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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Weapons & equipment
In December 1994 Ukraine gave up the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world and signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, having received assurances that its sovereignty would be respected and secured by Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Based on original and heretofore unavailable documents, Yuri Kostenko's account of the negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, and the US, reveals for the first time the internal debates of the Ukrainian government, as well as the pressure exerted upon it by its international partners. Kostenko presents an insider's view on the issue of nuclear disarmament and raises the question of whether the complete and immediate dismantlement of the country's enormous nuclear arsenal was strategically the right decision, especially in view of the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, one of the guarantors of Ukraine's sovereignty under denuclearization.
In 1937, Dornier obtained a patent for a plane with two engines in the fuselage, driving the pull and push propellers. The design was marked P.59, and its concepts were refined in 1939 in the P.59-05 variant, after which the design was put in a drawer. This type of plane was not needed at the time. Nevertheless, limited experimental work was carried out, the result of which was a small Goppingen Go-9 plane, with an aerodynamic system obtained from P.59, as well as three-support landing gear with a front wheel and an engine driving a push propeller through a long shaft. The results of these experiments were used when designing the P.231 aircraft in several variants - also combining piston and jet propulsion. When in 1942 the RLM announced the requirements for a high-speed multipurpose aircraft, the equivalent of the British Mosquito, Dornier proposed the P.231 as a rather unusual answer. Despite the risks posed by the different P.231 concept, Dornier was commissioned to build several prototypes.
This Atom Bomb in Me traces what it felt like to grow up suffused with American nuclear culture in and around the atomic city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As a secret city during the Manhattan Project, Oak Ridge enriched the uranium that powered Little Boy, the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The city was a major nuclear production site throughout the Cold War, adding something to each and every bomb in the United States arsenal. Even today, Oak Ridge contains the world's largest supply of fissionable uranium. The granddaughter of an atomic courier, Lindsey A. Freeman turns a critical yet nostalgic eye to the place where her family was sent as part of a covert government plan. Theirs was a city devoted to nuclear science within a larger America obsessed with its nuclear prowess. Through memories, mysterious photographs, and uncanny childhood toys, she shows how Reagan-era politics and nuclear culture irradiated the late twentieth century. Alternately tender and alarming, her book takes a Geiger counter to recent history, reading the half-life of the atomic past as it resonates in our tense nuclear present.
This volume examines the history and development of the Ju 188 twin-engined aircraft, the Luftwaffe's attempt to enhance and improve its peerless Ju 88. The Junkers Ju 188 was the epitome of mid-war German twin-engined aircraft design, representing the enhancement of an earlier type and incorporating increased performance and technological sophistication. As part of the 1939 'Bomber B' programme, it was intended as a replacement for the Ju 88 and He 111 medium bombers, taking advantage of uprated Jumo and BMW engines and incorporating a radically redesigned cockpit area with all-round visibility for high-speed bombing, torpedo-bomber carrying, FuG 200 radar, and camera-equipped reconnaissance operations. What emerged, from the autumn of 1943, was a sophisticated bomber and reconnaissance aircraft-and intended nightfighter. After operational trials, the Ju 188 equipped three bomber Geschwader and several long-range reconnaissance Staffeln in the East and Italy, conducting operations over Britain and the Western Front as well as Russia and the Mediterranean. This comprehensive study charts the design, development, and deployment of an advanced aircraft which was ultimately overshadowed by improvements to the aeroplane it was designed to replace. Supported by specially commissioned illustrations and contemporary photography, this is the essential guide to the Junkers Ju 188.
On 20 April 1941, a group of distinguished Americans headed by the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, John Winant, and which included Major General Henry 'Hap' Arnold, Chief of the US Army Air Corps, visited the de Havilland Aircraft Company's airfield at Hatfield, England. In this highly illustrated work, the author explores the full story of why the Americans wanted Mosquitoes, how they went about obtaining them, and their noted success and popularity with USAAF units.On 20 April 1941, a group of distinguished Americans headed by the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, John Winant, and which included Major General Henry 'Hap' Arnold, Chief of the US Army Air Corps, visited the de Havilland Aircraft Company's airfield at Hatfield, England. AUTHOR: The son of an RAF pilot, Tony Fairbairn's childhood was spent on a variety of airfields around the world, which fired an early enthusiasm for aviation journalism and photography. While still at school in Singapore in the early 1960s he wrote his first article, for Air Pictorial, and then joined the RAF for a 30-year career. An active member of the RAF Historical Society, the American Aviation Historical Society and Air-Britain, he has authored two books, Action Stations Overseas and RAF Gibraltar, and over the years contributed to most of the national aviation magazines. His RAF duties included tours in Cyprus, Gibraltar and as an instructor at the RAF College, but it was a 1970s posting to East Anglia, an area resonant with disused American wartime airfields alongside current active ones, that sparked an interest in US aviation in general and the Second World War Eighth Air Force in particular. 150 b/w illustrations
It is fair to say that the DC-3 was the very first true airliner, and it paved the way for the hundreds of increasingly advanced commercial aircraft that have emerged over the eighty years since Douglas' design was developed. The story of the C-47 is of course well known, but the history of the civil DC-3 (which directly led to the creation of the C-47) is often overlooked, having been overshadowed by the exploits of its military counterpart. This is perhaps understandable, but it would be wrong to underestimate the importance of the DC-3. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the DC-3's story is that the aircraft is still very much in business today, almost eighty years since the first examples took to the skies. Even though the aircraft has long since made way for larger, faster and more capable airliners, the DC-3 is still a sturdy, versatile, inexpensive and reliable aircraft. Although the numbers of active aircraft inevitably dwindle with time, it would be impossible to predict when the very last examples will finally be withdrawn from commercial use. The mighty DC-3 will seemingly fly forever.
This classic, definitive series continues with this volume on German armored vehicles from 1905-1945. Spielberger, a leading expert in the field of German military vehicles, presents the wide variety of four-, six-, and eight-wheeled types and their wide range of uses in this richly illustrated technical documentation. Types include the WWII era Sd.Kfz.231, Sd.Kfz.222, Sd.Kfz.232, and many others from a wide variety of manufacturers.
More than thirty years after their first publication, William T. Larkinss illustrated surveys of Navy and Marine Corps aircraft remain two of the most valuable books about these airplanes ever written. First published in 1959 and 1961, these two volumes have become classics eagerly sought in the rare-book market by aviation buffs worldwide. They have become the criteria against which serious aviation research is measured. With over 1,000 photographs combined, they remain the definitive record of the formative years for Navy and Marine Corps aviation. Larkinss emphasis throughout is on squadron use, experimental and one-of-a-kind types, insignia, colors and marking schemes, technical innovations, and the service duty and tactical deployment of the various aircraft.
This new large format volume is a grand tribute to all of those who served in SAC from its inception in 1947 to its disestablishment in 1992. The great variety of aircraft and missile systems of Strategic Air Command are shown in over 800 color and black and white photographs, making this volume one of the definitive pictorials on the subject.
The technological relationship between the three main civilizations of the Western world - Byzantium, the Islamic world and the West - most particularly in the area of arms, armour and military technology is a field of research for which Dr Nicolle is noted. This volume deals principally with Western Europe and Byzantium, which for many centuries learnt from the Muslims in these matters; several articles also focus on military interactions in the Crusader states. The work draws upon both written and archaeological sources, but above all makes use of the depictions of war and military equipment in contemporary art to examine the interconnections across the medieval world.
The legendary Convair B-58 Hustler, one of the most interesting bombers to reach operational status, and had an appearance - even though designed in the 1940s - that would not look out of date in the 21st century. The first USAF delta-wing bomber was the Mach 2 Hustler that had the performance of a fighter aircraft. However, its tenure was short due to technical problems and excessive costs. The majority of Hustlers met their demise in the late 1960s, but a few remain at museums across the country.
The first squadrons of American-trained fighter pilots to enter combat in April 1918 during World War I were equipped with the Nieuport 28. Douglas Campbell, Jimmy Meissner, and Eddie Rickenbacker, were among those who cut their teeth on the Nieuport 28 fighter and gained the experience, skills, and confidence necessary to survive and succeed in aerial combat. This book provides an exhaustive history of the Nieuport 28, from its design inception in 1917, through its combat service with the U.S. Air Service, and into the postwar era. Replete with pilot reports, maps, over 400 photographs, and specially commissioned technical drawings and color profiles this book is a fitting testament to the Nieuport 28.
These articles are devoted to the two main aspects of medieval warfare: men and technology. Men fought, led, and ultimately killed in war, while the technology that they used facilitated these tasks. The first group of essays highlights human strengths in the fighting of medieval wars, with a focus on events of the 14th and 15th centuries, specifically the Anglo-French wars and wars against the Turks. A second group addresses the technological side of warfare, in particular the advent and proliferation of early gunpowder weapons which evolved rapidly during the late Middle Ages, although never replacing the role of men. The articles study various facets of this evolution, from the increased use and effectiveness of guns in battles, sieges, and naval warfare, to changes in their science and metallurgy, surgical treatment of wounds caused by them, and governmental centralization of the technology.
These essays explore the increase in interest in non-lethal
weapons. Such devices have meant that many armed forces and law
enforcement agencies are able to act against undesirables without
being accused of acting in an inhumane way.
Continuously in demand since its first, prize-winning edition was
published in 1975, this is the classic history of the development
of the American atomic bomb, the decision to use it against Japan,
and the origins of U.S. atomic diplomacy toward the Soviet Union.
This volume has been prepared as an inexpensive guide to Japanese military handguns of the first half of the 20th Century. It is intended primarily for the collector who, upon encountering a new specimen, wants information to identify, classify and evaluate it in order to make a decision on its purchase. It will also be useful to dealers in establishing values, and to firearms owners who simply want to know where an individual pistol or its accessories fit in the overall picture of Japanese military collectibles.
Prominent experts in biodefense research-many from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases-authoritatively delineate the universe of scientific, medical, and legal issues facing the biodefense research community. Regarding medical countermeasures and decontamination, the authors describe the treatment and pathogenesis of a variety of established pathogens (anthrax, plague, smallpox, Brucellosis, Glanders, and Coxiella burnettii) and review what is known about the aerosol route of infection and decontamination processes. They also examine how to discover the presence of these agents, or other previously unknown biological weapons, and detail the ongoing efforts to counter these agents, including proteomic and genomic analysis as a gateway to better diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccinations, genotyping, and forensics. Additional chapters discuss the development and use technology to identify and characterize these infectious organisms, emerging threats, and the development of countermeasures.
The Hawker Hurricane was the RAF's most valuable fighter asset in the Second World War, yet even today is relatively under-appreciated by the general public. Yet from the early months of the war it was the single engine fighter most often encountered by the Luftwaffe and during the Battle of Britain it made 80% of the successful interdictions of enemy formations. As this superbly researched book written by a leading authority on the air war reveals, this was only the start of the Hurricane's war service. Its reliability and versatility ensured that variants saw action in more war theatres worldwide than any other fighter. Indeed, as the RAF's Official History recalls Everywhere the Ubiquitous Hurricane was to be seen'. This book follows the Hurri' to Russia, Malta, North Africa and as far afield as Burma, Sumatra and Java. Seaborne versions fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and defended the Mediterranean convoys. In the ground attack role Hurricane fighter bombers made countless sweeps over occupied Europe. Pilots' first-hand accounts supplement the text. Readers are left in no doubt as to the massive contribution that the Hurricane made to ultimate victory.
This concise history of Germany's panzers and panzerkorps features a generous selection of period photos showing the variety of German tank types used during World War II - from Panzer 1 to Maus. Included is analysis of the technical and operational use of German armor on a variety of war fronts.
The full story of the development and early use of the U-2 has never been properly told - until now. This book describes in vivid detail how the high-flying spyplane was conceived, designed, built, and deployed in record time. It explains why the CIA, and not the U.S. Air Force, controlled the project. It traces how the Iron Curtain was pried apart by the epic overflights of denied territory from 1956 to 1960. It discusses why these flights were needed, what they were looking for, and how the intelligence they returned was processed and analyzed. Readers are taken inside the Soviet Union's military machine, as it developed new strategic weapons and (eventually) the means to shoot the U-2 down. The book also explores the political dimension, telling how President Eisenhower and Premier Khrushchev each faced the challenge of the U-2 flights - albeit from very different perspectives. Toward the Unknown will appeal to students of aviation and intelligence history, and to anyone wishing to learn more about a key episode in the Cold War.
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.
Robert Forczyk covers the development of armoured warfare in North Africa from the earliest Anglo-Italian engagements in 1940 to the British victory over the German Afrikakorps in Operation Crusader in 1941. The war in the North African desert was pure mechanized warfare, and in many respects the most technologically advanced theatre of World War II. It was also the only theatre where for three years British and Commonwealth, and later US, troops were in constant contact with Axis forces. World War II best-selling author Robert Forczyk explores the first half of the history of the campaign, from the initial Italian offensive and the arrival of Rommel's Panzergruppe Afrika to the British Operation Crusader offensive that led to the relief of Tobruk. He examines the armoured forces, equipment, doctrine, training, logistics and operations employed by both Allied and Axis forces throughout the period, focusing especially on the brigade and regimental level of operations. Fully illustrated throughout with photographs, profile artwork and maps, and featuring tactical-level vignettes and appendices analysing tank data, tank deliveries in-theatre and orders of battle, this book goes back to the sources to provide a new study of armoured warfare in the desert.
Volume Eight of the Pacific Profiles series presents the most accurate profiles and histories to date of Imperial Japanese Navy floatplanes which served in the South Pacific theatre, throughout New Guinea and the Solomons. The markings of the six floatplane types deployed in the theatre are covered: the A6M2-N Rufe, E8N2 Dave, E13A1 Jake, F1M2 Pete, E9W Slim and E7K Alf. Floatplane operations commenced in January 1942 with the invasion of Rabaul. Later Rufes were often misidentified as Zeros with their presence in the Solomons seemingly ubiquitous. Petes often fought Allied fighters, with other types focused on reconnaissance and occasional bombing missions, sometimes at night. Most floatplane activity had ceased by late 1943, leaving a handful of stay-behinds operating from Rabaul and Kavieng. Illustrated, unit by unit, are examples of the varied types of markings, camouflage and tail code systems which appeared on floatplanes assigned to sea tenders, shore, ship and submarine-based units. Each of the 76 profiles cites draws on evidence from colour photos, Combined Fleet orders, POW interrogations, technical reports and post-war wreck surveys. Brief histories of every unit includes their role in the theatre and defines the ever-changing markings systems as ordained by Tokyo. Numerous maps and diagrams help the reader understand command structures such as the R-Area Air Force and the 11th Seaplane Tender Division. Never before have such accurate profiles been presented, most for the first time. The author is world-renown for his expertise in Japanese aerial warfare in the Pacific.
This book examines emerging defense technologies such as directed energy weapons, nanotech devices, and bioscience applications that have the potential to dominate international relations in the future, just as nuclear weapons and space infrastructure-assisted conventional weapons do now. Emerging Military Technologies: A Guide to the Issues examines the potential of the United States to bring new technologies to deployment in the service of America's security and defense. The work also discusses how other international actors may regard the United States' investment in these high-tech capabilities, identifying possible resultant counter actions, and presents several divergent viewpoints on what the future may bring. The book thoroughly explores three general categories of emerging technologies: autonomous computers, nanotechnology and biotechnology, and the interrelated topics of directed energy weapons and ubiquitous space access. Security studies expert Wilson W.S. Wong balances coverage of today's cutting-edge science and engineering with treatment of real-world concerns of effectiveness, military ethics, and international relations in the 21st century. An invaluable resource for members of the military and intelligence communities, this book also provides general readers with an accessible introduction to these highly technical topics.
In the seventh part of PeKo Publishing s photo-monograph series, we deal with the popular German heavy tank, the Tiger I. This publication shows the tank s major and minor changes through the 105 black-and-white photographs in the book. |
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