Basic Armament Technology: Author and
Publisher: Ravindra Nathan Vachali, Pp. 159, Price: Paperback Rs. 480/=,
Language: English, First edition: July 2021, ISBN: Not mentioned, e-version:
not mentioned.
Defence of any country is
the most important issue. If the nation survives, we all will survive.
Sometimes offence is the best form of defence. Hence the country should be ever
ready to face all such eventualities from the enemy and come out with full
glory. We must build our strength of reliable self defence and make people
aware of our strength, so that there is less likelihood of taking liberties for
attacking our country. The means of fighting have been changing and will
continue to change with passage of time. Hence the production units and the
connected organizations have to keep pace with the changes taking place. Any
armament when used will create destruction, damages and loss of lives, but
there is no other option. Every country has to keep itself in readiness for offensive
and/or defensive actions. Many times wars prolong for months and years. Even
though armament is produced and stored in appropriate conditions but when the
war starts, the consumption of armaments is very fast.
Coming
to technical aspects, the book, generally and broadly covers the basic aspects
of the arms and ammunition field, along with the other connected areas. Broadly
the range of topics included in the book are: initiators, boosters, primers and
fuzes, shells, shots, cartridge case fixed and separate ammunition, mortars,
mines and grenades, pyro techniques, signal cartridges, guns, recoil arresters,
rockets, rocket launchers, recoilless guns and ammunition, small arms
ammunition and weapons, mines, demolition charges, grenades, propellants and
explosives, improved explosive devices, armoured vehicles and tanks, clouding
and cluster ammunitions, preserving packages and storage magazines, age factor
and life of the armament. The efficiency also depends on the conditions of
storage. This is an important factor. All arms and ammunition and other items
are manufactured for keeping them stored for several years and rarely for
immediately being put to use in a war. Besides utilization in defence of the
country, some items produced are also required for Police, Railways, Mining
organizations, Civil trade for sporting purposes, for national and
international shooting championships, exports etc. So it has a wide scope. The
number and quantity of the items produced is substantially large. Chapter 1 of
the book explains the basic and general terminology. Chapter 2 gives a history
of development of the armaments starting from the stone as a weapon. Chapter 14
covers various types of bullets etc. in small arms ammunition. Chapter 19 talks
about the functioning test for each batch of production. There are number of
tests including actual functioning test on sample basis. Each Chapter of the
book provides required information in brief.
In the
beginning of the book, the author provides “about the author”, with his
photograph, Table of Contents and Preface. The back cover provides author’s
photograph and “Disclaimer” with clear caution about the objective of writing
the book and possible misuse of the information provided. There are in all 26
Chapters in the book, and all these provide appropriate information about the
armament technology. The contents are elementary and basic in nature. The book
has a total of 60 figures spread over 14 Chapters. The number of pages in each
of the Chapters generally ranges between 2 to 11, but mostly around 5-6. There
is no Dedication, Introduction, About the book, Subject index, List of
abbreviations, Tables of data, Acknowledgements, etc. The book cover design is appropriate to the
subject of the book. The quality of the paper used is good. The purpose of
writing this book is to apprise the general public of all age groups, including
the young ones, of the technology, variety and stakes involved, importance of
safety, quality control and storage conditions, including the testing at
different stages as well as at the final stage, likely risks to those involved
in production and connected activities. In all the fields there is continuous
development, including in the armament field. However the present book does not
offer the latest status for all the aspects.
The author
has taken considerable pains to collect the basic and relevant information,
prepare the sketches and present in a proper order. This book is basically an
awareness book, for the conventional weapons for the layman in general. Detailed information about engineering,
chemical, explosive and testing etc. is not given here. With this much
information, it cannot be put to practical applications. Adequate intimation of
caution has been given in the book, for this purpose. This will help the new comers to get an idea. Also it may motivate some
of the young persons to think of joining organizations connected with production,
quality control, safety, storage and utilization for defence of the country and
other relevant areas, to serve their motherland through this means. This book
is therefore suitable for such objectives.
--------------------vijaiksharma
