Jane's Special Forces Recognition Guide [Paperback]

Ewen Southby-Tailyour (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jane's Special Forces Recognition Guide | Publication Date: October 18, 2005

Comprehensive guide to the world's special forces and their kit. Special forces can be defined as 'a military unit trained for unconventional operations and especially counter-insurgency'. The often covert and unique nature of these unit's duties require specially manufactured weaponry, transport and reconnaissance hardware, and this guide provides a compact and authoritative guide to kit used by the elite forces of the world. Up-to-the-minute photography and information comes from the leaders in the field of defence and security information, Jane's Information Group. The author is retired Lt. Colonel Southby-Tailyour who served with the Royal Marines and is the established editor of Jane's Amphibious and Special Forces. This is the authority on Special Forces, ideal for any level of military enthusiast. So if you want to know about Special Forces weapons or transport or even their elite use of surveillance equipment including human presence sensors then this is the kit you need! Introduction Weapons -- hand guns, rifles, knives Surveillance equipment -- intelligence gathering/surveillance devices, passive night goggles, movement sensors, human presence sensors, UAVs Transport -- light attack vehicles, all terrain vehicles, amphibians, high speed insertion craft, long-range insertion craft, canoes, rigid inflatable boats, inflatable raiding craft, submersible RIBS, swimmer delivery vehicles, midget submarines, diving equipment, air cushion vehicles Communications -- voice UHF, VHF, HF, morse HF, Electronic warfare/monitors Personal combat equipment The World's Special Forces.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Retired Lt.Colonel Southby-Tailyour (OBE) served with the British Royal Marines for thirty two years. Currently Ewen works as an amphibious consultant for international companies and defence organisations and skippers naval explorations to the Arctic.Ewen is also the acclaimed Editor of Jane's Amphibious and Special Forces.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007183291
• ISBN-13: 978-0007183296
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GLOBAL 'SPECIAL FORCES' CATALOG FOR EVERYTHING FROM DESERT BOOTS TO APACHE HELICOPTERS, August 9, 2006

By 

Heather L. Parisi "Robert and Heather Parisi" (St. Augustine, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jane's Special Forces Recognition Guide (Paperback)

IN A NUTSHELL: NEEDED TO CREATE THE IDEAL SHOPPING LIST FOR ---

A 'must have' for every defense department of every country - large or small. 'Jane's Special Forces Recognition Guide', by Ewen Southby-Tailyour, offers any military organization with a checklist of what they will need to quickly and properly outfit their 'Special Forces' units as their 'Special' needs arise.

I AM NOT KIDDING AROUND ABOUT THIS:

The items in the first 70 pages of this guide look like very appealing and mainstream Christmas gift ideas for close friends and family. Here you will find a grand array of gear, equipment and duds that might make any perspective holiday or back-to-school shopper's, mouth water.

Below are just a few such examples which each have their own color photo taken while being modeled [presumably] by 'Special Forces' personnel and include a short discription of the features, manufacturer and a list of countries that use the product.

DESERT BOOTS, GOOGLES, BACKPACKS, HAVERSACKS, RUCKSACKS, FUR-LINED THERMO BOOTS, CELL PHONES, BINOCULARS, WINDPROOF SNIPER SMOCKS, ARCTIC GLOVES & MITTENS, COMMANDO SOCKS & EAGLE AIRBORNE ASSAULT PACK ["for demanding operations"]

FEEDBACK FROM THE YOUNGER GENERATION:

While I was looking over this first 'designer gear' section of the book, my teen daughter Angela wanted to grab it from me and wanted to know if she could get some of this "STUFF" for school wear!?

I am pleased to say that of the 496 pages in this volume, only about 100 are within the section titled, "WEAPONS:HAND GUNS". To this book's credit however, this section's info and stats are much more complete than 'Jane's Gun Recognition' volume. In this 'Special Forces - Recognition Guide' much more specifications about each weapon are included, including ballistic info completely lacking in the 'Jane's Gun Recognition Guide'.

BUT THERE IS MORE -- MUCH MORE:

This volume goes way beyond just clothing and guns and in fact dedicates almost 2/3 of its contents to such hard to find topics as; Transport Aircraft, Helicopters of all types used in Special Forces, plus Amphibious vehicles, Hovercrafts, Body Armor, Seal Delivery Systems [submersible], Remotely Piloted Vehicles [RPV].

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: COUNTRY LIST OF SPECIAL AND ELITE FORCES

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamentally, a strange book, but quite informative, October 4, 2009

By 

Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jane's Special Forces Recognition Guide (Paperback)

Okay, so there you are in the middle of the desert. Some folks drive up in a modified Land Rover. You pull out this book and identify their truck, their boots, the radios on their waists, the pistols on their legs, and the machine gun mounted in back. Yep, they're special forces, probably British. Heck, you could also identify the submarine that dropped them off, or the hovercraft that will pick them up. Etc. So, as a "recognition guide" it's pretty strange. You could think of it as a catalog. "If it's good enough for the Delta operators, it's good enough for me." Or you could take it as a guidebook to the equipment, and therefore indirectly, the missions of special forces worldwide. A fun, informative book.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY HELPFUL TO A SOF SOLDIER, SAILOR, AIRMAN, OR MARINE, June 29, 2006

By 

Steve A. Miller "Devil dog 1025" (Jacksonville, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jane's Special Forces Recognition Guide (Paperback)

This is a good book to reference when training foreign militaries. It is a lot to learn, but the pictures and descriptions are very helpful. I highly recommend for anyone that wants to get smart on other country militaries througout the World.