15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good info and photos; sloppy editing, July 25, 2002
This review is from: Brassey's Modern Fighters: The Ultimate Guide to In-Flight Tactics, Technology, Weapons and Equipment (Hardcover)
This is a worthwhile book for those interested in modern military aviation. Covered here are 16 modern fighters in service - China's J-7 and J-8, Tornado, Mirage 2000, Su-27/35 family, Mig 29, Mig 31, Harrier/AV-8, Eurofighter, Rafael, F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, Sweden's SAAB-39 Grippen, and Taiwan's IDF, and 4 aircraft in development stage: Sukhoi's S-37 Berkut, JSF's, and F-22. Curiously, among the more fascinating fighters still in development, 3 are not covered here: India's LCA, Japan's F-2, and Russia's Mig 1.44/MFI.
It discusses some newer technologies like stealth, unmanned combat vehicles, laser weapons, and thrust-vectoring (mentioning X-31). Fighter maneuvers and tactics are also covered. Mike Spick does a good job describing each integral part of a modern fighter plane, like the propulsion system, wing aspect ratio, ejection seats, radar, etc. There are nice photos. The charts comparing performances of aircraft are interesting.
The most obvious flaw of this book is very sloppy editing. Typos are abundant. There are some errors, some obviously accidental (e.g., it mentions that Taiwan started IDF development in 1992 -- but it should be 1982 -- in 1992 IDF was well in production and Taiwan had ordered F-16 and Mirage 2000).
Also I wished that Mike Spick could give more subjective views of the aircraft. For example, how is F-16 compared to F-18? Why would an airforce choose one over the other (e.g. Spain, Canada, and Australia all chose F-18 and no F-16). Although he dose give good opinions and comparisons when talking about the Su-27 family.
Overall, still a pretty good book.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good book covers new knowledge and design data, September 6, 2000
This review is from: Brassey's Modern Fighters: The Ultimate Guide to In-Flight Tactics, Technology, Weapons and Equipment (Hardcover)
This is a new book by Mike Spick about current and future development of fighters. There are three categories in the book :first part is the knowledge of fighter design, equipment and how to measure the capability of a fighter. The 2nd part covers several fighters around the world, including two from red China and those so called 5th generation fighters. The last part talks about the current and future development, including stealth and UAV. There are also pages of introduction of F-22, JSF, S-37 and others after this section.
This is a very good, or you could say excellent book for current and near future fighter development. Mike Spick explains terms very well and easy to understand even for general readers. For average reader, this is a book to know the latest development and terms of technologies. For more hardcore and experienced reader, this is a good updating reference of latest data.
For summary this is a book you should have.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enhanced throughout with dramatic photographs, February 19, 2001
This review is from: Brassey's Modern Fighters: The Ultimate Guide to In-Flight Tactics, Technology, Weapons and Equipment (Hardcover)
In Brassey's Modern Fighters: The Ultimate Guide to In-Flight Tactics, Technology, Weapons, and Equipment, military aviation expert Mike Spick provides the reader with a detailed and comprehensive survey of the technology, design, dimensions, and combat qualities of fighter aircraft from around the world and ranging from China's Chengdu F-7MG and Russia's MiG-31 Foxhound, to the French Mirage 2000 and the America F-22 Raptor. Also provided is a wealth of up-to-date information on radar, infra-red detection measures, missile guidance systems, cockpit communications, ballistics, and stealth technology. The superbly written text is enhanced throughout with dramatic photographs and is highly recommended reading for military buffs and aviation enthusiasts.
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