracy, and our interpretation of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

Examines the capabilities and costs of onboard technologies to divert missiles attacking commercial airliners. Given the significant uncertainties in the cost and effectiveness of countermeasures, a decision to install them should be postponed, and concurrent development efforts to reduce these uncertainties should proceed as rapidly as possible.

Today's arsenal of war contains some of the most sophisticated weapons ever seen on the battlefield. The technological revolution has drastically altered how war is fought and brought about the invention of some highly unusual (and effective) weapons. In the recent war with Iraq, we caught a glimpse of the new high-tech weapons in America's arsenal and the wide-ranging array of modern equipment and transportation used by our armed forces. America's modern military hardware is the envy -and fear-of the world.In U.S. Armed Forces Arsenal, noted military historian Samuel A. Southworth takes the reader on an informal and informative guided tour of this new arsenal of weaponry. He explains in clear and concise prose the new generation of military hardware, from rifles to mortars, jeeps to tanks, robotic drones to night vision sensors, and all manner of bombs, missiles and rockets-the arms and armaments that have reshaped the way the U.S. goes to war, on land and sea and in the air.