Portal:Military of the United States/Equipment

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The AC-130 gunship is an armed variant of the C-130 Hercules. Manufacturing is a cooperation between Boeing and Lockheed.

The primary missions of the United States Air Force's AC-130H Spectre and AC-130U Spooky gunships are close air support, air interdiction, and force protection. Missions in close air support are troops in contact, convoy escort and urban operations.


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M16 is the U.S. military designation for a family of rifles derived from the ArmaLite AR-15 and further developed by Colt. It is an assault rifle which fires NATO standard 5.56 mm ammunition. It has been the primary infantry rifle of the United States military since 1967, is in use by 15 NATO countries, and has been the most produced firearm in its caliber. The M16 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm caliber, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed rifle, with a rotating bolt, actuated by direct impingement gas operation. It is constructed of steel, aluminum and composite plastics.


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The M9 Bayonet is a multi-purpose knife and bayonet officially adopted in 1984 by the United States. It was issued with a special sheath designed to double as a wire cutter. It was designed and developed by Charles A. "Mickey" Finn at his R&D company, Qual-A-Tec. He later produced it under the Phrobis III name, filling a military contract for 325,000 units. Finn's designs proved extremely popular, and were widely copied and sold by other makers.


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A Mameluke Sword is a cross-hilted, curved, scimitar-like sword. It is related to the shamshir, which had its origins in Persia from where the style migrated to India, Egypt and North Africa. Adopted in the 19th Century by several western armed forces, including the French Army, British Army and the United States Marine Corps, the Mameluke sword remains the ceremonial sidearm for some units to this day.


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The M9 pistol is a pistol of the U.S. military adopted in the 1980s. It is essentially a Beretta 92F, or 92FS later. It won a competition in the 1980s to replace the M1911A1 as the primary handgun of U.S. armed forces. Some other models have been adopted to a lesser extent (namely the M11 pistol), and older, or different models remain in use in certain niches. It officially entered Army service in 1990. It was scheduled to be replaced under an Army program, the Future Handgun System (FHS), which was merged with the SOF Combat Pistol program to create the Joint Combat Pistol (JCP).


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The Benelli Super 90 M4 also known as the M1014 Combat Shotgun is a shotgun manufactured by Benelli Armi S.P.A.. It is currently used by the U.S. Armed Forces as their "Joint Service Combat Shotgun". The M4 was developed in Italy by Benelli, and is imported into the USA by Beretta USA.


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The Colt Commando is a general name for a wide array of shortened and modified AR-15/M16 firearms developed primarily in the late 20th century. They are a family of gas-operated, locking bolt 5.56 x 45 mm carbines, and were developed and produced by Colt manufacturing, mainly for U.S. Special Forces, starting in the 1960s.


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The M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine is a weapon (Anti-personnel mine) used by the U.S. military. It is named after the large Scottish sword invented by Norman A. MacLeod. The Claymore, which stands just off the ground, is designed to fire shrapnel, in the form of steel balls (700) out to about 100 meters (328 ft) across a 60° arc in front of the device. It is designed primarily to be used in ambushes and as an anti-infiltration device against enemy infantry.


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The M67 grenade is a fragmentation hand grenade used by the US armed forces. The M67 can be thrown about 40 m by the average soldier. It has a 3 to 5 second fuse that ignites explosives packed inside a round body. Shrapnel is provided by the grenade casing, and produces a casualty radius of 15 m, with a fatality radius of 5 m, though some fragments can disperse as far out as 230 m.


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The AN/PEQ-2 Aiming Light is a laser sight for use on rifles fitted with a Picatinny rail, manufactured by Insight Technology. The device is mil-spec and is currently in active service with the US armed forces. It has two infrared laser emitters—one narrow beam used for aiming the gun, and one wide beam used for illuminating targets, like a flashlight. Each beam can be zeroed independently, and the illuminator's radius is adjustable.


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The M240 is a belt-fed 7.62 mm NATO medium machine gun, based on the FN MAG. It has been used by the United States Armed Forces since the end of the 20th century, and is also used by other NATO forces. Though not the lightest medium machine gun, it is highly regarded for reliability, and the firearm's standardization with those of other NATO allies is also seen as a major plus.


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The M60 (also seen 'M-60', formally Machine Gun, 7.62mm, M60) is a family of American belt-fed machine guns firing linked 7.62 × 51 mm NATO cartridges. In the U.S. military, the M60 has largely been replaced by various versions of the M240 as a medium machine gun, and by the M249 SAW as a squad automatic weapon. However, it remains in use in every branch.


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The MK19 is a belt-fed grenade machine gun capable of firing five grenades per second. The Mk 19 fires 40mm grenades at a cyclic rate of 300 to 400 rounds per minute, giving a practical rate of fire of 60 rpm (rapid) and 40 rpm (sustained). The Mk 19 is able to lob its grenade at a maximum distance of 2.2km, though its effective range is about 1.6km. The nearest safe distance to launch the grenade is 75 meters. For night operation, an AN/TVS-5 night vision sight can be fitted.


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The GAU-17A machine gun (minigun) is a 7.62mm NATO crew served, six barreled, air cooled, electrically powered weapon. It has a pintle mount, usually aboard a helicopter or ship. It is used in anti-materiel and anti-personnel and close-in air support roles. There are two main variations, the GAUSE-17/A (for ships) and the GAU-17A (for aircraft).


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The M2 Machine Gun is a heavy machine gun designed just after World War I by John Browning. It is nicknamed Ma Deuce by US troops or simply called fifty caliber machine gun. The Browning .50 machine gun was used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States from the 1920s to the present day. It was heavily used during World War II, Korean War, the Vietnam Conflict, as well as during operations in Iraq in the 1990s and 2000s.


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Javelin is an American man-portable anti-tank guided missile. Javelin is a fire-and-forget missile with lock-on before launch and automatic self-guidance. The system which takes a top-attack flight profile against armoured vehicles but can also take a direct-attack mode for use against buildings or fortifications. A tandem warhead is fitted with two shaped charges, a precursor warhead to detonate any explosive reactive armour and a primary warhead to penetrate base armour. Javelin was used in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.


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The M120 120 mm mortar replaced the M30 107 mm mortar in United States Army motorized infantry units. The M120, like all other US mortars, fires fin-stabilized ammunition from a smooth bore. Although heavy mortars require trucks or tracked mortar carriers to move them, they are still much lighter than field artillery pieces. They outrange light and medium mortars, and their explosive power is much greater.


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The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (M270 MLRS) is a multiple rocket launcher, a type of rocket artillery. It is capable of firing guided and unguided projectiles to a distance of up to 42 km (26.1 miles). Firing modern munitions it is capable of reaching out to 300 km (186 miles) with the projectile reaching a maximal altitude of ~50 km (164,000 ft). The M270 is a very mobile unit, thus well suited for the so called shoot-and-scoot tactic: it can fire its rockets very rapidly and immediately move away to avoid the counter-battery fire.


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The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed artillery piece. It can be dropped by parachute or transported by a CH-47 Chinook. It also provides field artillery fire support for all US Marine Corps Air-Ground Task Force organizations.


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The M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge (MICLIC) is a rocket projected explosive line charge which provides a "close-in" breaching capability for maneuver forces. It is effective against conventionally fused land mines and, when detonated, it provides a lane 8 meters by 100 meters. The line charge is 350 feet long and contains 5 pounds per linear foot of composition C-4 explosive.


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The M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle is a highly durable military motor vehicle. It has largely supplanted the role formerly served by the Jeep and other light trucks with the United States military.

There are at least 17 variants of the HMMWV in service with the United States armed forces. HMMWV serve as cargo/troop carriers, automatic weapons platforms, ambulances, M220 TOW missile carriers, M119 howitzer prime movers, M-1097 Avenger Pedestal Mounted Stinger platforms, MRQ-12 direct air support vehicles, S250 shelter carriers among many others.


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The M40 Field Protective Mask is one of various gas masks used by the military of the United States and its allies to protect from field concentrations of chemical and biological agents, along with radiological fallout particles. It is not effective in an oxygen deficient environment or against ammonia. The M40 Field Protective mask features two voicemitters, one on either the right or left side, and one in front. A voicecom adapter may be placed over the front voicemitter to amplify the user's voice.


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The F-22 Raptor is a stealth fighter aircraft. It was originally envisioned as an air superiority fighter, but is equipped for ground attack, electronic attack and signals intelligence roles as well. It is widely considered the most advanced fighter currently in service.

Long in development, the aircraft was also known as the prototype YF-22 and as the F/A-22 for three years before formally entering United States Air Force service in December 2005 as the F-22A.


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The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a military transport aircraft designed to provide strategic heavy airlift over intercontinental distances. It is the largest American military transport. The C-5 was designed and produced by Lockheed and is used throughout the world exclusively by the United States Air Force.

The C-5 provides the Air Mobility Command intertheater airlift in support of United States national defense. The aircraft can carry fully equipped combat-ready military units, including main battle tanks, to any point in the world on short notice.


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The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets. It is the first US Air Force aircraft designed exclusively for close air support.

The A-10 was developed in response to the increasing vulnerability of ground attack-planes to ground air defenses. This indicated the need for a specialized, heavily armored aircraft with long loiter time and large ordnance load, much like the Ilyushin Il-2 or A-1 Skyraider.


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The M252 81 mm medium weight Mortar is an American smooth bore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for long-range indirect fire support to light infantry, air assault, and airborne units across the entire front of a battalion zone of influence. In the US Army and US Marine Corps, it is normally deployed in the mortar platoon of an infantry battalion.


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The Bell Helicopter UH-1 Iroquois, commonly known as the "Huey", is a multipurpose military helicopter, famous for its use in the Vietnam War. The UH-1 was developed from 1955 US Army trials with the Bell Model 204. The initial designation of HU-1 (helicopter utility) led to its nickname, Huey. It was first used by the military in 1959 and went into triservice production in 1962 as the UH-1. The last were produced in 1976 with more than 10,000 made in total, of which the majority (7,000 or so) were deployed in Vietnam.


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The Boeing/BAE Systems AV-8B Harrier II is a family of second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing or V/STOL jet mullti-role aircraft of the late 20th century. Developed from the earlier Hawker Siddeley Harriers, it is primarily used for light attack or multi-role tasks, typically operated from small aircraft carriers.

The Harrier II is notable as an example of US-UK cooperation and of Cold War defense achievements. Of note is the U.S aid funding early development of the Hawker P.1127 under the Mutual Weapons Development Program, and the salvaging of what was left of the AV-16A Advanced Harrier Program by McDonnell Douglas, making the second-generation family possible.


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The Boeing AH-64 Apache is the United States Army's principal attack helicopter, and is the successor to the AH-1 Cobra. In 1983 the first production helicopter was rolled out at Hughes Helicopter's facility at Mesa, Arizona.

Built to endure front-line environments, it can operate during the day or night and in adverse weather using the integrated helmet and display sight system. The Apache is also equipped with some of the latest avionics and electronics, such as the Target Acquisition and Designation System, Pilot Night Vision System (TADS/PNVS), Black Hole passive infrared countermeasures, nap-of-the-earth navigation, and GPS.


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The MQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which the U.S. Air Force describes as a MALE (medium-altitude, long-endurance) UAV system. It can serve in a reconnaissance role, and it can also be weaponized and can carry and use two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The aircraft has been in use since 1995, and been in combat over Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Yemen.

The MQ-1 Predator is a system, not just an aircraft. The fully operational system consists of four air vehicles (with sensors), a ground control station (GCS), a Predator primary satellite link communication suite and 55 people. In the over-all U.S. Air Force integrated UAV system, the Predator is considered a "Tier II" vehicle.


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The M107 Long Range Sniper Rifle is a semi-automatic .50 BMG sniper rifle. It is a new designation of the M82 Special Applications Scoped Rifle in the US military. The M107 is used for traditional sniper tasks, but is especially useful for long-range, counter-sniper, and anti-materiel roles over more traditional smaller bore sniper rifles.

There are no significant differences between the Barrett M82A1M/M82A3 and the M107. However, production M107s appear to have the addition of a rear monopod and there are rumors of internal improvements as well.


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