This guide showcases knives used by America's clandestine military in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. It provides the collector and others interested in the period a way of identifying honest SOG (Studies and Observations Group) specimens and separating them from counterfeits. With beautiful color photographs that show a high level of detail, the book identifies all known SOG specimens (over 165 knives) and includes rare personalized knives and custom combat knives made in the United States. Sections of the book focus on Randalls, Eks, Gerbers, and the knives made by tribal artisans in Southeast Asia. This is the eighth in Mike Silvey's series on military knives.

The famed Bf 109F is shown on a variety of war fronts,with coverage of its various markings, paint schemes (including color profiles), and in up-close detail.

In Euromissiles, Susan Colbourn tells the story of the height of nuclear crisis and the remarkable waning of the fear that gripped the globe. In the Cold War conflict that pitted nuclear superpowers against one another, Europe was the principal battleground. Washington and Moscow had troops on the ground and missiles in the fields of their respective allies, the NATO nations and the states of the Warsaw Pact. Euromissiles-intermediate-range nuclear weapons to be used exclusively in the regional theater of war-highlighted how the peoples of Europe were dangerously placed between hammer and anvil. That made European leaders uncomfortable and pushed fearful masses into the streets demanding peace in their time. At the center of the story is NATO. Colbourn highlights the weakness of the alliance seen by many as the most effective bulwark against Soviet aggression. Divided among themselves and uncertain about the depth of US support, the member states were riven by the missile issue. This strategic crisis was, as much as any summit meeting between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, the hinge on which the Cold War turned. Euromissiles is a history of diplomacy and alliances, social movements and strategy, nuclear weapons and nagging fears, and politics. To tell that history, Colbourn takes a long view of the strategic crisis-from the emerging dilemmas of allied defense in the early 1950s through the aftermath of the INF Treaty thirty-five years later. The result is a dramatic and sweeping tale that changes the way we think about the Cold War and its culmination.

Focusing on East Asia, this book sets out a framework for analyzing infectious disease threats in security terms. It covers the security significance of naturally occurring disease outbreak events such as SARS and avian influenza, the development and use of biological weapons by state and non-state actors, and the security risks associated with laboratory research on pathogenic micro-organisms.

Christian Enemark devises a conceptual framework for securitization that is useful for policy makers by using the overlaps and synergies between different infectious disease threats. The book draws heavily on material from public health and scientific literature to illustrate the cross-disciplinary requirements for addressing infectious diseases challenges in security terms. Fast-moving, naturally occurring disease threats are of increasing concern to governments and individuals, and it is therefore important to recognize their close relationship to the security challenges posed by Biological Weapons and pathogen research.

Disease and Security will be of much interest to students of international security, public health and Asian politics.

This new volume explores what the acquisition of nuclear weapons means for the life of a protracted conflict.

The book argues that the significance of the possession of nuclear weapons in conflict resolution has been previously overlooked. Saira Khan argues that the acquisition of nuclear weapons by states keeps conflicts alive indefinitely, as they are maintained by frequent crises and low-to-medium intensity violence, rather than escalating to full-scale wars. This theory therefore emphasises the importance of nuclear weapons in both war-avoidance and peace-avoidance. The book opens with a section explaining its theory of conflict transformation with nuclear weapons, before testing this against the case study of the India--Pakistan protracted conflict in South Asia.

This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, IR and Asian politics and security.

This book explores what political conditions must be established and what obstacles overcome for the fi ve offi cial Nuclear Weapon States (NWS)- China, France, Russia, the UK and US- to eliminate their nuclear weapons. The different views and positions of a range of actors concerning nuclear weapons issues- including elite perspectives and public opinion- and the political assumptions underpinning them, are discussed to develop a more democratic approach to disarmament. Addressing the lack of detailed analysis concerning the meaning of nuclear disarmament for the domestic political orders of NWS, the book critically explores different approaches to and theories of disarmament within legal, political and technical literatures and orthodox and critical theory. It also builds on previous discussions of nuclear possession, restraint, arms control, and disarmament- concerning both nuclear possessor and non- possessor states- identifying the insights these works provide regarding how NWS disarmament may be advanced. Contributing to theoretical debates concerning how domestic politics interacts with and determines states' international behaviour, the book will be of interest to all scholars and students of history, politics, international relations, security studies, military history, war studies, peace studies, confl ict, democracy, and global governance.

This edited volume explores competing perspectives on the impact of nuclear weapons proliferation on the South Asian security environment. The spread of nuclear weapons is one of the world's foremost security concerns. The effect of nuclear weapons on the behaviour of newly nuclear states, and the potential for future international crises, are of particular concern. As a region of burgeoning economic and political importance, South Asia offers a crucial test of proliferation's effects on the crisis behaviour of newly nuclear states. This volume creates a dialogue between scholars who believe that nuclear weapons have stabilized the subcontinent, and those who believe that nuclear weapons have made South Asia more conflict prone. It does so by pairing competing analyses of four major regional crises: the 1987 "Brasstacks" crisis, the Indo-Pakistani crisis of 1990, the 1999 Kargil war, which occurred after the nuclear tests; and the 2001-2 Indo-Pakistani militarized standoff. In addition, the volume explores the implications of the South Asian nuclear experience for potential new nuclear states such as North Korea and Iran.

Making the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party 's nuclear tests in 1998 its starting point, this book examines how opinion amongst India 's attentive public shifted from supporting nuclear abstinence to accepting and even feeling a need for a more assertive policy, by examining the complexities of the debate in India on nuclear policy in the 1990s.

The study seeks to account for the shift in opinion by looking at the parallel processes of how nuclear policy became an important part of the public discourse in India, and what it came to symbolise for the country 's intelligentsia during this decade. It argues that the pressure on New Delhi in the early 1990s to fall in line with the non-proliferation regime, magnified by India 's declining global influence at the time, caused the issue to cease being one of defence, making it a focus of nationalist pride instead. The country 's nuclear programme thus emerged as a test of its ability to withstand external compulsions, guaranteeing not so much the sanctity of its borders as a certain political idea of it that of a modern, scientific and, most importantly, sovereign state able to defend its policies and set its goals.

During the First World War fledgling crews in basic aircraft experimented with dropping grenades and small bombs. The need for elements of accuracy became obvious and evolved from that point onwards. The various light bombers that flew during the inter war period developed procedures which carried on into the early years of the Second World War. Bomber Command eventually witnessed the large 4-engined 'Heavy Bombers', namely the Handley Page Halifax, Shorts Stirling and Avro Lancaster develop into significant bomb carrying aerial platforms. This book will provide the reader with an explanation of the origin of Bomb Aimers, the training of these men and the complexity of dropping many types of bomb ordinance is an enthralling story. Technical and scientific developments are examined to provide an understanding of the trade that enabled the Bomb Aimers wing to be awarded to the men who volunteered at this time. Many gallantry medals were won by Bomb Aimers. Accounts of dangerous operational flying will be revealed by Bomb Aimers in numerous aircraft. This book will examine true accounts that took place; many will be based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the aircrew themselves.

This book explores the conditions under which Nuclear Weapons Free Zones (NWFZs) can be established. It analyzes four hypotheses that explain the factors contributing to the formation of NWFZs, building upon realist, constructivist and liberal theories from international relations. Through structured focused comparison, the book presents and compares the emergence of NWFZs in Latin America, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, which is a prospect for a NWFZ. The book argues that NWFZ projects depend on the following conditions: the security interest of regional states in avoiding nuclear threats, preexisting regional institutions and regional economic cooperation, leadership by a core of regional powers and shared interest in spreading non-proliferation norms. Democracy is not a necessary condition, but democratization can help overcome barriers presented by hesitant or opposed regional governments. As too many of the mentioned necessary conditions are lacking in the Middle East, a NWFZ project, thus, will be possible only after major political changes. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, arms control, security studies and International Relations.

More than 33,000 Messerchmitt Bf 109s were built between 1935 and 1945, making it the second-most produced warplane of all time. Its baptism of fire was in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. The Bf 109 was the mainstay of Luftwaffe fighter squadrons, and the favoured choice of most of the Luftwaffe's fighter aces. Luftwaffe Bf 109 pilots accounted for thousands of Allied aircraft, with individual scores for some pilots reached hundreds of downed aircraft. It saw service in Poland, the invasion of France and, of course, during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Although gradually becoming obsolete, the Bf 109 remained in large-scale production until the end of the war, and was supplied to more than ten countries, including Finland, Hungary, and Romania. After the war, development and production continued in Czechoslovakia and Spain as the Avia S-199 and Hispano Ha-1112 respectively, the latter powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Incredibly, the state of Israel operated Czech-built Avia S-199s during its War of Independence in 1948-49. Today, the Bf 109 is considered one of the greatest fighters ever produced.

This book investigates what is driving Iran's nuclear weapons programme in a less-hostile regional environment, using a theory of protracted conflicts to explicate proliferation. Iran's nuclear weapons program has alarmed the international community since the 1990s, but has come to the forefront of international security concerns since 2000. This book argues that Iran's hostility with the United States remains the major causal factor for its proliferation activities. With the US administration pursuing aggressive foreign policies towards Iran since 2000, the latter's security threat intensified. A society that is split on many important domestic issues remained united on the issue of nuclear weapons acquisition after the US war in Iraq. Consequently, Iran became determined in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons and boldly announced its decision to enrich uranium, leaving the US in no doubt about its nuclear status. This book underscores the importance of protracted conflicts in proliferation decisions, and underpinning this is the assumption that non-proliferation may be achieved through the termination of intractable conflicts. The aims of this work are to demonstrate that a state's decision to acquire nuclear weapons depends largely on its engagement in protracted conflicts, which shows not only that the presence of nuclear rivals intensifies the nuclear ambition, but also that non-nuclear status of rival states can promote non-proliferation incentives in conflicting states inclined to proliferate. This study will be of great interest to students of Iran, Middle Eastern politics, nuclear proliferation and international relations theory. Saira Khan is a Research Associate in the McGill-University of Montreal Joint Research Group in International Security (REGIS).

During World War II, Japanese fighters, such as the famed Zero, were among the most respected and feared combat aircraft in the world. But for decades following the defeat of Japan in 1945, a variety of political and economic factors prevented Japan from developing its own modern national fighter. This changed in the 1980s. Japan began independently developing its first world-class fighter since World War II. After several years of contentious negotiations, the Japanese agreed to work with the United States to cooperatively develop a minimally modified F-16, the FS-X. The new fighter, however, has evolved into a world-class aircraft developed largely by Japanese industry primarily due to errors committed by the U.S. side. By the fall of 1995, fifty years after the end of World War II, the Zero for the 1990s will have made its first flight, catapulting Japan into the elite ranks of nations capable of developing the most advanced weapon systems. In Troubled Partnership, Mark Lorell traces the evolution of the FS-X, disclosing the conflicting economic and security objectives advanced by U.S. officials, the flawed U.S. policy of technology reciprocity, and the challenges of international collaboration. Its deep intimacy with the interplay of policy and economy will make this volume of intense interest to political scientists, military studies specialists, historians, and government officials.

Originally designed in 1952 as an anti-submarine warfare platform for the U.S. Navy, almost two-thousand Sikorsky H-34s have served on every continent with the armed forces of twenty-five countries - from combat in Algeria, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and throughout southeast Asia, to saving flood victims, recovering astronauts, fighting fires, and carrying presidents, military H-34s have met every challenge handed them. With continuing post-military service, the number of countries which the H-34 has called home has swelled to nearly fifty. Revitalized with turbine engines, it has yet to fade from sight. Whether lifting construction material or supporting police departments, the DC-3 of helicopters will still be flying on its fiftieth anniversary. The most detailed account of the H-34 to appear, Lennart Lundh's Sikorsky H-34 reflects over a decade of research. It takes the reader through the H-34 from nose to tail, and across its service from Argentina to Vietnam. Few of the photographs have been published before, and many are drawn from private collections. A special feature is the chapter of impressions and anecdotes from fourteen H-34 crew members.

This book looks at the prospects for international cooperation over nuclear weapons proliferation in the 21st century.

Nuclear weapons served as stabilizing forces during the Cold War, or the First Nuclear Age, on account of their capability for destruction, the fear that this created among politicians and publics, and the domination of the nuclear world order by two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the potential for nuclear weapons acquisition among revisionist states, or even non-state actors including terrorists, creates the possibility of a 'wolves eat dogs' phenomenon in the present century.

In the 21st century, three forces threaten to undo or weaken the long nuclear peace and fast-forward states into a new and more dangerous situation: the existence of large US and Russian nuclear weapons arsenals; the potential for new technologies, including missile defenses and long-range, precision conventional weapons, and a collapse or atrophy of the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and the opening of the door for nuclear weapons to spread among more than the currently acknowledged nuclear states.

This book explains how these three 'weakening' forces interact with one another and with US and Russian policy-making in order to create an environment of large possibilities for cooperative security - but also of considerable danger. Instead, the choices made by military planners and policy-makers will create an early twenty-first century story privileging nuclear stability or chaos. The US and Russia can, and should, make incremental progress in arms control and nonproliferation.

This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation and arms control, strategic studies, international security and IR in general.

Stephen J. Cimbala is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of numerous works in the fields of international security, defense studies, nuclear arms control and other topics. He has consulted for various US government agencies and defense contractors.

India s Nuclear Bomb and National Security gives an analytic account of the dynamics of India's nuclear build up. It puts forward a new comprehensive model, which goes beyond the classic strategic model of accepting motives of arming behaviour, and incorporates the dynamics in India s nuclear programme. The core argument of the book surrounds the question about India's security considerations and their impact on India's nuclear policy development.

Karsten Frey explores this analytic model by including explanatory variables on the unit-level, where interests are generally related to symbolic, less strategic values attributed to nuclear weapons. These play a significant role within India's domestic political party competition and among certain pressure groups. They also impacted India's relationship with other countries on non-proliferation matters, for example the concept of the country's 'status' and 'prestige'.

Identifying the role of the strategic elite in determining India's nuclear course, this book also argues that one of the pivotal driving forces behind India's quest for the nuclear bomb is India's struggle for international recognition and the strong, often obsessive sensitivities of India's elite regarding 'acts of discrimination' or 'ignorance' by the West towards India.

The fifth volume of trucks and cars used by Germany during WWII.

Created by aviation pioneer Willy Messerschmitt, the Bf 109 was an innovative, ground-breaking design. In the face of stiff competition from other German aircraft manufacturers, this powerful, maneuverable and light aircraft was selected as the Luftwaffe's standard fighter, and it went on to see action in every theater of operations in the Second World War. With more than 33,000 examples built, the Bf 109 is the most-produced fighter aircraft of all time. In 1937 the Bf 109 demonstrated its great performance potential by achieving several impressive victories at the Zurich Air Meet and setting the world speed record of 611 kph. This book describes factually and accurately the development, testing and technology of the Bf 109 as well as the production variants Bf 109A to Bf 10E.

In his latest book, ""Missile Design and Systems Engineering"", Eugene Fleeman presents a comprehensive review of the missile design and systems engineering process pulling from his decades of experience in the development of missiles and their technologies. Aimed toward the needs of aerospace engineering students and professors, systems analysts and engineers, program managers, and others working in the areas of missile systems and missile technology development, the book provides readers with an understanding of missile design, missile technologies, launch platform integration, missile system measures of merit and the missile system development process. This book has been adapted from Fleeman's earlier title, ""Tactical Missile Design, Second Edition"" to include a greater emphasis on systems engineering.Topics discussed include: top components in the missile design and system engineering process; critical tradeoffs, methods and technologies in aerodynamic, propulsion, structure, seeker, warhead, fuzing, and subsystems sizing to meet flight performance and other requirements; launch platform - missile integration; robustness, lethality, guidance, navigation & control, accuracy, observables, survivability, reliability, and cost considerations; missile sizing examples for missile systems and missile technologies; and, missile system and missile technology development process.

The North American XB-70 is one of the most unusual looking aircraft in aviation history, and only two were constructed. It was originally designed as a Mach 3 high-altitude bomber, but was later used as a research aircraft. This new book by John Campbell and Garry Pape gives a short, detailed history of the XB-70, including production, flight tests, and the fatal crash of Aircraft #2 in 1965. Aircraft #1 is now at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB.

This book examines the politics of biological disarmament, focusing on the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) as a treaty regime and the cornerstone of biological disarmament efforts.

Biological weapons have long been banned, but the ban needs strengthening. The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is the cornerstone of this disarmament regime. After years of deadlock and disappointment its Sixth Review Conference in 2006 generated new hope that biological disarmament could be reinforced from within. This book studies the intricate diplomacy of the Sixth Review Conference as a key moment in the recovery of self-confidence by the treaty parties. It makes detailed proposals for developing an accountability framework and stronger institutions so that the treaty regime can work better. It examines alternative futures for the BWC and the trajectories to be avoided or encouraged in the short, medium and longer terms as its regime evolves. Controversially, by comparing treaty constraints on biological, chemical and nuclear weapons it restores the BWC firmly to the realm of disarmament rather than arms control and rescues it from misleading identifications with counterproliferation and counterterrorism models.

This book will appeal to policy-makers, diplomats and students of biological weapons, weapons of mass destruction, international security and IR in general.

Nicholas A. Sims is Reader in International Relations at the London School of Economics. He is author of four books on aspects of disarmament.

Don Logan's latest book "his tenth with Schiffer Publishing, and the first in a planned multi-volume set on F-4 Phantoms chronicles the service of the McDonnell-Douglas F-4 and RF-4 Phantom II in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard. The book is organized by AFRES and ANG units and illustrates the F-4's service, colors, and markings with over 700 color photographs and 100 unit patches.

In recent years, senior policy officials have highlighted increased signs of convergence between terrorism and unconventional (CBRN) weapons. Terrorism now involves technologies available to anyone, anywhere, anytime, deployed through innovative solutions. This indicates a new and more complex global security environment with increasing risks of terrorists trying to acquire and deploy a CBRN (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear) attack.

This book addresses the critical importance of understanding innovation and decision-making between terrorist groups and unconventional weapons, and the difficulty in pinpointing what factors may drive violence escalation. It also underscores the necessity to understand the complex interaction between terrorist group dynamics and decision-making behaviour in relation to old and new technologies.

Unconventional Weapons and International Terrorism seeks to identify a set of early warnings and critical indicators for possible future terrorist efforts to acquire and utilize unconventional CBRN weapons as a means to pursue their goals. It also discusses the challenge for intelligence analysis in handling threat convergence in the context of globalisation. The book will be of great interest to students of terrorism studies, counter-terrorism, nuclear proliferation, security studies and IR in general.

Covers all of the light half-tacked prime movers used by Germany during WWII.

The Project on Nuclear Issues 2013 conference series included events at Northrop Grumman in May, Sandia National Laboratory in July, and CSIS in December, before concluding with a Capstone Conference at Offutt Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Strategic Command, in March 2014. The papers included in this volume are a collection of some of the presentations delivered at the Capstone Conference. Spanning a wide range of technical and policy issues, these selected papers hope to further discussion in their respective areas, as well as contribute to the success of the greater nuclear community.