Osprey

The Gulf War bore witness to a number of deadly encounters between these two great adversaries. Heavily armored, highly mobile and capable of killing at over 2500m the M1 Abrams is, to this day, a veritable fighting machine. Superior to both Iraq's Soviet era T-55 and T-62 tanks, nearly all sources claim that no Abrams tank has ever been destroyed by enemy fire. Despite entering service in 1980, the M1 Abrams remained untested in combat until the Gulf War in 1991, where it was to be confronted by its archenemy the Iraqi-assembled Soviet-designed T-72. Entering production in 1971, the T-72 arguably outstripped its contemporaries in a balance of mobility, protection and firepower. By the time of Operation Desert Storm, however, the tables had turned and the tank suffered due to low quality ammunition and poorly trained crews. In this fascinating study, Steven Zaloga pits these two great fighting machines against one another, plotting the development of the Cold War until both tanks met in combat in the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait.

The Nimitz class aircraft carrier is the ultimate symbol of the United States superpower status. A true behemoth, this is an unsurpassed weapons platform that overshadows all of its nearest rivals. A history of the world's largest aircraft carriers, with runways over 300 meters long, this book looks at the development and deployment of the nuclear-powered Nimitz class aircraft carriers from 1975 when the USS Nimitz, the lead ship of the class, was commissioned, to the present day. All of the class are still operational and the tenth and last of the class, the USS George H. W. Bush, was commissioned in 2009. Here, Brad Elward provides a detailed overview of their design and development, highlighting their unique features, from jet blast deflectors to cutting edge radar systems, and a history of the Nimitz class in service, from deployment in the Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, through to the enforcement of the no fly zone over Bosnia.