Harpia Publishing is proud to announce the launch of a new series, Russia’s Warplanes, set to become the standard reference work on the subject. Written by an acknowledged expert in the field, this will serve as an exhaustive directory of the latest products of Russia’s military aviation industry. As well as outlining aircraft that currently equip the various Russian air arms, the first of two volumes also takes into account aircraft developed for and fielded by foreign states in the post-Soviet era. Piotr Butowski provides authoritative technical descriptions for each military aircraft – and every significant sub-variant – currently available from Russia’s aerospace industry, or otherwise in large-scale service.

With the level of accuracy and insight familiar to Harpia’s regular readers, each aircraft profile also includes specifications, and details of operators, upgrades, avionics and weapons. The first of two volumes on the subject presents in-depth coverage of tactical combat aircraft, trainers, Army Aviation helicopters, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, airborne command posts and relay aircraft. As such, the breadth of this work extends from the latest multi-role fighters developed by Mikoyan and Sukhoi, via successive generations of combat rotorcraft, to airborne early warning and electronic intelligence-gatherers. As well as familiar types such as the Su-30MK family of fighters and Mi-24/35 assault helicopters that have proven so successful on the export market, Russia’s Warplanes extends its reach to the various new and upgraded types that are beginning to populate Russia’s rejuvenated air arms, including those still under development, including the enigmatic ‘fifth-generation’ Sukhoi T-50 fighter.

Additional assets, including long-range bombers, maritime aircraft, strategic transport and tanker aircraft, theatre and special purpose transports, and air-launched weapons will be dealt with in Volume 2. Supplemented by 200 photographs, some of which from exclusive sources, as well as specially created maps and diagrams, Volume 1 of Russia’s Warplanes launches the most comprehensive study of the fixed- and rotary wing aircraft types – manned and unmanned – that can currently be found in Russian service or which are being built or offered for export.

On 6 October 1973, the Egyptian and Syrian air arms launched an attack on Israeli military installations on the Sinai Peninsula and in the Golan Heights. For Israel, it was a war that started with a surprise and alarming losses in men and material, and was characterised by the deployment of advanced electronics, computers and guided missiles. For the Arabs it was a war of revenge, in the best traditions of guts and glory.

Clearly written and illustrated with a rich and unique collection of exclusive photography and original illustrations, Arab MiGs Volume 5 provides a detailed record of aerial warfare during the opening phases of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict. Drawing on extensive research, declassified information, and interviews with dozens of participants, it recounts the origins, operational history, and battle performance of all the air forces involved. While concentrating on the Arab experiences, Arab MiGs Volume 5 is the first comprehensive analysis of the aerial operations waged by both sides in this conflict.

No modern air force would contemplate a critical air operation without the involvement of some kind of airborne early warning component. For the first time, Harpia Publishing presents the full history of the airborne early warning mission and its various aircraft, from these first tentative steps in World War II up to the present day, and the use of AEW and control (AEW&C) platforms as a familiar force multiplier in modern air warfare.

Detailed, precise and accurate, Ian Shaw and Sérgio Santana draw upon a myriad of technical data, archive material and extensive interviews with the personnel who have operated AEW&C aircraft through the years. As well as detailing the development of technology and daily operations of the airborne early warning community, attention is also given to the deployment of these capabilities in combat, from World War II, via Korea and Southeast Asia to the various Arab-Israeli Wars, Operation Desert Storm and more recent campaigns.

Israel remains the cornerstone of Middle East conflicts and tensions, and the spearhead of Israeli military might remains the Air Corps (Kheil Ha'Avir) of the Israeli Defence Forces. Renowned for its continuous efforts to maintain dominance in every dimension of air warfare, improve its capabilities, and outsmart its opponents, the Israeli Air and Space Force has recently been moving away from preparations for interstate wars towards improving its potential to wage asymmetric conflicts, counter-insurgency campaigns and special operations. It has become smaller and leaner, but also much more efficient, and is foremost a force with much improved quick-reaction capabilities.

Nowadays the IASF employs cutting-edge domestic and imported technology for gathering intelligence, in its command and communication systems, and in its flying units, with the aim of obtaining real-time targeting information, making it prepared for every eventuality, no matter when or where. This book provides a compact yet comprehensive, up-to-date, and in-depth analysis and directory of modern Israeli air power, detailing flying units and relevant infrastructure, its aircraft and the armament they use. Using text and superb illustrations, the title covers every flying unit and every base, every aircraft type flown and every weapons system, offering a unique insight into what Israel considers its 'best defence'.

Volume 4 in Harpia Publishing's highly successful Arab MiGs series expands the history of the major Arab air forces that became involved in the wars with Israel during the period 1967 to 1973. It solves the intractable complexity of this violent period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political and military events in chronological and geographic order. The reader is systematically taken through Egyptian attempts to reconstruct its battered air force and expand its air defence capabilities, and then re-establish control of its airspace in spite of increasing and ever more aggressive Israeli attacks. The military support Israel received from the United States not only resulted in both sides developing, testing and employing ever more advanced methods of air warfare, but eventually provoked a Soviet military intervention, which marked the culmination of the period better known as the War of Attrition.

The narrative continues with dramatic descriptions of the developments in Jordan, which culminated in a civil war in 1970, and with an exclusive insight into the previously unknown expansion of the Syrian air arm with extensive support from Czechoslovakia, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The content is concluded with lesser known military events in Algeria, Morocco, Iraq and Libya, where a series of military coups resulted in developments that were to become critical not only for the future of the local air forces, but also well beyond the borders of those countries.

Compiled with extensive help from previously unavailable documents that have emerged from official Vietnamese archives, and also with the assistance of narratives from dozens of participants and eyewitnesses, this volume reveals that air warfare over Vietnam did not end when the US pulled out of Southeast Asia. On the contrary, in the wake of the US withdrawal, and following the ceasefire in early 1973, North Vietnam redoubled its effort to conquer the southern part of the country.

The often disparaged and underestimated South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) at the time claimed to have been the fourth largest air arm in the world fought a series of ever larger and more mechanised air-land battles under circumstances for which it was neither equipped nor designed to operate. This volume details these bitter battles and the final collapse of South Vietnam in unprecedented detail, and always in a dramatic and fascinating fashion. The book reveals the full details of the courage of the VNAF pilots and personnel, but also the sheer terror many of them had to endure.

Much of the fascination that Chinese military aviation holds for the analyst and enthusiast stems from the thick veil of secrecy that surrounds it. This uniquely compact yet comprehensive directory serves as a magnificently illustrated, in-depth analysis and directory of modern Chinese air power. It is organised in three parts: the most important military aircraft and their weapons found in Chinese service today; aircraft markings and serial number systems; and orders of battle for the People's Liberation Army Air Force and Naval Air Force.

The study includes the latest developments emerging from behind the 'Bamboo Curtain', including the J-20 stealth fighter programme and other indigenous projects that are equipping a rapidly modernising air arm. The centrepiece consists of more than 100 fully illustrated pages detailing the organisational structure of the Air Force and Naval Aviation, providing an easy-to-use review of all known flying units, their equipment and their markings. No other book has ever attempted to present this level of accuracy in this way: Modern Chinese Warplanes portrays the PLAAF and the PLANAF in a degree of detail that was previously unavailable.

The June 1967 War fought between an Arab alliance and Israel was a pivotal event in the modern history of the Middle East. This study provides the most complete and detailed coverage ever of the Arab air forces during the course of that conflict. Supported by original documentation, and hundreds of blow-by-blow accounts from participants and eyewitnesses from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria, the result is a fascinating and gripping narrative that uncovers many new stories for the first time. Numerous vivid descriptions shed light upon Israeli attacks on Arab air bases, dozens of air combats, efforts to continue fighting against all odds, failures of Arab security and intelligence, and conflicts within the military chains of command.

These stories are complemented by descriptions of the tactics and weaponry deployed. Almost 200 photographs, diagrams and artworks combine with lucidly written text to produce one of the most informative and readable books on air warfare to have become available in recent years. Military historians and scholars interested in aviation and foreign affairs will find this volume of particular interest. As a unique work that presents the Arab point of view of a defining war, it stands as both a complement and a corrective to previous accounts of this much-misunderstood conflict.

Largely based on original, previously unavailable documentation from official archives, as well as interviews with participants and eyewitnesses, the second volume in this series is an unprecedented study of the developments of the Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian, Algerian, Lebanese and Jordanian air forces during the late 1950s and 1960s. Not limiting themselves exclusively to the title of this series, the authors present the main topic ‘the introduction of supersonic fighters such as the MiG-19 and MiG-21 to service with these six air forces’ against the geopolitical backdrop.

For the first time, the authors explain how and why specific air forces developed in the way they did, why they received specific aircraft types, and also why they suffered a defeat with such dramatic consequences during the June 1967 War with Israel. The volume is completed by an in-depth study of the application of early MiG-21 variants in combat, development of tactical combat methods in Syria during the mid-1960s, and finally an order of battle for the Egyptian Air Force as of 4 June 1967. The latter provides not only precise details of the number of specific aircraft available to each operational unit, but also EAF unit commanders, numbers of pilots, and even anti-aircraft units protecting specific air bases.

Completing an in-depth history of the deployment and operations of MiG and Sukhoi fighters (as well as their Chinese-built Chengdu and Shenyang variants) in sub-Saharan Africa, Volume 2 covers 11 additional air forces, from Madagascar to Zimbabwe.

This encyclopaedic account is so far the only one of its kind to provide detailed analysis of aerial conflicts including those waged between Ethiopia and Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda, and in Sudan. This book also provides a detailed, contemporary order of battle for 23 air forces described in both volumes, and a chapter about Antonov bomber operations in Sudan.