Bøker av David K. Stumpf

"In the early eighties, as world superpowers engaged in the aggressive stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction, US president Ronald Reagan's announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative began the development and coordination of missile technologies applicable to strategic defense against civilization's most dangerous inventions. While the initial focus of this effort was the intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear threats from the Soviet Union or China, by the end of the decade attention turned to potential ICBM threats from rogue states such as North Korea, Iran, and Iraq. And so, a new time for ballistic missile defense had begun. The Last Thirty Seconds: A Brief History of the Evolution of Hit-To-Kill Technology is a masterful record of the evolution of improved ballistic missile defense capabilities in the decades since the height of the nuclear arms race. With an exceptionally researched style, David K. Stumpf recounts the development of midcourse- and terminal-phase defense commonly known as "hit-to-kill," a nonnuclear technique at the center of current ballistic missile defense systems using kinetic energy rather than explosives for the destruction of reentry vehicles carrying chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads. With the aid of recently declassified documents, Stumpf guides the reader through the complex history of the evolution of a technology that many said could never be achieved, bringing its story to life with dozens of rare photographs and technical illustrations. While much of the subject remains classified, what is described in this detailed study will be welcomed by librarians, engineers, and high-technology history professionals for the depth of its access, the substance of its references, and the exposure of archival material on the missiles the have defined military defense from the Cold War to the present"--

This book details the Regulus Program, initiated by Chance Vought Aircraft corporation, already famous for the F4U Corsair, which paved the way for inertial navigation and subsequently the guided missile program.

The Titan II ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) program was developed by the United States military to bolster the size, strength, and speed of the nation's strategic weapons arsenal in the 1950s and 1960s. Each missile carried a single warheadthe largest in U.S. inventoryused liquid fuel propellants, and was stored and launched from hardened underground silos. The missiles were deployed at basing facilities in Arkansas, Arizona, and Kansas and remained in active service for over twenty years. Since military deactivation in the early 1980s, the Titan II has served as a reliable satellite launch vehicle. This is the richly detailed story of the Titan II missile and the men and women who developed and operated the system. David K. Stumpf uses a wide range of sources, drawing upon interviews with and memoirs by engineers and airmen as well as recently declassified government documents and other public materials. Over 170 drawings and photographs, most of which have never been published, enhance the narrative. The three major accidents of the program are described in detail for the first time using authoritative sources. Titan II will be welcomed by librarians for its prodigious reference detail, by technology history professionals and laymen, and by the many civilian and Air Force personnel who were involved in the programa deterrent weapons system that proved to be successful in defending America from nuclear attack."