The authors are both experienced tactical pilots who have served in the USAF & Schreiner flew F-4G Wild Weasels during the desert campaign. This is a very important book that looks into the largely untold story of the electronic war that is critical to modern air warfare – Highly Recommended.
NAME: Magnum! The Wild Weasels in Desert Storm FILE: R2592 AUTHOR: Brick Eisel & Jim Schreiner PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 274 PRICE: £19.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Op Granby, Middle East. Gulf War 1990-1991, AA suppression, ground attack, anti-radiation missiles, escort fighters, F-16CG, F-4G, HARM, SA-2, SAM ISBN: 1-47389-900-1 IMAGE: B2592.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/ydy4jbeh LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The authors are both experienced tactical pilots who have served in the USAF & Schreiner flew F-4G Wild Weasels during the desert campaign. This is a very important book that looks into the largely untold story of the electronic war that is critical to modern air warfare – Highly Recommended. The subject of the electronic war is not only critical to understanding the modern air war environment, but it holds many lessons for those who would replace all manned aircraft with drones. The human component is adaptable in a way that computer managed autonomous systems are not, at least for the moment. WWII saw the real introduction of the electronic air war. The RAF were able to fight off significantly greater numbers of enemy aircraft because the RAF was equipped with a unique integrated, radar fed, command and control system that also took in data from audible detection equipment and visual air observation. The Germans had been aware of some of the RAF progress and had used the airship Graf Zeppelin to conduct monitoring sorties in an attempt to produce a picture of how this electronic detection system functioned. That they failed, is the reason for their inevitable failure during the Battle of Britain. It set the point from which the rest of the war developed with electronics increasingly determining the outcome. When the RAF and USAAF began heavy strategic bombing, the Germans had to work hard to develop electronic systems to assist their air defences in countering the raids. It was partially successful in that it caused very heavy losses for both the RAF and USAAF bombers, but it was not uncontested with counter measures and it failed to establish air superiority for the Luftwaffe in its home skies. What it did do however was to establish the pattern of air warfare from that point. Radar would be required to position fighters and aim AA Artillery. Integration of systems would be critical and fighter aircraft would require their own onboard radar systems during engagements and to direct the aircraft and the onboard missile systems. Radar and infrared guidance would be vital to directing missiles once they had left their aircraft for the target. Bombers and fighters would require methods of countering enemy detection systems and their related defensive systems. By the start of the Gulf War 1990-1991, all combat aircraft had to be able to operate in an electronically hostile environment. An electronic arms race had been running since 1945, as the MkI eyeball and the canon were progressively replaced by missiles. Winning the electronic war would determine the winner of the whole episode of combat. The audible ranging system is still in use and shows some promise of augmenting active radio systems in a heavily contested electronic environment, for the simple reason that it is a passive detection system. Its increasingly sophisticated and intelligent electronics can be built with TEMPEST protection to ensure that no measurable radiation escapes the detectors. In the same way, infrared detection systems can operate without betraying their position. These two systems do show some potential for further development, but they are essentially short range systems in a world were combat aircraft eat up distance very quickly. Everything else relies on active detection and ranging, with the result that it transmits radiation that can be detected by the enemy. Given that radar is ground based, and now also based in AEW aircraft, for wide area detection of multiple targets, it presents potentially large targets to the enemy and relies on range to pick up incoming combat planes and missiles far enough away to be able to stop emitting before they come into the range of their payloads and to direct friendly fighters and Anti-Air systems onto the inbound threats. Additional radar systems are mounted directly on SAM and artillery weapons to direct fire on inbound enemy threats. However, the AA systems have a shorter time period before the enemy is able to fire on them. That requires great dexterity in use of radar to defend without disclosing fatally the positions of the AA systems. ELINT is now a major part of the equation. In peace, and in war, aircraft and other assets are employed to detect and evaluate the electronic systems available to potential enemies. This intelligence is used to equip Wild Weasel aircraft to suppress enemy defences, ensuring that bombers can reach the targets in reasonable safety and deliver their payloads with the required accuracy and efficiency. The authors have provided a detailed and understandable presentation of how Wild Weasel aircraft were employed during the 1990-1991 Gulf War. The descriptive text is reinforced with some excellent images through the book, including impressive full colour images.