Security Forces in Northern Ireland, 1969-92

The conflict in Northern Ireland remains unlike any other campaign conducted by the British Army this century. There have been no set-piece battles, no decisive victories or crushing defeats; just a grinding, relentless series of small scale operations in response to riots, bombings, sectarian murders and terrorist ambushes. Tim Ripley, a specialist in modern military affairs and research associate at Lancaster University's Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, profiles the operations, tactics, uniforms and equipment of the British and Irish Security Forces and the main terrorist groups involved in 'the Troubles' from 1969-92.

Balkan expert Tim Ripley has been fascinated by the conflicts of the former Yugoslavia since 1992, when he submitted his first report on the airlift to the besieged city of Sarajevo. He has since reported extensively on the activities of UN and NATO peacekeeping troops in Bosnia, Croatia, and more recently in Macedonia and Kosovo. His work has appeared in many well respected defence journals, including 'Jane's Defence Weekly', 'Jane's Intelligence Review' and 'Flight International'. He is the author of 'Air War Bosnia' and 'Operation Deliberate Force', published by Lancaster University's Centre for Defence and International Security Studies.

MIKE CHAPPELL comes from an Aldershot family with British Army connections stretching back several generations. He enlisted as a teenage private in the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1952 and retired in 1974, as RSM of the 1st Battalion The Wessex Regiment (Rifle Volunteers), after seeing service in Malaya, Cyprus, Swaziland, Libya, Germany, Ulster and home garrisons. He began painting military subjects in 1968 and has gained worldwide popularity as a military illustrator. Mike has written and illustrated many books for Osprey.