Weapon

A weapon is a tool used to apply or threaten to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack or defense in combat, subduing enemy personnel, or to destroy enemy weapons, equipment and defensive structures. A weapon is therefore a device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force.^[1] In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force.^[2]

In attack, weapons may be used to threaten by direct contact or by use of projectiles. Weapons can be as simple as a club, or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile. Metaphorically speaking, anything capable of causing damage, even psychologically, can be referred to as a weapon. More recently, non-lethal weapons have been developed for para-military, security and even combat use, designed to incapacitate personnel and reduce collateral damage to property and environment.^[3]

History

Prehistoric weapons

An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools.

Very simple weapon use has been seen in some communities of chimpanzees.^[4] Craig Stanford, a primatologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California, has suggested that the discovery of spear use by chimpanzees probably means that early humans used wooden spears as well, perhaps five million years ago.^[5]

The earliest and most primitive weapons were the by-products of early human hunting – claws, teeth and horns of hunted animals, shaped or adapted for use as weapons. Stone axes were used as weapons very early in human history as personal weapons of direct attack, and as a particular type of simple tool that made up for comparative lack of natural weapons, such as claws, horns and teeth, in the human physiology.

The first human use of weapons is not easy to date, as these would probably have been wooden clubs, spears and unshaped stones thrown at prey or enemy—and none of these would leave an unambiguous record.

The earliest examples found are a cache of eight wooden throwing spears, the Schöninger Speere, which have been dated as 400,000 years ago.^[6]

By 250,000 years ago wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points. From 80,000 years ago humans began to make complex stone blades, which were used as spear points.

Bows and arrows may have been used by 60,000 years ago^[7]

Ancient world weapons

A four-wheeled ballista drawn by armored horses, c. 400.

Ancient weapons were in many ways qualitative improvements of the late prehistoric versions, with significant improvement in materials and techniques used, that created the first revolutions in military technology. Light, horse-drawn chariots for use in battle appeared with the invention of the spoked wheel. The earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca. 2000 BC and their usage peaked around 1300 BC (see Battle of Kadesh). Chariots ceased to have military importance in the 4th century BC, as horses were bred to support the weight of a man, and chariotry (the part of a military force that fought from chariots) gave way to cavalry.^[8]

Weapons of the Middle Ages

Ancient Chinese cannon displayed in the Tower of London.

The Medieval period, including the Western Middle Ages, was characterized by two iconic Medieval weapons: knights, heavily-armored horsemen, and the rudimentary siege artillery to negate the increased use of castles, fortified dwellings which proliferated throughout Europe and the near east. While knights were an evolutionary development of the earlier historical cavalry such as the Roman and Persian cataphracts, siege artillery used to breach castle walls triggered quite revolutionary advances, including increasingly sophisticated siegecraft using gunpowder weapons, the cannon.

Early modern period weapons

The Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in warfare, with the introduction of guns and rockets to the battlefield.

Firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they store energy in a combustible propellant such as gunpowder, rather than in a weight or spring. This energy is released quite rapidly, and can be restored without much effort by the user, so that even early firearms such as the arquebus were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. They became increasingly important and effective during the 16th century to 19th century, with progressive improvements in ignition mechanisms followed by revolutionary changes in ammunition handling and propellant. During the U.S. Civil War various technologies including the machine gun and ironclad warship emerged that would be recognizable and useful military weapons today, particularly in lower-technology conflicts. In the 19th century warship propulsion changed from sail power to fossil fuel-powered steam engines.

The bayonet is used as both knife and polearm.

The age of edged weapons ended abruptly just before World War I with rifled artillery, such as howitzers which were able to destroy any masonry fortress, as well as destroy other fortifications. This single invention caused a revolution in military affairs and doctrines that continues to this day. See Technology during World War I for a detailed discussion.

An important feature of industrial age warfare was technological escalation - an innovation could, and would, be rapidly matched by copying it, and often with yet another innovation to counter it. The technological escalation during World War I was profound, producing armed aircraft and tanks.

This continued in the period between the end of that war and the next, with continuous improvements of all weapons by all major powers. Many modern military weapons, particularly ground-based ones, are relatively minor improvements on those of World War II. See military technology during World War II for a detailed discussion.

Modern weapons

The Maxim gun and its successor the Vickers (shown here) remained in British military service for 79 consecutive years.

From the American Revolution through the beginning of the 20th century, human-powered weapons were finally excluded from the battlefield for the most part. Sometimes referred to as the "Age of Rifles"^[9], this period was characterized by the development of firearms for infantry and cannons for support, as well as the beginnings of mechanized weapons such as the machine gun, the tank and above all the wide introduction of aircraft into warfare, including naval warfare with the introduction of the aircraft carriers. World War I marked the entry of fully industrialized warfare, and weapons were developed quickly to meet wartime needs. Above all it promosed to the military commanders the independence from the horse and the resurgence in manoeuvre warfare through extensive use of motor vehicles. The changes that these military technologies underwent before and during the Second World War were evolutionary, but defined the development for the rest of the century. World War II however, perhaps marked the most frantic period of weapons development in the history of humanity. Massive numbers of new designs and concepts were fielded, and all existing technologies were improved between 1939 and 1945. The most powerful weapon invented during this period was the atomic bomb.

Weapon development since the Second World War

After World War II, with the onset of the Cold War, the constant technological development of new weapons was institutionalized, as participants engaged in a constant race to develop weapons and counter-weapons. This constant state of weapons development continues into the modern era, and remains a constant draw on the resources of most nations.

The most notable development in weaponry since World War II has been the combination and further development of two weapons first used in it—nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile, leading to its ultimate configuration: the ICBM. The mutual possession of these by the United States and the Soviet Union ensured that either nation could inflict terrible damage on the other; so terrible, in fact, that neither nation was willing to instigate direct, all-out war with the other (a phenomenon known as Mutually Assured Destruction). The indiscriminate nature of the destruction has made nuclear-tipped missiles essentially useless for the smaller wars fought since. However computer-guided weaponry of all kinds, from precision-guided munitions (or "smart bombs") to computer-aimed tank rounds, has greatly increased weaponry's accuracy.

India's Agni-II, a ballistic missile. (Photo: Antônio Milena/ABr)

Being able to prepare, maneuver and attack before the enemy can detect the threat and respond can be a decisive advantage. The element of surprise has long been recognized as a tactical advantage. Modern technology can increase this, such as when one side has sophisticated night vision technology allowing maneuvering and combat at night when the enemy, not so equipped, is limited. High tech surveillance and intelligence gathering methods such as pilotless drones can prevent surprise or identify targets. Coordination of forces is necessary in order to utilize separated forces effectively, modern communications, if unjammed and unintercepted are substantial advantages. Even once targets or strategic objectives are identified, it is necessary to prepare detailed plans for individual forces to follow, a time consuming process that modern armies are trying to computerize to achieve an advantage of speed over the enemy.

Since interfering with enemy infrastructure, intelligence and communications yields an advantage, and a weapon is defined as something that grants such an advantage, new targets and weapons such as cyberwarfare are becoming possible.

Classification of weapons

There are essentially three facets to classifying weapon systems: who uses it, how it works, and what it targets. The categorisation is also subject to the combat environment in which the weapon, or its platform is used, generally on land, on or in the water, in the atmosphere, or in space. These combat environments set unique engineering design criteria for user proficiency, system complexity and therefore affordability, and the capability it offers against specific types of threats.

Who uses it essentially determines how it can be employed:

• Personal weapons (or small arms) are designed to be used by a single person.
• Infantry support weapons are larger than personal weapons, requiring more than one crew member to operate correctly.
• Fortification weapons are designed to be mounted in a permanent installation, or used primarily within a fortification.
• Mountain weapons are designed for use by mountain forces or those operating in difficult terrain and harsh climates.
• Vehicle weapons are designed to be mounted on any type of military vehicle.
• Railway weapons are designed to be mounted on railway cars, including armored trains.
• Aircraft weapons are designed to be carried on and used by some type of aircraft, helicopter, or other aerial vehicle.
• Naval weapons are designed to be mounted on ships and submarines.
• Space weapons are designed to be used in or launched from space.

How it works refers to the construction of the weapon and how it operates:

• Antimatter weapons (still theoretical) would combine matter and antimatter to cause a powerful explosion. However, antimatter is still hard to make and harder to store.
• Archery related weapons operate by using a tensioned string to launch a projectile at some target.
• Artillery are large firearms capable of launching heavy projectiles (normally explosive) over long distances.
• Biological weapons spread biological agents, attacking humans (or livestock) by causing disease and infection.
• Chemical weapons spread chemical agents, attacking humans by poisoning and causing reactions.
• Energy weapons rely on concentrating forms of energy to attack, such as lasers, electrical shocks, and thermal or sonic attack.
• Explosive weapons use a physical explosion to create blast concussion or spread shrapnel.
• Firearms use a chemical charge to launch one or more projectiles down a rifled or smoothbore barrel.
• Improvised weapons are common objects that were not designed for combat purposes but are used as such in self defense, guerrilla warfare or a violent crime.
• Incendiary weapons rely on combustible materials and an ignition mechanism to cause damage by fire.
• Non-lethal weapons are used to attack and subdue humans, but are designed to minimize the risk of killing the target.
• Magnetic weapons is one that uses magnetic fields to accelerate and propel projectiles, or to focus charged particle beams.
• Mêlée weapons operate as physical extensions of the user's body and directly impact their target.
• Missiles are rockets which are guided to their target after launch. This is also a general term for projectile weapons.
• Nuclear weapons use radioactive materials to create nuclear fission and/or nuclear fusion detonations above a target (air burst) or at ground-level (ground burst).
• Primitive weapons make little or no use of technological or industrial elements, instead being purely constructed of easily obtainable natural materials.
• Ranged weapons cause a projectile to leave the user and (ideally) strike a target afterwards.
• Rockets use chemical propellant to accelerate a projectile (usually with an explosive warhead) towards a target and are typically unguided once fired.
• Suicide weapons are typically explosive in nature and exploit the willingness of their operator to not survive the attack to reach their target.

What it targets refers to what type of target the weapon is designed to attack:

• Anti-aircraft weapons target enemy aircraft, helicopters, missiles and any other aerial vehicles in flight.
• Anti-fortification weapons are designed to target enemy installations, including bunkers and fortifications. The American bunker buster bomb is designed to travel almost 10 metres underground before detonating, toppling underground installations.
• Anti-personnel weapons are designed to attack people, either individually or in numbers.
• Anti-radiation weapons target enemy sources of electronic radiation, particularly radar emitters.
• Anti-ship weapons target enemy ships and vessels on water.
• Anti-submarine weapons target enemy submarines and other underwater targets.
• Anti-tank weapons are primarily used to defeat armored targets, but may be targeted against other less well armored targets.
• Area denial weapons are designed to target territory, making it unsafe or unsuitable for enemy use or travel.
• Hunting weapons are designed particularly for use against animals for hunting purposes.
• Infantry support weapons are designed to attack various threats to infantry units, supporting the infantry's operations, including heavy machine guns, mortars and pinpoint airstrikes ordered by the infantry, often to strike heavily defended positions, such as enemy camps or extensively powerful machine-gun nests.

See also

• Arms trade
• List of martial arts weapons
• List of weapons
• Riot control agent
• Toy weapons
• Weapons of mass destruction

Citations and notes

References

• U.S.Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Improving the prospects for future international peace operations: workshop proceedings, OTA-BP-ISS-167, Washington DC, US Government Printing Office, September 1995
• Hind, Edward, My Magazine: Being a Series of Poems, Tales, Sketches, Essays, Orations, Etc.,: The Present Age - An oration J. and H. Clarke, London, 1860

External links

• Higgins Armory Museum
• Modern Firearms Encyclopedia
• Society of the Military Horse
• Pentagon plans cyber-insect army
• Weapon Systems
• Antique firearms
• Gladius Scientific Journal publishes contributions on the following subjects: Arms and Armour, Military History and Polemology, from the earliest times until the end of the Eighteenth century, mainly in the Iberian Peninsula, Europe, Islam and the Americas. The Journal is sponsored by Instituto de Historia, CSIC

Primitive weapons Anti-ship weapons Infantry support weapons Fortification weapons Vehicle weapons Naval weapons