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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Weapons & equipment
Studies of air combat in the Vietnam War inevitably focus on the MiG-killing fighter engagements, B-52 onslaughts or tactical strikes on the Hanoi region. However, underlying all these was the secretive 'electron war' in which highly-skilled electronic warfare officers duelled with Soviet and North Vietnamese radar operators in the attempt to enable US strike forces to reach their targets with minimal losses. Orbiting at the edge of heavily-defended territory, the vulnerable EB-66s identified and jammed the enemy's radar frequencies with electronic emissions and chaff to protect the American bombers. Their hazardous missions resulted in six combat losses, four of them to SA-2 missiles and one to a MiG-21, and they became prime targets for North Vietnamese defences when their importance was realised. This illustrated study focuses on the oft-overlooked B-66 series, examining their vital contributions to the Vietnam War and the bravery of those who operated them in some of the most challenging situations imaginable. Author Peter E. Davies also explores how the technology and tactics devised during the period made possible the development of the EF-111A Raven, an invaluable component of the Desert Storm combat scenario over Iraq and Kuwait in 1991, and the US Navy's EA-6B Prowler, which entered service towards the end of the Vietnam War.
At its dawn in the early twentieth century, the new technology of aviation posed a crucial question to American and British cavalry: what do we do with the airplane? Lacking the hindsight of historical perspective, cavalry planners based their decisions on incomplete information. Harnessing the Airplane compares how the American and British armies dealt with this unique challenge. A multilayered look at a critical aspect of modern industrial warfare, this book examines the ramifications of technological innovation and its role in the fraught relationship that developed between traditional ground units and emerging air forces. Cavalry officers pondered the potential military uses of airplanes and other new technologies early on, but preferred to test them before embracing and incorporating them in their operations. Cavalrymen cautiously examined airplane capabilities, developed applications and doctrine for joint operations, and in the United States, even tried to develop their own, specially designed craft. Throughout the interwar period, instead of replacing the cavalry, airplanes were used cooperatively with cavalry forces in reconnaissance, security, communication, protection, and pursuit - a collaboration tested in maneuvers and officially blessed in both British and American doctrine. This interdependent relationship changed drastically, however, during the 1930s as aviation priorities and doctrine shifted from tactical support of ground troops toward independent strategic bombardment. Henning shows that the American and British experiences with military aviation differed. The nascent British aviation service made quicker inroads into reconnaissance and scouting, even though the British cavalry was the older institution with more-established traditions. The American cavalry, despite its youth, contested the control of reconnaissance as late as the 1930s, years after similar arguments ended in Britain. Drawing on contemporary government reports, memoirs and journals of service personnel, books, and professional and trade journals and magazines, Harnessing the Airplane is a nuanced account of the cavalry's response to aviation over time and presents a new perspective on a significant chapter of twentieth-century military history.
This examination of nuclear arms control addresses the question of what kind of posture do second generation nuclear weapons states adopt in a world in which the presumption of non-proliferation is accepted?
First Published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Tank and mechanized forces spearhead Red Army operations from the gates of Stalingrad to the center of Berlin. This new book profiles Six Soviet commanders who rose to lead six tank armies created by the Red Army on the eastern front during the Second World War: Mikhail Efimov Katukov, Semen Ill'ich Bogdanov, Pavel Semenovich Rybalko, Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko, Pavel Alekseevich Rotmistrov, and Andrei Grigorevich Kravchenko. Each tank commanders' combat career is examined, as is the rise of Red Army forces, and reveals these lesser known leaders and their operations to western military history readers. Richard N. Armstrong, a colonel in the United States Army, has served in military intelligence since 1969, and holds a military historian specialty. He has published historical and professional articles on Red Army operations and Soviet military affairs. He wrote the Combat Studies Institute monograph, Soviet Operational Deception: The Red Cloak, and edited Red Armor Combat Orders; Combat Regulations for Tank and Mechanized Forces 1944.
Kurt Tank's twin-engine, wooden creation, the German "Moskito", is covered in detail in this new volume. Numerous photos and line drawing show the various types, and proposed future developments.
The British Chieftain - designed in the late 1950s as the replacement for the Centurion - was perhaps the best main battle tank in service with Nato during the 1960s and 1970s. Its 120mm rifled main gun and advanced armour made it one of the most formidable tanks of its time, and Robert Jackson's book is an authoritative introduction to it. Although it was intended to fight Soviet armour on the plains of northern Germany, it was in the heat and sand of the Middle East that the Chieftain fought its major battles during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, and it proved to be very effective during the Gulf War of 1991\. Variants of the Chieftain were exported to Iran, Oman, India, Kenya and Nigeria, and its chassis was adapted to fulfil a variety of tasks, including armoured recovery and bridge-laying As well as tracing the history of the Chieftain, Robert Jackson's work provides an excellent source of reference for the modeller, providing details of available kits and photographs of award-winning models, together with artworks showing the colour schemes applied to these tanks. Each section of the book is supported by a wealth of archive photographs.
This book describes in excellent detail and striking photos, many unpublished, the development and amassing of Russia's armored vehicles from World War I through World War II. Included in this text are those models that did not make it to production, and also the history behind Russia's tank development, including the numerous foreign models that it based its designs on. This book is a superb reference for historians and modellers.
The German Night Fighter force had its origins in the First World War to repel night raids and to fly long-range intruder sorties. They developed operational procedures which became largely forgotten a few years after the Armistice. The Western Allies, Britain and France, maintained and improved night-fighting tactics, but the creators of the new Luftwaffe did not at first think about night fighting at all and during the building up of the service and it received only cursory attention in the first large-scale war games held in November 1934. This changed in 1936 and the results of some exercises were set down in a secret study prepared for the Air District school in November of that year. After the onset of War, and the British and French night attacks on the western area of the Reich, night-fighting became more of a priority. As a consequence of the urgent necessity the Luftwaffe developed sophisticated techniques including basic cooperation and coordination and the increased use of electronic systems.Gebhard Aders study of the History of the German Night Fighter Force is a highly detailed analysis with numerous appendices which provides a comprehensive account of the Luftwaffe s thoroughness right up to the end when the hunters became the hunted. "
Explores the history of the US Navy's 11 new steel warships, built during the late 19th century to advance American naval supremacy. After the American Civil War, the powerful US Navy was allowed to decay into utter decrepitude, and was becoming a security liability. In 1883, Congress approved four new steel-constructed vessels called the "ABCD" ships. The three protected cruisers Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago were the first steel warships built for the US Navy, whose 1880s-1890s technological and cultural transformation was so total it is now remembered as the "New Navy". This small fleet was joined by a succession of new and distinctive protected cruisers, culminating in the famous and powerful Olympia. These 11 protected cruisers formed the backbone of the early US steel navy, and were in the frontline of the US victory in the 1898 Spanish-American War. It was these warships that fought and won the decisive Battle of Manila Bay. These cruisers also served faithfully as escorts and auxiliaries in World War I before the last were retired in the 1920s. Written by experienced US naval researcher Brian Lane Herder, and including rare photographs, this book explores the development, qualities, and service of these important warships, and highlights the almost-forgotten Columbia-class, designed as high-speed commerce raiders, and to mimic specific passenger liners. All 11 protected cruisers are depicted in meticulously researched color illustrations with one depicting the Olympia deploying her full sail rig.
X PLANES OF THE THIRD REICH SERIES An Illustrated Series on Germany's Experimental Aircraft of World War II Into the arms of the angels went pilots of the Me 163s, however the Alexander Lippisch-designed machine wasn't quite finished even though it went into serial production. The RLM called upon Heinrich Hertel of Junkers Flugzeugbau to give the aging 163 a complete make over and a make up for all the initial items it lacked - that is a cruising HWK 509 bi-fuel liquid rocket engine with a dual combustion chamber, tricycle landing gear, C and T-Stoff fuel tanks in the wings to provide longer flight duration, and so on. Although Hertel's machine was not flight tested under power prior to war's end the new and improved version now known as the Me 263 was test flown post war in the USSR. David Myhra has assembled previously unpublished photos, state-of-the art digital images, and photos of a 263 scale model to make this book on the 263 a one of a kind photographic reference.
This is the fascinating story of the single-engine Lockheeds flown by Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post and Will Rogers, Amelia Earhart, and Jimmy Doolittle.
Covers the famed Russian rocket launchers of World War II.
This book draws on the ten nation CREDIT (Capacity for Research on European Defence and Industrial Technology) network which was set up to tackle issue concerning defence science, technology and industrial policy, including the implications of the Cold War and a growing pan-European emphasis. By providing a comparative study of policy and practice in the countries of western Europe, the book provides vital insights into how governments and firms can begin to search for European-wide solutions to the dilemmas that face them.
This is the story of the most successful pilot training jet ever produced: Northrop T-38 Talon. The history od the aircraft is broken down by the roles it has played in over thirty years of service including development and testing, pilot training, flight test support, NASA program support, air combat aggressor, aerial target, Thunderbird-USAF air demonstration team aircraft, companion trainer, and civilian test support. All units flying the T-38, their markings, and paint schemes are covered in over 300 color photographs-including a chart of colors used listing Federal Standard(RS) color numbers. Don Logan is also the author of Rockwell B-1B: SACs Last Bomber, and The 388th Tactical Fighter Wing: At Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base 1972(both titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.)
Concerns about CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear) weapons have featured prominently in both political debates and media reporting about the ongoing threat from al Qaeda since 9/11. This book provides a chronological account of al Qaeda's efforts to acquire a CBRN weapon capability, and the evolution of the al Qaeda leadership's approach to actually using CBRN weapons, set against the context of the politicisation of the threat of CBRN terrorism in US security debates. Ben Cole explores how the inherently political nature of terrorist CBRN threats has helped to shape al Qaeda's approach to CBRN weapons, and shows how the heightened political sensitivities surrounding the threat have enabled some governments to manipulate it in order to generate domestic and international support for controversial policies, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He assesses the relative success of the al Qaeda leadership's political approach to CBRN weapons, together with the relative success of efforts by the US, UK and Russian governments to exploit the al Qaeda CBRN threat for their wider political purposes. Shedding new light on al Qaeda's tactics and strategy, this book will be essential reading for scholars of terrorism and extremism studies.
Nuclear weapons are the elusive 'toys' of modern warfare and are hankered after by every Middle Eastern government. Although no Middle eastern government has formally admitted that the purpose of its investment in nuclear research is to develop weapons, it is certain that two countries, Israel and Pakistan, have mastered the technology for making nuclear bombs and that others are attempting to manipulate their nuclear hardware to this end. The combination of these nuclear ambitions, the large amounts of money that can be made available for research and the area's political instability make the region a powerful example of both the drive towards, and the dangers of, nuclear proliferation. This book, first published in 1988, examines the evolution of nuclear research and development in the region. It shows that it is the product of a complex web of internal and external factors, fuelled by considerations of international prestige and local rivalries. Whilst concluding that it is probably no longer possible to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology to the Middle East, it suggests ways in which the rate of proliferation can be slowed down.
Though never used in combat, the He 280 was the first turbo-jet aircraft designed for fighter use.
The Allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland had been met with tenacious resistance by the Germans but the defence consisted for the most part of armoured units that were little different to those the British had faced in North Africa. But in early 1944, with the landings at Anzio and Nettuno and the attempt to bypass the German defensive line, the Wehrmacht's high command began shipping heavier and more powerful tanks to the Southern Front including an increasing number Tigers and Panthers. The initial models of the latter had gone into combat for the first time in July 1943 and it was planned that every Panzer regiment would eventually contain a battalion of these impressive vehicles. Drawing on official documentation and unit histories Dennis Oliver investigates the formations that operated these deservedly famous vehicles and uses archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the markings, camouflage and technical aspects of the Pzkpfw V tanks that wee an integral part of the German defence of the Italian peninsula. A key section of his book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined, providing everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of these historic vehicles.
A fully illustrated study of the Soviet Navy's biggest and most powerful surface combatants of the Cold War. Heavily armed and formidable, guided missile cruisers formed the core of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. From the last class of conventional Sverdlov-class cruisers through to increasingly complex and formidable missile cruisers, these ships ensured that NATO took the Soviet naval threat seriously. Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers covers all classes of these impressive warships, from the early Sverdlov through the Kynda, Kresta, Kara and Slava to the enormous Kirov classes. Together, these vessels marked the apogee of Soviet naval technology and capability and they remain today the largest non-aircraft carrier warships built since 1945. Containing material previously only available in Russian and fully researched from specialist defence journals, this comprehensive volume examines the design, development, and intended role of these impressive, hi-tech warships, and recounts their dramatic operational history as NATO and Soviet warships faced off against each other during the long Cold War at sea.
Flying Fox is a unique work in aviation literature combining the translation of a German pilot's classic autobiographical novel of flying in the First World War with a historical investigation that both illuminates and expands upon the original narrative. In 1933 the Koehler Verlag in Leipzig published Wir Flieger (We Flyers), by Otto Fuchs, who flew and fought in artillery observation and fighter squadrons in the Imperial German air service. The author presented the work as the recollections of an unknown pilot, changing names, unit designations, and airfield locations in order to protect the identities of the persons involved and to thwart inquiry. Adam Wait has not only provided a thoroughly annotated translation of Wir Flieger which retains the vividness of the author's original prose, but has also conducted meticulous research to uncover the true facts behind the story. His findings are related in a chapter-by-chapter commentary, supplemented by an epilogue continuing the story from the point in time at which the novel concludes to the end of the war. A further addition is a previously unpublished chapter of Wir Flieger excised by Koehler, as it did not conform to the heroic ideal of the time. Flying Fox is profusely illustrated with period and present-day photographs and maps that further bring this fascinating tale to life.
Giving an overview of research and development in weaponry in the maritime and aviation sphere as well as land-based technology, this study looks forward to the effects of emerging innovations on defence policy-making.
This is the story of the world's first attempt at perfecting a true, tail-sitting vertical take off and landing (VTOL) interceptor flying machine - Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau's proposed "Triebflegeljager" or thrust wing fighter project of 1944. The Triebflegeljager was not intended to be an air-superiority dogfighter, but a bomber killer rising straight up from its hiding place in the forest or urban area to meet and attack Allied bombers head on. With its mission completed it would return to its hiding place on the forest floor and wait to arise again. The Triebflegeljager would have been a point-defense interceptor intended for the Luftwaffe home defense squadrons and its most important virtue was that it would not need a runway. Highly unusual, then as well as today, the "Triebflegeljager" was an amazing prototype.
This book in the series described the technical and tactical development of these light tanks - from the Reichswehr years to the World War II campaigns in Poland, France and Russia. |
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