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- The Complete History of U.S. Cruise Missiles: From Kettering's 1920s' Bug & 1950's Snark to Today's Tomahawk
This limited edition book is signed by author Bill Yenne.
The year 2018 celebrates the Centennial of US Cruise Missiles. In 1918 Col. Hap Arnold, future father of the U. S. Air Force, was sent overseas to France to prepare for the operational deployment of vast clouds of unmanned Kettering Bugs to be used against the German Army. This book begins with an overview covering the important subject of long-range cruise missiles, providing readers with a unique look at early programs leading to the development of the first primitive cruise missiles. Highlighted are the 1920s Kettering Bug and combat-proven German V-1 buzz-bomb used with such devastating effect in World War II. Covered next is the exciting first generation of U.S. turbojet-powered, long range, supersonic, winged cruise missiles, such as the Matador, Mace, Snark, Regulus, and Navaho, all of which bore the brunt of U.S. deterrence during the critical years of the Cold War in the 1950s.
Having appropriately covered the history and development of cruise missiles, the focus shifts to today's premier strategic weapon system, the BGM-109 missile that effectively checkmated the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. In-depth text describes how this highly advanced winged vehicle evolved to become the world's primary operational unmanned weapon today, with the Tomahawk family of cruise missiles currently numbering more than 3,000. Detailed, yet with easy-to-understand text, this book explains how and why this weapon was developed and is still being utilized in an impressive ongoing combat career.
Employing a considerable archive of U.S. cruise missile data and material amassed during his extensive research, author Bill Yenne has created a compelling work containing a wealth of previously unpublished photographs plus detailed technical information that is simply unavailable in any other product on the market today.
Pages: 204
Size: 9 X 9 (inches)
Format: Paperback
Illustrations: 229 color, 110 b/w photos
Publisher: CarTech
ISBN: 9781580072625
Product Code: SP256S
About the Author
Introduction
Chapter 1: From Bug to Buzz Bomb
The Kettering Bug
Radio Control
Target Drones
Revival of the Assault Drone
America’s First Operational Assault Drones
Arnold and Kettering, Together Again
Project Perilous
The Buzz Bomb
American Sons of the Buzz Bomb
Looking Back on Three Decades
Chapter 2: The First Air Force Cruise Missiles
Army Versus Air Force
Cultural Issues
Air Force Versus Navy
The Matador
The Mace
Chapter 3: U.S. Navy Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles
Budget Background
Regulus
Regulus II
Chapter 4: Intercontinental Cruise Missiles
The Navaho
Two Imaginary Creatures
The Snark
Project Pluto
Chapter 5: Nothing But a Hound Dog
The Rascal
The Hound Dog
An Unexpectedly Long Phaseout
Decoy Missiles
Chapter 6: The Air-Launched Cruise Missile
SCAD and SCAM
TERCOM
The Development Process
An Unexpected Flyoff
Cold Warrior Deployment
The Attack of the CALCM
Chapter 7: Birth of the Tomahawk
Defining the U.S. Navy Cruise Missile
Two Flyoffs
First Generation Tomahawk Variants
A Second Source
The Tomahawk in Detail
DSMAC
Chapter 8: The Cruise Missile That Won the Cold War
Defining the Ground-Launched Cruise Missile
Developing the Ground-Launched Cruise Missile
Deploying the Ground-Launched Cruise Missile
Soviet Reaction
The GLCM Legacy
Chapter 9: The Tomahawk Goes to Sea
The Tomahawk Goes to War
Tomahawk Block III
Wars in the Balkans
Chapter 10: The Troubled Life of the Advanced Cruise Missile
Chapter 11: Tomahawk in a New Century
Twenty-First Century Warrior
The Block IV TacTom
Continuing Combat Operations
The End of TLAM-N
The Rebirth of TASM as MST
Chapter 12: Twenty-First Century Developments
JASSM
Stealthy Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles
Going Hypersonic
The Long-Range Standoff Weapon
Appendix: Cruise Missile Specifications
Index
Reviews
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IPMS/USA
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(Posted on 11/10/2018)"Bill Yenne provides a very readable text that is well supplemented with previously un-published photographs and illustrations. If you want the history of US cruise missiles in one book, this is the reference you need."
Bill Yenne
San Francisco-based author Bill Yenne has written more than two dozen books on military and historical topics. A member of the American Aviation Historical Society, he contributed to encyclopedias of both world wars and won the Air Force Association's prestigious Gill Robb Wilson Award. His extensive writings about aviation and aerospace include corporate histories of the Boeing Company, Convair, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, North American, and Rockwell International. Aviation biographies penned by Yenne include Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire in Aces High: The Heroic Story of the Two Top-Scoring American Aces of World War II, described as "The greatest flying story of all time." Yenne has appeared in documentaries for the History Channel, Smithsonian and National Geographic channels, ARD (German television), and NHK (Japanese television), and his book signings have been covered by C-SPAN.
