SLAMConceived in the late 1950's as a Mach 3+ global range nuclear warhead delivery system, the Chance Vought SLAM (Supersonic Low Altitude Missile), powered by a ramjet engine propelled by a nuclear reactor developed under Project Pluto, can be considered an unrealised anachronism of the Cold War era. This was a period when human kind proved its ingenuity in many fields, including, unfortunately, that of provisioning the ability to destroy itself on an ever increasing scale.This volume looks at the genesis and development of the SLAM concept and the results of Project Pluto, and details how the concept lost out to the intercontinental ballistic missile concept as the major delivery system for nuclear weapons in the 1960's. The volume is supported by photographs, technical drawings, renderings and flight vehicle and nuclear propulsion planned performance charts. All technical data relating to the concepts have been supplied by contractors and test organisations.There is a deliberate switch from imperial measurements/weights to the fore and metric measurements/weights secondary to metric to the fore and imperial secondary at various stages in the text. This has been done to ensure 100% accuracy in primary reporting from respective designer/test/research organisations, whereas secondary measurements may, at times, be rounded to the nearest cm, kg, inch or lb.

Siblings of special-needs children discuss hopes, fears, frustrations, resentment, and triumphs regarding their life with their siblings.

Preventing humanitarian atrocities is becoming as important for the United Nations as dealing with inter-state war. In this book, Ramesh Thakur examines the transformation in UN operations, analysing its changing role and structure. He asks why, when and how force may be used and argues that the growing gulf between legality and legitimacy is evidence of an eroded sense of international community. He considers the tension between the US, with its capacity to use force and project power, and the UN, as the centre of the international law enforcement system. He asserts the central importance of the rule of law and of a rules-based order focused on the UN as the foundation of a civilised system of international relations. This book will be of interest to students of the UN and international organisations in politics, law and international relations departments, as well as policymakers in the UN and other NGOs.

"The purpose of this book is to share Army special operations soldier stories with the general American public to show them what various elements accomplished during the war to drive the Taliban from power and to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan as part of the global war on terrorism. The purpose of the book is not to resolve Army special operations doctrinal issues, to clarify or update military definitions, or to be the 'definitive' history of the continuing unconventional war in Afghanistan. The purpose is to demonstrate how the war to drive the Taliban from power, help the Afghan people, and assist the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) rebuild the country afterward was successfully accomplished by majors, captains, warrant officers, and sergeants on tactical teams and aircrews at the lowest levels ... This historical project is not intended to be the definitive study of the war in Afghanistan. It is a 'snapshot' of the war from 11 September 2001 until the middle of May 2002"--Page xv.

This textbook provides a global, chronological mapping of significant areas of theatre, sketched from its deepest history in the evolution of our brain's 'inner theatre' to ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern developments. It considers prehistoric cave art and built temples, African trance dances, ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern ritual dramas, Greek and Roman theatres, Asian dance-dramas and puppetry, medieval European performances, global indigenous rituals, early modern to postmodern Euro-American developments, worldwide postcolonial theatres, and the hyper-theatricality of today's mass and social media. Timelines and numbered paragraphs form an overall outline with distilled details of what students can learn, encouraging further explorations online and in the library. Questions suggest how students might reflect on present parallels, making their own maps of global theatre histories, regarding geo-political theatrics in the media, our performances in everyday life, and the theatres inside our brains.

Accidental vampire Alex Schwartz is busy assessing the cost of renovating a Cold War bunker to be used as the new HQ for Britain s secret counter-occult agency, where he attracts the attentions of a local Goth drama student.

With more than 250 images, new information on international cinema—especially Polish, Chinese, Russian, Canadian, and Iranian filmmakers—an expanded section on African-American filmmakers, updated discussions of new works by major American directors, and a new section on the rise of comic book movies and computer generated special effects, this is the most up to date resource for film history courses in the twenty-first century.

In 1945 some experts still considered the so-called sound barrier an impenetrable wall, while winged rocket planes remained largely relegated to science fiction. But soon a series of unique rocket-powered research aircraft and the dedicated individuals who built, maintained, and flew them began to push the boundaries of flight in aviation's quest to move ever higher, ever faster, toward the unknown. Beyond Blue Skies examines the thirty-year period after World War II during which aviation experienced an unprecedented era of progress that led the United States to the boundaries of outer space. Between 1946 and 1975, an ancient dry lakebed in California's High Desert played host to a series of rocket-powered research aircraft built to investigate the outer reaches of flight. The western Mojave's Rogers Dry Lake became home to Edwards Air Force Base, NASA's Flight Research Center, and an elite cadre of test pilots. Although one of them--Chuck Yeager--would rank among the most famous names in history, most who flew there during those years played their parts away from public view. The risks they routinely accepted were every bit as real as those facing NASA's astronauts, but no magazine stories or free Corvettes awaited them--just long days in a close-knit community in the High Desert. The role of not only the test pilots but the engineers, aerodynamicists, and support staff in making supersonic flight possible has been widely overlooked. Beyond Blue Skies charts the triumphs and tragedies of the rocket-plane era and the unsung efforts of the men and women who made amazing achievements possible.

Republic XF-103Conceived in the late 1940's as a high speed, high altitude air defence interceptor and developed through the 1950's as a Mach 3 interceptor capable of operating against Soviet strategic bombers in stratosphere and possibly extending toward the mesosphere, the Republic XF-103 (Model AP-57) was an unsuccessful entrant in the USAF MX-1554 competition that fielded the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor. Post-MX-1554, the XF-103 took on the mantle of a research program to prove technologies applicable to a future generation mid-supersonic - Mach 3 - interceptor. However, like the later North American F-108 Mach 3 interceptor concept, the XF-103 was ultimately doomed due to cost and a looming redundancy facilitated by a shifting strategic threat in the shape of the intercontinental ballistic missile, which was in its infancy when the XF-103 program was cancelled in 1959.This volume looks at the genesis and development of the various iterations of the Republic XF-103 from program inception through cancellation in 1959. The volume is supported by photographs, technical drawings, renderings and planned performance charts from the contractor and intended operator.There is a deliberate switch from metric measurements to the fore and imperial measurements secondary in chapter one to imperial to the fore and metric secondary in subsequent chapters. This has been done to ensure 100% accuracy in primary measurement reporting from respective designer/test organisations, whereas secondary measurements may, at times, be rounded to the nearest cm or kg.