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Air power has been one of the key elements in modern warfare. This book, first published in 1986, analyses the likely changes to this key role as military technology and strategic thinking evolve. It begins with the history and present status of air power and assesses technical developments, and then discusses the character of future warfare, and its implications for planes and helicopters in land and sea campaigns. It also analyses issues like tactical air mobility, the vulnerability of airfields, aerial mass destruction, electronic warfare, and developments in NATO and Warsaw Pact. It concludes with an overview of the likely role of airpower in future warfare.

"Cosmic Threats : A Planetary Perspective calls for the progressive creation of supra-national institutions intended to protect life on Earth against natural threats, be these terrestrial (pandemics, super-volcanoes, major earthquakes...) or celestial (comets, asteroids, meteor storms...). The protection proffered would need to be pre-emptive though also responsive, reducing the number of adverse events but also their specific consequences. Rancid though the world scene currently looks, this may actually be a good time to look towards a planetary security programme that can build up over a century or more. It would need special international institutions that are sufficiently integrated to cope with the celestial and terrestrial contingencies anticipated yet not so much a class apart as to be a law unto themselves, a military regime able to ride roughshod over general world opinion. Such an holistic approach to planetary security might prove to be a definitive substitute for war between nations. Professor Brown comes to such questions from a broad career background. His lead qualifications are a Masters degree from Oxford in Modern History and a Doctorate of Science from Birmingham (UK) in Applied Geophysics. He has been a naval meteorologist; staff college instructor; part-time but pro-active as a defence correspondent for several of the West's leading journals; and political consultant. From 1980 to 1986, he was Chairman of the Council for Arms Control. From 1993 to 1997 he worked half-time in the Sensors and Electronic Systems directorate of Britain's Ministry of Defence. This was as the Academic Consultant in a small task force specifically created to advise the government of the day apropos what British policy to Strategic Ballistic Missile Defence should be"--Provided by publisher

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Prefatory Statement -- The Author -- 1 Legends and Realities -- 2 Galactic Reconnaissance -- 3 Tough Centuries Ahead -- 4 Planetary Confinement -- (1) Limited World War -- (2) Ambiguous Togetherness -- 5 The Abrahamic Schism -- (1) Islam -- (2) The Holy Land -- 6 The Thermonuclear Five -- 7 Skyward Precursors -- (1) Muscovite Adjustment -- (2) The Chinese Heritage -- (3) China Ascendant -- 8 Terrestrial Belligerence -- (1) Near Space -- (2) Regular War -- (3) Insurgency and Proliferation -- 9 Near Earth Objects -- 10 Celestial Engagement -- (1) Strategic Command -- (2) Operational Applications -- 11 Emergent Priorities -- 12 The Cosmic Setting -- Appendix A: The Geostrategic Structure -- Appendix B: Earthquakes and Volcanoes -- Notes -- Index -- About Sussex Academic Press

The central question at the heart of this consideration is how far the West may need to modify or extend the liberal philosophy that informs its responses to the multiple world crises it is currently addressing. The book provides a review of the strengths and weaknesses of a social liberalism that, broadly speaking, occupies the ground between the moderate Right and the moderate Left, and is founded upon the conviction that the world, in 50 years, will be either considerably better than it is currently or else a good deal worse. This study argues that those concerned with ensuring the former outcome should promote the spread of well-founded democracy among emergent states, without forgetting to look stringently at how well democratic institutions may function in the mass societies of the West. The author applies his expertise in history, international security, planetary development, and applied geophysics in discussing issues such as climate change and resource depletion; community decay, data saturation, democratic devolution, and medical philosophy; and biowarfare, international political economy, and a planetary ethos. He argues that humanity is passing through an evolutionary transition as impacting as that between the Old and the New Stone Ages, and that humankind's perspectives on the immediate future may be honed by free-ranging speculation about what it can anticipate over the next few centuries

The author seeks to bring new perspectives to current debates and argues that control of the missile threats cannot be achieved without addressing ecological, economic, social and cultural elements in a stable world order.

This book is a balanced and comprehensive overview of the links between climate and man's advance from pre-history to modern times. It is a synthesis of the many historical and scientific theories regarding man's progress through the ages.