By 1960 the development of military aircraft since the end of World War II had produced a number of classic types with what was assumed to be devastating combat potential. Enormous effort and finance had gone into the development of these aircraft, which were moving towards the supposed ideal of 'Mach 2 performance' coupled with electronic advances in the fields of navigation and weapon delivery.
But then came the Vietnam War, and the fallacies of the American-dominated 'Mach 2' type of aircraft were revealed: sophisticated combat aircraft were too fast for genuine tactical missions, an older generation of aircraft with higher levels of maneuverability but lower speed was able to tackle later aircraft with some measure of confidence, gun armament was proved essential (but lacking in most American aircraft). The problem was that American aircraft (and by analogy most West European combat aircraft) had been designed to meet Russian aircraft in an arena in which it was imagined high performance and high technology would predominate; the role demanded of them in Vietnam was totally different, and in the process revealed the possible errors in the scenario that had decided their original design parameters.
Much could be and was achieved by extensive series of modifications, but it was also clear that the revised tactical scenario apparent after the Vietnam War called for a new generation of aircraft that placed survivability, agility, and versatility above outright performance. Once again technology suitable to the task was available to designers, and by 1970 new basic aircraft appeared incorporating engines of higher thrust: weight ratios, significantly different aerodynamic concepts to boost agility and controlability, electronically-signalled 'fly-by-wire' controls which used a computer to convert the pilot's inputs into control movements, and a host of other almost 'science fiction' features.
The process continued through the 1970s to the extent that a major re-equipment of the world's major air forces had been undertaken by the beginning of the 1980s. And the progress continues, with research into yet more ambitious aircraft and a new generation of electronics and avionics to enhance the pilot's capabilities and make aircraft more flexible and more capable.
Modern Combat Aircraft is an essential reference book containing up-to-date information and technical specifications on some 240 aircraft, with over 200 photographs in colour and black and white.