Mark S Blackburn

The World Airpower Compendium Mark S Blackburn

Publisher Marketing: In today's rapidly changing world a current, accurate, and easily accessible data base of all the world's airpower assets is valuable to military students, educators, and war gaming professionals alike. The World Airpower Compendium provides a comprehensive picture of the airpower assets of all the world's nations as of April 1996. This unclassified database couples accurate, up to date aircraft inventories with a description of how nations distribute, organize, and use their air assets. The resulting computer product, developed using Assymetrix Corporation's Toolbook software, rivals many of today's prominent air power references. The Toolbook uniquely integrates large volumes of dispersed and difficult to find information into a single, easy to use product. It provides a wealth of information at the click of a mouse button. Initially, this year's team collected data from leading unclassified sources and used various techniques to resolve data conflicts among these sources. The resulting compilation of aircraft inventories represents the most accurate estimates currently available. A narrative describing organization and distribution of a nation's air assets, the fin flash/roundel found on its military aircraft, and current trend information for each nation were combined with this inventory data to provide a complete picture of each nation's air power situation. All this information was then incorporated into a Toolbook application that is easy to use, attractive, and entertaining.