It's the world's most technologically advanced military- it's also home to equipment almost
100 years old. These are some of the oldest weapons still in operation in the US military.
M2 Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun
It's been the United States' premiere heavy machine gun for a whopping 89 years, and it's
not looking to retire any time soon. Designed in 1918 and adopted by the US military in 1933,
the M2 packs a formidable .50 caliber bullet fired at a muzzle velocity of 890 meters
per second. It has a maximum range of 7,400 meters and an effective range of 1,800 meters.
This machine gun is powerful enough to punch through even some armored vehicles,
and that's exactly what it was originally meant to do.
At the end of World War I more heavily armored planes were being put to the air, with the German
Junkers J.I. sporting armor that made traditional aircraft machine guns largely ineffective. General
John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, requested the Army Ordnance
Department develop a heavier machine gun capable of punching through improved aircraft armor.
His request was for a machine gun capable of firing at minimum a .50 caliber round at a minimum
muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. John M. Browning began to redesign his .30-06 M1917 machine
gun to be capable of firing the heavier round requested by General Pershing. On October 15th,
1918, Browning's first prototype was tested, though it achieved a less than stellar performance
with a firing rate of less than 500 rounds a minute and a muzzle velocity of only 700
meters a second. To make matters worse, the weapon was very heavy compared to lower caliber models,
was difficult to control when firing fully automatic, and was too weak to
punch through armor while firing too slowly to be effective against enemy infantry.
Browning got unexpected aid when a shipment of German T Gewehr 1918 anti-tank rifles and their
ammunition were seized by American forces. The German rounds had an 800 grain bullet with a
muzzle velocity of 820 meters a second, and could penetrate 1 inch of armor at 230 meters. Using the
German rounds as inspiration, Winchester worked on improving the .50 cal's cartridge, eventually
leading to an effective round that achieved most of what the Army had requested of it.
From 1921 until 1937 American aircraft were equipped with an experimental water-cooled
version of the machine gun. These trials helped to refine the various versions of what would
become the M2 machine gun, formally adopted by the United States before World War 2. By the
time the war broke out, the machine gun was standard on nearly every American aircraft,
and was used in everything from anti-material to infantry support and even air defense roles.
Today the .50 caliber enjoys service alongside American troops in every theater of operations,
and has been involved in every American conflict since World War II.
Modern .50 calibers can be equipped with several different types of ammunition,
including M33 Ball rounds for personnel and light material targets, M17 tracer,
M8 armor-penetrating incendiary, M20 armor penetrating incendiary tracer, and newer saboted
light armor penetrator rounds capable of punching through 1.34 inches of steel armor at 500 meters.
The M2, nicknamed “the fifty” or “ma deuce”, is such a good weapon it outperformed an intended
replacement in the 60s, and a current modern replacement for the weapon was canceled. This
means the US military will continue carrying the fearsome M2 into battle for decades more to come.
Our next weapon system is not as old as the M2,
but current plans are to keep it in operation for almost an entire century!
CH-47 Chinook
It was a helicopter born of necessity- caught up in a war waged across inhospitable jungles with
few roads, the US Army desperately needed a way to quickly supply firebases spread across Vietnam.
Most importantly though, it needed to be able to supply these far-flung fire bases with
heavy equipment such as artillery. But cutting a road through the thick jungle would take years,
and even then the unpredictable weather and enemy ambushes could make such a journey impossible.
The United States invented air assault operations during Vietnam with its extensive
fleet of helicopters, and quickly sought to do the same with logistical concerns. However,
current helicopters in the US inventory were simply not powerful enough to carry
heavy howitzers. Fortuitously though, a twin-rotor transport helicopter had
already been in development since 1957 to replace the Sikrosky CH-37 Mojave.
The resulting V-107 was deemed too heavy for assault operations but
too light for transport missions. Thus work was undertaken to develop a larger,
beefier helicopter capable of heavy transport duty. In 1962,
the CH-47 Chinook officially joined the inventory of the US armed forces.
Despite its massive size, the Chinook has an impressive speed of 200 miles
per hour (310 km/h), and at the time was faster than any other utility or even attack helicopter.
Today the Chinook keeps that speed record, making it one of the fastest helicopters in
the US inventory. Throughout its lifetime the air frame has received numerous upgrades to
keep it up to date with new technology, but the core design remains largely unchanged.
With two powerful rotors, the Chinook can carry up to 55 fully equipped combat troops
or as much as 10 tons of cargo either inside or slung underneath it on cargo hooks. The
helicopter would prove its worth through every US conflict since Vietnam, but really shone during
the war in Afghanistan. With its difficult and mountainous terrain, Afghanistan proved
to be a challenge for the US army carrying out resupply and mobility operations- but the Chinook
was easily able to navigate even the extreme heights of Afghanistan's mountains with ease.
The Chinook continues going strong 60 years after being adopted into the US inventory.
The Army's Future Vertical Lift program will eventually deliver a replacement to the Chinook,
but will first focus on a replacement for the UH-60 Black Hawk. In the meantime,
future upgrades will keep the Chinook in operation for a predicted 99 years.
Our next weapon is not just old, but proved to be so good at its job that
its use was even expanded within the US military!
Carl Gustaf Recoilless Rifle
In service since 1946, the Carl Gustaf 8.4cm recoilless rifle is perhaps the most successful
anti-tank weapon ever made, and the US military plans on continuing to use it for a long time.
The Carl Gustaf M1 was developed in 1946 by Hugo Abramson and Harald Jeentze at the Royal
Swedish Arms Administration. The weapon was developed with the help of knowledge gained
from the operation of American bazookas, British PIATs, and German Panzerschreck during the war,
building on the strengths of each while making its own innovations. The greatest of these innovations
was the use of a rifled barrel to spin-stabilize an explosive round, negating the need for a
projectile to be outfitted with fins and thus reducing weight and improving performance.
Another improvement over Allied and German WW2 anti-tank weapons came in the form of developing
the weapon as a recoilless system. A recoilless weapon ejects countermass from the rear of
the weapon to negate the effect of recoil when firing. This allows the weapon to be much more
accurate and to fire a larger projectile, while making the firing unit lighter and easier to use.
Today the Carl Gustaf is an extremely economical solution for the anti-tank and anti-material needs
of any infantry unit, with a unit cost of just $20,000 and an ammo cost that ranges from $500
to $3,000 depending on the round. The weapon can fire up to six rounds a minute with a crew of two,
though can be operated by just one soldier at a reduced rate of fire.
It's also capable of accurately hitting moving vehicles at a range of up to 400 meters,
stationary targets up to 500 meters, and can use high explosive rounds with a range of 1,000
meters, or rocket-boosted laser-guided ammunition at a range of up to a whopping 2,000 meters.
The US military initially only issued the weapon to its special operations forces,
but it was so good at its job that it expanded use of the Carl Gustaf to regular forces as well.
With US forces being engaged by RPGs at ranges up to 900 meters, no light weapon in the inventory of
US infantry could effectively counter this threat- thus the M3 Multi-role Anti-armor Anti-tank Weapon
System variant of the Carl Gustaf quickly came into wide adoption. Along with wider adoption
came an increased variety in ammunition, which quickly made the M3 a favorite of US infantry.
Today the Carl Gustaf can fire High explosive rounds, high explosive anti-tank rounds,
high explosive anti-tank rocket assisted rounds for increased range, High explosive dual purpose
rounds for engaging enemy vehicles and structures, area defense rounds for engaging large numbers of
enemy troops, anti-structure rounds for destroying enemy buildings, smoke rounds for creating thick
smoke screens, and illumination rounds for lighting up large swathes of ground at night.
The Carl Gustaf is so good at its job that there is no planned replacement in the pipeline,
and instead it continues to be upgraded with even more modern projectiles and electronics.
Our next aircraft has been the workhorse of the American air force for 65 years,
and looks to continue that role for another thirty.
C-130 Hercules
During the Cold War the United States knew that it could be forced to fight
in the most destructive conflict mankind would ever wage. Given the unprecedented
destruction of even a non-nuclear conflict between itself and the Soviet Union,
the US needed to ensure it could still resupply forces across a devastated Europe. To that end,
it called upon the C-130 Hercules, possibly the world's most rugged and versatile cargo aircraft.
Its primary selling point was its ability to operate out of makeshift air fields,
a key concern for a US military facing the very real probability of having allied airfields
knocked out of commission by Soviet forces. Its requirements however were set in the years after
the Korean War, when the US realized that it needed dedicated military cargo aircraft and not
models adapted from civilian use. The C-130 would be specifically designed to be a modern
military cargo plane with a capacity of 92 passengers or 72 combat troops.
Alternatively, it could fit 64 paratroopers and all their equipment instead. The use of
4 turboprop engines gave the aircraft greater range and gas mileage than a turbojet variant,
and explains why it remains in use through to the modern age.
With few core design changes, the C-130 remains in service with various configurations, including the
vaunted AC-130 gunship, the modern C-130J Super Hercules featuring improved avionics, new engines,
new composite propellers, and other modern updates, ski-equipped variants for ice operations,
and the tactical airlift and aerial refueling variant in use by the US Marine Corps.
Maritime patrol versions are in service with the US Coast Guard and a ruggedized version
of the Hercules is used in the deployment and retrieval of special operations forces.
The C-130 remains in service not just in the US military,
but in militaries around the world, and looks set to continue serving with its
home nation until the US Air Force completes its C-X Next Generation Airlifter program.
Our next entry in this list is not just one of the oldest serving weapons in the US inventory,
but is scheduled to have a lifetime in excess of 100 years!
B-52 Stratofortress Strategic Bomber
It can level a small town all on its own, and it can fly a whopping 1/3rd of the way around the
Earth without refueling to do so. It's the United States' 'big stick', the B-52 Stratofortress.
Its origins herald back to 1945. Just two months after the end of World War II, the United States
was already looking ahead to the next conflict. The Air Material Command put out requests to
aircraft manufacturers for what would become the heavy bomber of the future. This aircraft would
need to carry out missions far from home, and to operate without the aid of advance bases in other
countries. In other words, this big bomber needed to have a great enough range that it could strike
anywhere in the world without worrying about securing ground bases in other countries to do so.
It was to have a crew of at least five turret gunners to defend the aircraft, and a six-man
relief crew for long-range and long-duration missions. The aircraft would need to cruise at
a minimum of 300 mph (480 km/h) at a height of 43,000 feet, and be capable of hitting targets
5,000 miles (8,000 km) away. For defense it would carry 20mm cannons, and on the offense it would
drop 10,000 pounds of high explosives. For the next several years Boeing and the US military
would go back and forth on design changes, finally landing on the B-52 we recognize today in 1952.
The aircraft would go on to break many records, shockingly even speed records- setting a world
speed record of 560.705 mph (902 km/H) in 1958, only to be broken that same day by another B-52
flying at 597.675 mph (962 km/h). The speedy bomber would eventually be outrun by smaller
jet aircraft, but the big plane continued to set and break records in endurance, with a whopping
12,532 mile (20,177 km) un-refueled flight in 1962. With the support of aerial tankers though,
B-52s were able to circle the globe non-stop in just under two days.
This incredible reach and endurance quickly earned the planes a nuclear mission,
and to this day remain part of the US nuclear triad. However,
it's their conventional firepower that makes B-52s the undisputed kings of the sky,
with the ability to drop a whopping 70,000 pounds of explosives on any target around the world.
Modern upgrades to the fleet include new engines and wing structure replacements,
electro-optical sensors, and infrared and advanced targeting pods. B-52s are now capable of such
precise strikes that they were used commonly as close air support platforms for coalition
forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, delivering overwhelming firepower with pinpoint accuracy.
Originally meant to saturate a target with dumb 'gravity' bombs, modern B-52s use a suite
of onboard sensors to monitor a battlefield and deliver precision fire exactly where it's
needed most. Laser-guided bombs can be guided to target by a B-52 or allied aircraft, or even by
forces on the ground. GPS-guided munitions can be 'fired and forgotten' by a loitering B-52,
and the development of long-range stand-off attack munitions can give a B-52 incredible reach
even in a contested air environment by staying well out of reach of enemy weapons and sensors.
With even more upgrades to come, the American B-52 fleet is set to remain in operation for an
estimated additional 50 years, with some estimates placing the B-52 total lifetime at 150 years.
That means that by the year 2100, B-52s could still be flying as part of America's arsenal!
Now go check out Top 10 Weapons of the Future, or click this other video instead!