Kirjahaku

In 1943, US bomber crews based in the UK were tasked with a 25-mission tour of duty. Most crews never made it past their fifth. The Luftwaffe owned the skies over Europe and the men of the Eighth Air Force were paying the price and strategic bombing was being called into question. Until, that is, the arrival of the Rolls Royce powered long-range P-51 Mustang. The tale of the P-51 began with a request from a wartime British procurement commission in April 1940. In response, Dutch Kindelberger and Edgar Schmued of North American Aviation set the gears in motion that would give birth to the groundbreaking fighter aircraft—the P-51 Mustang. The aircraft was an unqualified success and swept the Luftwaffe from the skies over German, facilitating devasting raids on German industry and paving the way for D-Day in 1944. This book goes on to tell the stories behind ten other weapons and weapons systems, from the drawing board to successful field deployment and their strategic impact beyond the battlefield. They were inspired by outstanding designers such as Sir Sydney Camm, scientists such as Alan Turing, and industrial visionaries such as Andrew Jackson Higgin. Their stories are interlinked with many of the most famous events and people in the history of World War II. Some of the weapons are well-known, others less so, and some are not usually regarded as weapons at all, such as SPAM and the Royal Navy’s “game” used to defeat the U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Allies found that these weapons meant their forces could be better led given that they had faith in the means given to them to gain victory. The author explores the development, the challenges, and the deployment of these “weapons” and analyses their operational and strategic impact on the allied war effort and their collective contribution to eventual victory. This very readable account is a different perspective on the weapons that won the war.

This book covers both the hard and soft issues regarding contract management. As well as looking at for example how to hold an inaugural meeting or deal with a contractual claim, we also discuss the nature of the relationship with the contractor, looking at both adversarial and collaborative models as well as measures you might take to motivate the contractor. This second edition contains many examples of good and bad practices in the context of contract management, as well as additional chapters relating to Developing Scopes of Work, Leasing Contracts and International Contracting. The book is written from the standpoint of getting it right first time; we view good contract management as a positive adding-value process. Nevertheless, the book does not shy away from the fact that things do and will go wrong, and therefore there are also chapters on dispute resolution and legal issues that might affect the individual managing the contract. It is clear from reports from IACCM, government bodies and private sector research that there is scope for substantial savings through good contract management. It is a professional discipline that should be carried out by professionals, which should lead to better contractor performance.