the US Army's find most lethal weapons of war when it comes to lethal weapons the US Army
has no shortage some maybe too expensive some too complex and others may be desired by politicians
and defense contractors but not the troops on the field nonetheless today's US Army can
generate an astonishing amount of firepower and deliver in a variety of settings from small war
counterinsurgency to big war mechanized combat with that in mind here are five of the best US
army weapons number one H 64 Apache the Boeing ah-64 Apache is an American twin turbo shaft
attack helicopter with a tail wheel type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew
of two it features a nose mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night-vision systems
it's armed with a 30 millimeter 1.1 eight-inch m230 chain gun carried between the main landing
gear under the aircraft's forward fuselage and for hardpoints mounted on stub wing pylons for
carrying armament and stores typically a mixture of agm-114 hellfire missiles and hydra 70 rocket
pods the age 64 has significant systems redundancy to improve combat survivability ironic it is that
the best weapon of America's premier land force is an aircraft but given the conflicts the US
military has recently fought and is likely to fight airpower is the most decisive factor
equipped with a 30 millimeter cannon hellfire missiles and sophisticated sensors the Apache
combines speed firepower and rage that allows the army to strike enemies long before they
come within firing distance of army ground troops it's equally useful at hunting down
insurgents or decimating enemy armored columns the Apaches fought well in conflicts from Desert
Storm to the current Afghan war perhaps more important the Apache is airpower that the army
itself controls rather than having to rely on the Air Force or Navy aircraft for clothes and
air support an attack helicopter is not and will never be a substitute for infantry on the ground
but the ground troops will appreciate the support and attack helicopter can provide
the ah-64 Apache has a four-blade main rotor and a four blade tail rotor the crew sits in tandem
with the pilot sitting behind and above the co-pilot gunner both crew members are capable
of flying the aircraft and performing methods of weapon engagements independently one of the
most distinguishing features at the introduction of the Apache was its helmet-mounted display the
integrated helmet and display sighting system I hats among other abilities the pilot or gunner
can slave the helicopters 30 millimeter automatic m230 chain gun to his helmet making the gun track
head movements to point at where he looks the m2 31 can be alternatively fixed to a locked
forward firing position or controlled via the target acquisition and designation system Ted's
the ah-64 standard of performance for aerial gunnery is to achieve at least one hit for every
30 shots fired at a wheeled vehicle at a range of 800 to 1200 metres that's 870 to 1,300 yards
the ah-64 is designed to endure frontline environments and to operate during the day
or night and in adverse weather via its avionics and onboard sensor suites these systems include
the target acquisition and designation system pilot night vision system passive infrared
countermeasures GPS and the eye hats number two m1 Abrahms whether the m1 abrams is the
best tank in the world depends on who you talk to and more important what country they're from
but it is indisputably among the world's best the m1 Abrams is a third generation American
main battle tank designed by Chrysler defense now General Dynamics Land Systems conceived for modern
armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest tanks in service at nearly 68 short tons almost 62
metric tons it's introduced several innovative features including a multi field turbine engine
sophisticated cha-am composite armor a computer fire control system separate ammunition storage in
a blowout compartment and NBC protection for crew safety initial models of the m1 were armored with
a license produced 105 millimeter royal ordnance l7 gun well later variants featured a licensed
Rheinmetall 120 millimeter L 44 weighing in at 60 tons the m1a2 as a 120 millimeter cannon depleted
uranium armor up to 3 feet thick and a top speed of more than 40 miles per hour it decimated Iraq's
soviet-made armor in 1991 and quite possibly would do the same to China's advanced type 99
tank very few Abrams have been destroyed in combat the fact that Isis is destroyed or captured Iraqi
government M ones says more about the quality of the crews than the tank the m1 Abrahms entered
service in 1980 and currently serves as the main battle tank of the United States Army and Marine
Corps the export version is used by the armies of Egypt Kuwait Saudi Arabia Australia and Iraq
the abrams was first used in combat in the Persian Gulf War and is seen combat in both
the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war under US service while Iraqi Abrams tanks have seen
action in the war against ISIL and have been used by Saudi Arabia during the Yemeni Civil War
number three M 109 a six Paladin the US Army's hard-hitting self-propelled howitzers have
taken a backseat in America's recent small Wars nonetheless they remain highly potent weapons
paladin m109 a6 is a kin in artillery system developed by the ground system
division of United defense LP now BAE Systems land in armaments and
manufactured at the pallet and production Operations Center in
Chambersburg Pennsylvania Caledon was first fielded in 1994 and is operational with the
United States Army and the Israeli army and has been selected by Kuwait and Taiwan
the Paladin is the latest version of the venerable m109 self-propelled gun
it can shoot a 155 millimeter shell up to 20 miles using rocket-assisted projectiles
it can also fire the GPS or laser-guided excalibur shell paladin m109 a6 achieves
a maximum firing rate of up to 8 rounds a minute or three rounds in 15 seconds any
sustained firing rate of one round every three minutes the gun is operated with an
automatic fire control system with ballistic computer fitted with an optional backup the
vehicle's inertial positioning and navigation system is integrated with the automatic fire
control system a 12.7 millimeter m2 machine gun is mounted on the right hand side of the turret
number four tow anti-tank missile Russia or the Soviet Union seems to be the king of anti-tank
missiles though this probably reflects the pattern of arm sales as well as how great a
threat western design armor posed to Russia and its clients so it's easy to forget that the US
Army is no slouch either at the anti-tank missile game the army's tow tube launched
optically tracked wire guided anti-tank missile is still going strong after nearly 45 years of
service its destroyed tanks mostly Russian in Vietnam the arab-israeli Wars the iran-iraq
war and now Syria the newer tow Choubey comes in several versions including a bunker busting
missile as well as the Aero model which explodes above a tank to penetrate its thin top armor the
tow chew is a heavy anti-tank missile it's an upgraded version of the previous tow it entered
service with the US Army in 1983 this weapon system is composed of new and more capable vgm
71 d missile new reusable launcher missile guidance set and sight system the launchers
lighter it's compatible with all previous tow missiles it is thermal optics and can be used
at night over 77,000 bgm-71 d anti-tank guided missiles were produced the Chhotu
missile is available in several versions this anti-tank guided missile system was
exported to a number of countries outside the United States in 1987 Pakistan launched
tow two missiles against Indian forces in 1997 the Hughes Aircraft Company was taken over by
Raytheon so development and production of this anti-tank missile now comes under the breakdown
the Chotu proved to be a very effective weapon it remains a very capable anti-tank system despite
the fact that this weapons more than 30 years old in the basic infantry form the tow launcher
is mounted on a portable tripod the missiles carried in a sealed container it's clipped
to the launcher before the launch the Tochi system is serviced by a crew of three soldiers
including commander gunner and assistant gunner the launcher can be disassembled and
transported by the crew the Tochi launchers are typically used by separate anti-tank companies
for heavy anti-armor work the tow chu launcher is widely carried on various vehicles and even
helicopters it can be mounted on hmmm WVS özil there are dedicated anti-tank missile carriers
such as m 1134 which is based on a Stryker wheeled armored personnel carrier and carries
launcher with anti-tank guided missiles number 5 m2 50 caliber machine gun it may sound strange to
classify an eighty-year-old machine gun as one of the Army's best weapons but the fact that the m2
MA deuce is still blasting away after nearly a century and countless wars is testament to the
fact that it's a remarkable gun the Browning m2 50 caliber machine gun heavy barrel is an
automatic recoil operated air-cooled machine gun with adjustable head space and is crew
transportable with limited amounts of ammunition over short distances by repositioning some of
the component parts ammunition may be fed from either the left or right side
developed when Franklin Roosevelt had just become president and Hitler was just taking
power in Germany the m2 is seen service all over the world as an anti-aircraft and
a vehicle and anti-personnel machine gun that's closer and power to a small cannon
a recently upgraded version the m2a1 features a quick-change barrel and a night flash suppressor
the mga one with quick-change barrel qcb is an enhancement to the m2 50 caliber machine gun it
offers soldiers increased performance as well as new features and design improvements that make
it easier and safer to use the m2a1 features a fixed headspace and timing configuration
flash hider and removable carrying handle to increase the performance of the battle-proven
m2 the m2a1 speeds target engagement and improve survivability and safety it reduces the time
required to change the barrel while eliminating the timely procedure of setting headspace the
flash hider reduces muzzle flash by 95 percent making the m2a1 less detectable in the darkness