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