The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems (Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems) [Hardcover]

Norman Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2006 | Series: Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems

Long recognized as the most comprehensive reference work available on the subject, this guide remains the only complete reference to the weapons currently in service in ships, submarines, and naval aircraft around the world. It is the only book of its type to explain the transformation of the U.S. Navy into a network-centric force, a transformation that has had immense consequences for choices of tactics, weapons, services, and the systems coordinating them. This guide also offers unparalleled coverage of the weapons, sensors, and command systems of the world's navies, both those the U.S. Navy works with and those it may have to fight. Written by one of the world's leading naval analysts, the book describes the weapons and systems in detail and examines the crucial relationship between them. Completely rewritten and newly illustrated, this edition makes a special effort to provide a clear and precise account of how weapon technology has changed to meet the new tactical and strategic challenges facing international naval forces today. Cutting-edge information is found throughout, enhanced by many new and rarely seen photographs and drawings. For example, this volume offers an unusually full account of the "system of systems" under development by the U.S. Navy and the other services to fight future limited regional wars. That initiative includes the changing role of space resources as they affect war on, over, and under the sea. This edition also benefits from the flood of material from Russia, whose weapons and systems are now owned and operated by numerous countries and are likely to be sold to many more. The guide provides uniquely detailed coverage of weapons developed and deployed in the Far East, an area that promises to be the liveliest scene of naval action in the future. Extensive sections are devoted to explaining the intricate workings of sensors and command systems. No other book, or even set of books, offers this sort of material in such accessible form. Its detail and completeness are backed by the authority of a long established professional expert. For the most complete and up-to-date information about weapons in every navy in the world, this is the essential resource - a work that, in effect, can serve as a textbook of modern naval technology.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Norman Friedman is the author of dozens of books, including Terrorism, Afghanistan, and America’s New Way of War and Seapower as Strategy: Navies and National Interest. A resident of New York, he lectures around the world on naval and related military topics and contributes a monthly column analyzing world naval developments for Proceedings magazine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 858 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press; 5 edition (May 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557502625
• ISBN-13: 978-1557502629
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,101,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An alternative to the Jane's guides, September 21, 2009

By 

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

This review is from: Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems (The Naval Institute guide to...) (Hardcover)

This is a little bit dated now, but not horribly so. The cold war ending has slowed down new naval weapon systems. Some of the "new" systems in here never did appear, and other older systems are gone as well. Using this guidebook plus some judicious web surfing is pretty good naval research for the non-specialist. Of course if you need the expensive current editions, you already know that...

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the time, September 17, 2010

By 

Heiko Henning "Ek Ek Raymond" (Leverkusen, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems (The Naval Institute guide to...) (Hardcover)

The Book is very good esp. if you like to play Harpoon or any other (not so many out there) grown up versions of battleship. Great as a picture of the state of the art at the end of the cold war.