This intensely researched book describes a wide variety of the world's special and elite forces, giving details of their organization, training, weapons and equipment, and many of their more public operations. Hundreds of dramatic photographs, many never before published in a book, complement full colour cutaway drawings of weapons, plus maps, tables and approximately 100,000 words of highly readable text and fascinating technical data.
The provision of support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is made more difficult because they operate in remote locations and harsh conditions. Despite the challenging operational environments, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has successfully delivered around 300,000 personnel and 90,000 tonnes of freight to Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two years. However, it has not consistently met its targets for delivering supplies in a timely fashion. The MOD is taking measures to improve the effectiveness of its supply chain; and the amount of time a unit waits for items to be delivered has reduced by half in Afghanistan and a third in Iraq. �4.2 billion has been approved to upgrade or buy new equipment to meet urgent requirements in the two theatres. The NAO found that the availability of this equipment has generally met or exceeded targets, though there have been spares shortages with some fleets particularly when the vehicle is used for a different purpose than intended. The availability and serviceability of helicopters has exceeded MOD targets, although prioritisation of spare parts for operations has led to reduced availability in the UK. There are also shortages of equipment for Service personnel in the UK to train with, prior to deployment overseas. Accommodation, medical and welfare services to Service personnel on operations are generally satisfactory although provision at the smaller patrol bases is more basic. The helicopter borne Medical Emergency Response Teams provide quick, life-saving medical support to casualties and evacuate them speedily to hospital.
Land Rovers have been used by the military since they were introduced, in Series I form, in 1948. The Land Rover’s rugged, ‘go-anywhere’ reputation has led to its use in a vast number of military roles, from general-purpose workhorse to special forces reconnaissance vehicle, ambulance, communications vehicle and weapons platform. Additionally, a number of one-off prototypes have been produced for various trials. This manual provides a unique insight into the world of military Land Rovers, with an emphasis on military operation and equipment.
Why Not? After all, no-one had ever done it before. It would be one of the longest of all overland journeys – half way round the world, from the English Channel to Singapore. They knew that several expeditions had already tried it. Some had got as far as the desrts of Persia; a few had even reached the plains of India. But no one had managed to go on from there: over the jungle clad mountains of Assam and across northern Burma to Thailand and Malaya. Over the last 3,000 miles it seemed there were ‘just too many rivers and too few roads'. But no-one really knew … In fact, their problems began much earlier than that. As mere undergraduates, they had no money, no cars, nothing. But with a cool audacity, which was to become characteristic, they set to work – wheedling and cajoling. First, they coaxed the BBC to come up with some film for a possible TV series. They then gently persuaded the manufacturers to lend them two factory-fresh Land Rovers. A publisher was even sweet-talked into giving them an advance on a book. By the time they were ready to go, their sponsors (more than 80 of them) ranged from whiskey distillers to the makers of collapsible buckets. In late 1955, they set off. Seven months and 12,000 miles later, two very weary Land Rovers, escorted by police outriders, rolled into Singapore – to flash bulbs and champagne. Now, fifty years on, their book, ‘First Overland', is republished – with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. After all, it was he who gave them that film.
A very inquisitive young princess is about to explore the world outside her royal castle located on the highest mountain in the kingdom. This is a story of her coming of age in a time of magic and adventure. In her rite of passage into womanhood her parents, the king and queen, give her three magical gifts to take with her as she sets off to explore the kingdom she will one day rule as queen. She is directed by her father not to return until she has found one unknown, secret gift. She is told that only she will recognize this one vital gift which she will need to rule justly and lovingly over the people. Thieves, bandits, lost children, and wise elders encounter the princess, who, traveling in disguise engages in adventures of the heart, mind, and body. She returns to the royal mountain with quite an array of experiences and victories.
'The Land Rover File' includes everything about Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Range Rover Sports, Discoverys, and Freelanders. The five ranges are described model by model, each one with a entry and specification, and there is a history of Land Rover's evolution from a stop-gap replacement for the wartime Jeep to the Range Rover Sport.
The Land Rover has become an icon across the world, famed for its classic design, its practicality and its longevity. In this revised edition of his acclaimed book, first issued as Land Rover - 60 Years of the 4 x 4 Workhouse, James Taylor charts sixty-five years of Land Rover development in comprehensive detail, bringing the story right up to date with the latest Defender variants. Contents include: Prototypes and development vehicles; Standard production models; The special editions; Land Rovers built outside the UK; Special conversions; Military variants; The Land Rovers that never were. The first book to look at the story of the Land Rover's gradual evolution. Comprehensively researched, extensively illustrated and accessibly presented, this will be an indispensable read for all those who have an interest in the legend that is Land Rover. Superbly illustrated with 476 colour photographs. James Taylor's major specialization is the Rover company and its descendants, and he is widely acknowledged as the pre-eminent historian of the Land Rover.
The British military has always been one of the major customers for Land Rovers, buying thousands upon thousands over the years. Land Rover in turn has returned the compliment, developing special models to meet its needs, such as the Half-Ton or Lightweight and the 101 One-Tonne Forward Control. Yet the British military Land Rover has always been special in its own way, particularly after 1961 when the basic specification was modified to incorporate elements that were never made available on contemporary civilian models. It has been modified and adapted in dozens of ways for its military role, the basic GS soft-top utility and FFR 24-volt radio models being supplemented by a wide variety of specialist variants that remain little known even today. This hugely comprehensive book looks at the story of the leaf-sprung Land Rovers used by all three of Britain's armed services – the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. It lists and describes the different types, setting them in their context both as products of the Rover (and later, Land Rover) companies and as military equipment designed to meet a particular need at a particular time. There are copious illustrations, many never published before, and the lists of the vehicles themselves are as exhaustive as the authors have been able to make them in the light of surviving records. British Military Land Rovers aims to cover every leaf-sprung type in use between the first deliveries in 1948 and the final ones in 1985 – by which time the core Land Rover product no longer depended on leaf springs but on a more modern coil-spring suspension design. It will be welcomed by military-vehicle and Land Rover enthusiasts alike as the most detailed book yet published about the subject.
