{"title":"Books by Abraham Abrams","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"chinas-stealth-fighter","title":"China's Stealth Fighter","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe United States and Soviet Union began a race to develop the first and most capable fifth generation stealth fighters in the late 1970s. The Cold War’s end, however, was followed by both a near total collapse of Russian efforts and major cuts and delays to American programs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis provided an opening for a rising and fast modernising Chinese defence industry to kick off its own ambitious program to produce a world leading fighter jet with next generation capabilities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnce unveiled, the program came to be seen as a herald of China’s rising status as a leading player in high tech and major world power.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDevelopment of the Chengdu J-20 began in the 1990s and has since consistently far exceeded expectations in both its performance and its development timeline. The fighter made its first flight in 2011 and began deliveries to the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 2016 – a small fraction of the time its American and Russian rivals would take. Today it is the world’s second most numerous stealth fighter, outnumbered only by America’s much smaller Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, with the two rivals seeing their first of many likely encounters confirmed in March 2022\\. As the J-20’s capabilities have rapidly improved and the rate of production has significantly grown, it has very conspicuously played a growing role in patrolling major hotspots in East Asia from Korea and the East China Sea to the Taiwan Strait and disputed South China Sea. The J-20 program’s success has been the most potent symbol of China’s ascent from a minor player in combat aviation during the Cold War, to the United States’ only peer level competitor today. It has also set China on a course of pursuing multiple other fighter development efforts – including a close competition with America to field the first and most capable sixth generation fighter in the 2030s. The J-20 thus marks a major landmark not only in Chinese aviation history, but also more broadly in the evolving balance of power between East and West as the country’s technological and economic ascents allow it to successfully pursue highly ambitious weapons programs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book takes the J-20’s story far back to the formation of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and its trial by fire in the Korean War, tracing the rationale for developing a top end air superiority fighter. It also compares its performance with rival fifth generation fighter programs in other countries and looks ahead to what the future may hold in this new arms race.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483464212853,"sku":"9781036105501","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781036105501.jpg?v=1786178630"},{"product_id":"f-35-joint-strike-fighter","title":"F-35 Joint Strike Fighter","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57487666446709,"sku":"9781804519400","price":29.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804519400.jpg?v=1786354893"},{"product_id":"j-20-mighty-dragon","title":"J-20 Mighty Dragon","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplores the J-20 stealth fighter's development, technologies, and global impact, highlighting China's rise as a major player in combat aviation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe J-20 fifth generation stealth fighter program has epitomised China’s rise from a laggard in combat aviation into a potential world leader.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJ-20 Mighty Dragon: Asia’s First Stealth Fighter in the Era of China’s Military Rise details the J-20’s technologies, capabilities, production timeline, design priorities, roles, evolution, and the formations and locations where it has been deployed, the ways other countries have responded to it, and how the last 30 years of China’s industrial and technology sector's modernisation positioned the country to produce what may well now be the world’s top air superiority fighter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe J-20 program is the most high-profile indicator of a turning point in the balance of power between China and the United States, and has produced by far the most capable fighter that America or its allies could face in a potential conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn assessment of the history of Chinese air superiority capabilities, and how the Korean War in particular has influenced the country to place a very strong emphasis on the need to field a leading fighter for air-to-air combat, thus provides an important deeper understanding of the program.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eImportant context to understanding the J-20’s significance and its current global standing is provided by brief assessments of the positions of the Russian and American fighter industries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe parallel development of supporting assets from aerial tankers to electronic warfare planes is also explored for a better understanding of the much-transformed Chinese fleet which J-20s are being inducted into.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe program is also shown to have had a particularly significant influence in the United States, ranging from placing discourse on the F-35’s modernisation and on sixth generation fighter development in an entirely new context, to stimulating the formation of new counter-stealth aggressor training units, development of new air-to-air missiles, and the acquisition of E-7 ‘flying radar’ aircraft among many other responses to the new challenge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJ-20 Mighty Dragon: Asia’s First Stealth Fighter in the Era of China’s Military Rise is the fi rst volume in the new Technology@War series and is extensively illustrated with colour photographs throughout and specially commissioned colour artworks.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57487971910005,"sku":"9781804515600","price":19.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804515600.jpg?v=1786355215"},{"product_id":"mig-31-foxhound","title":"MiG-31 Foxhound","description":"Entering service in 1981, the Soviet MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor was developed specifically for very long-range air and missile defence operations in the Arctic. Designed to secure Soviet territory against strategic bombers over great distances, the aircraft’s combination of an exceptional cruising speed over twice the speed of sound, a large arsenal of long-range air-to-air missiles, and a cutting edge radar of unprecedented size and power, made it in many respects the most outstanding tactical combat jet of its generation. Forty-five years later, having benefited from incremental modernization, the Foxhound continues to be relied on as the sole air defence asset guarding the large majority of Russia’s more remote regions, including some of the most strategically critical and resource rich areas of the Arctic.Despite its longevity in service, the MiG-31’s importance in the Russian Armed Forces has continued to grow due to a multitude of converging factors, including the escalation of geopolitical conflict in the Arctic, the expansion of numbers in service, and the service entry of new variants designed for ballistic missile strike and anti-satellite warfare roles in the late 2010s. Following the testing of its capabilities, both as a long-range interceptor and as a ballistic missile strike aircraft in combat in the Ukrainian theatre from 2022, the Foxhound’s demonstration of distinct advantages over other Russian combat aircraft has drawn growing attention from defence analysts, and cemented the consensus regarding its central importance in the Russian Armed Forces.This book provides a detailed assessment of the MiG-31 from its initial conceptualization as an enhanced variant of the ground-breaking MiG-25P Foxbat interceptor in the early 1970s, to its continued central role in the Russian Aerospace Forces in era of renewed conflict with the West and ongoing high intensity operations against Ukraine. Operational engagements revealed in this book range from interceptions of USAF SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance flights and standoffs with American F-15s near Japan in the 1980s to the precision targeting of Ukrainian air defence systems from 2023\\. The impacts of the post-Soviet decline in Russia’s standing in related technologies and industries on the MiG-31’s evolution, and the growing uncertainties regarding both its future and Russia’s ability to develop a capable successor, are also examined in detail.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502134731125,"sku":"9781036159139","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781036159139.jpg?v=1786780952"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-abraham-abrams.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}