Customer Reviews

Modern Battlefield Warplanes

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This book is an enjoyable review of seven of the main CAS aircraft in use on the battlefield today. The book reviews the A/OA-10 Warthog (Thunderbolt II), AV-8 Harrier "jump jet," AH-64 Apache and Longbow Apache, AH-1 Cobra and Supercobra, SU-25 Frogfoot, Kamov Ka-50 series helicopters, and MI-24 Hind. This book summarizes the development, operational histories, and improvements on each type over time. There are lots of pictures - both static and in action for all types. Each type has cutaways and/or large, two page pictures of the aircraft. The book also presents units and order of battle for the countries that produce the aircraft types and allies who use them. It's not surprising that much of the combat information for the Western aircraft comes from Persian Gulf, Bosnia, and Middle East conflicts (Falklands for the Harrier), where as much of the Russian combat information comes from Afghanistan and Chechnya.

I really like this book because it has interesting summaries of the aircraft from protoype development to combat involvement to present status. I am a huge fan of attack aircraft and am pleased to see the latest pictures and information on the AH-1Z, four-bladed, Supercobra. This is a nice reference for an attack aircraft buff.

I do have two small criticisms of the book. First, much of the information presented here has been printed in other publications such as World Airpower Journal, Combat Aircraft, Air Forces International, and Air Forces Monthly. So, if you regularly read those publications many of the pictures and reviews will be familiar. However, this is the only single publication where you will find all of this information inside of one cover. The second criticism is that I can't believe that the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter was omitted. EU pride should be rankled.

Anyway, this is a nice book to have and I will enjoy it for a long time to come.