My library is woefully inadequate in this category and I was wondering if anyone could recommend anything? My "newest" book is Modern Land Combat by David Miller and Christopher F. Foss circa 1987.

concord has some very good referance books covering everything from ww2 to modern.also ospery and squadron,have some very helpfull books.....

I personally use the internet for reference material and info.

Great site for reference photos of US equipment
http://www.combatindex.com

Global Security is good for information concerning weapons systems. It free, doesnt require any registration, its up to date and covers all the armed forces of the world.
http://www.globalsecurity.org

US Military sites ie. www.usmc.mil or army.mil, will have great amounts of material for free. I personally use it for high resolution photos of modern armor. Some internet sites use a smaller photo to save bandwidth, but Uncle Sam doesnt bother with such restrictions!

In print, the new Concord Elite series has some good reference items for OIF and Enduring Freedom.

Keep an eye out for Time Life books, they will put out some awesome titles full of info and pictures. I tend to find them at wholesale clubs, Sam's Club or Costco, on sale and in hardcover. The last one I got covered weapons used by the Marines. It was current up to Spring 2004. Same goes for Borders or Barnes and Nobles bargin racks, lots of good military history and weapons reference material. Again, they are most often on sale, which is a great bonus.

Hope that helps.
Melon

How deep are your pockets? I recommend R.P. Hunnicutt's Bradley book. It covers most US infantry fighting vehicles from the predecessor of the M113 through the Bradley and LVTP7/AAV7A1 AMTRACs. I think this one or the Sheridan book covers even the M109 howitzer series as well.

The Hunnicutt Bradley book is $52.50 at walmart.com. Walmart also has Warrior Company and Challenger Squadron which cover British armor.

Unfortunately it's a bit hard, at least here in Dallas, to find Concord books on the shelf so you can take a look at them before buying. I sometimes go to gun shows and check out the military book stalls.

What are your specific interests in modern armor?

Paul

Motorbooks can't be beat, especially their softcover books the size of a mousepad.

Beware of modern books though. A LOT of these books recycle content from the Cold War Days. In fact, Motorbooks does print hardcover 8X11" books from a 1980s-1990s series that was "subscription only." This content is woefully old.

I have Modern Land Combat . Boy, that is OLD ! So old I don't even reference it anymore.

I do/don't recommend Concord books. Their "Assault" series is good, but some talk more about the units than the vehicles themselves. Squadron books are good, but they don't go into the current Y2K era too much.

www.army-technology.com is a very good place to go to read up on AFVs, helos, and SAMs. However, some of that info is dated, as is Global Security.

I reviewed some of my reference collection online already.

Again, it all depends on if you're interested in U.S. or NATO AFVs, and how your budget is.

I actually have both Hunnicutt books on the Sheridan and Bradely and was pretty unimpressed with them. But I got them free even if the topic wasn't 100% my cup of tea (or at least the presentation wasn't--very dry). My main area of focus would be modern MBTs. There isn't a contemporary equivalent of Miller/Foss' Modern Land Combat? Something that covers the new emerging generation of MBTs (Le Clerc, Challenger 2, Black Eagle...etc.)?

Yep, check out "Illustrated Directory of TANKS OF THE WORLD, WW1 to Present Day" by David Miller. $10...cheap!

Check Amazon.com or Borders/Chapters.

Good stuff. I recommend it.

Sounds like you are wanting something along the lines of the Osprey New Vanguard lines. They take you through the development of a single tank line (M1 Abrams or Merkava for example).

Concord also has some newer MBT books out. I particularly enjoyed the new one on the T-72/T-90 series. More photos of the actual tanks and some nice colorful photos as well. I also have the one on modern German wheeled vehicles and think it is good as well.

Where is the best place to buy Osprey New Vanguard and Concord books?

Books...

No matter what it seems like whatever source(s) you have you will be missing the view you need but...

Concord are very good! M2 Series, Hummer, Warrior, M1s and more. Also the Concord SpecialForces(?) series has some great modern pics.

Osprey has some great titles, but are not 2005 current- at least from what I have seen.

Squadron has some good stuff as well.

And finally WEBSITES!

Among them...

http://www.primeportal.net/

http://media.militaryphotos.net/photos/Gulf_War_2_Operation_Iraqi_Freedom

http://www.army.mil/operations/

[urlhttp://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=5cbb8e9ae62882d929c08793bd984496[/url]

http://www.combatindex.com/combatindex.html

http://www.undermars.com/

http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Operations/OperatiIraqiFreedom/

And more...

Sorry for the deluge!

Jim