Norman Polmar

Writer and editor Norman Polmar is a military historian, defense analyst and consultant, and expert on naval ships and aircraft. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Navy and to several elected representatives, to the U.S. Department of Defense, and to businesses in the defense and aerospace industries. For ten years, from 1967 to 1977, Polmar served as the editor for the highly respected reference series "Jane's Fighting Ships." "The first American to ever hold an editorship with that publication, he was totally responsible for almost one-third of the volume in that period," commented a biographer on the Federation of American Scientists Web site. He frequently shares his expertise as a guest on television and radio programs, and he has lectured extensively throughout the world and is a frequent speaker at military schools and colleges in the United States and Great Britain. Polmar is a prolific contributor to periodicals and journals and is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, most of which focus on current defense and military subjects or on military history. Polmar serves as editor of important military reference books. He is the editor of several volumes of the definitive reference works, Guide to the Soviet Navy and The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet, both of which are published every three years. The latter volume includes information on ships and aircraft of the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps, with details on corresponding civilian craft. Polmar includes material on vehicle platforms, organizational structure, vehicle programs, classes and types of ships, and other data.