Air-to-Air Missiles - Volume 1

Σειρά TECHNOLOGY@WAR, βιβλίο No 6: Air-to-Air Missiles: Development and Combat Across 80 Years - Volume 1: Technology, Development and Operation

This is the initial of six volumes detailing the 80-year history of air-to-air missiles (AAM) as combat aircraft weapons. It is the only comprehensive book on this subject. 

VOLUME 1: TECHNOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION begins with the motivation for adopting such weapons, general description and capabilities of AAM, aircraft integration fundamentals and challenges, and how the missiles are employed. This is followed by a description of how AAM are developed as programs of a nation’s military to include testing and fielding, and a description of the elements making up a missile to include the aircraft interface, the airframe, flight control and autopilot, the seeker head and guidance system, motor, warhead, and more. The various design choices for each of these elements are described, with advantages and disadvantages, and with diagrams to support understanding. The many seeker head/guidance choices selected over the decades are each described along with relative benefits and detractors. Again, diagrams assist reader understanding.

The technology evolution underlying improvement of these systems is a key point. The content of the six generations of missile is then outlined. Finally, the fundamentals of employing AAM in combat are described, again with supporting drawings. This includes discussion of support, training, setting up the intercept for advantageous use of the AAM being carried by the fighter, plus the countermeasures and counter-countermeasures that may be employed. All this leads to an understanding of why many AAM shots miss their target. All this content supports understanding the weapons introduced in subsequent volumes plus their combat successes and failures. 

Subsequent volumes will each examine a generation of missiles and their often overlapping periods of service employment, from the earliest models of the Second World War through to the most up-to-date designs currently in service around the world. Each volume is extensively illustrated with contemporary photographs, diagrams, figures and charts, and includes the @War series’ signature colour artworks.

Κριτικές:

"...This highly interesting title is dedicated to the development of air-to-air missiles. It is the first volume in a long series edited by Bill J. Norton, an aerospace engineer with forty years of experience in flight testing, including for the USAF. The author's expertise and authority are evident from the first lines, and the various chapters cover in detail the development, the radical evolution up to the present day, the fundamental elements (guidance system, warhead, engine, controls, interfaces), and the tactics of use, allowing the reader to discover the secrets of these weapons that became protagonists of one of the most profound revolutions in air combat. The examination of the missiles' effectiveness, the test campaigns, the countermeasures, and the implications for employment tactics is highly interesting. Over 150 photos, many previously unpublished, 24 detailed colour profiles by Tom Cooper, and dozens of graphs and tables complete this truly unique and unmissable volume". Dec 2025, Panorama Difesa (translated from Italian)

“This book covers the history of the development of the AAM by all nations as well as going into the technology itself. …there are a ton of photographs as well as full color charts, drawings and profiles.” ModelingMadness.com

Συγγραφέας: Bill Norton

Έκδοση: Helion & Company

Περιγραφή: Σελ. 112, μαλακό εξώφυλλο, σχήμα Α4, 46 ασπρόμαυρες φωτογραφίες, 108 έγχρωμες φωτογραφίες, 24 έγχρωμα προφίλ, 54 διαγράμματα, 10 πίνακες, 10 γραφήματα.

Κατάσταση: ΑΜΕΤΑΧΕΙΡΙΣΤΟ

Ετικέτες: ΠΥΡΑΥΛΟΙ ΑΕΡΟΣ-ΑΕΡΟΣ