M-72

The M72 LAW (Light Anti tank Weapon) is a disposable missile launcher used by the US Military

During World War II, the sudden prominence of tanks and other armored vehicles on the battlefield led to the creation of man-portable weapons that would enable the humble infantryman to successfully deal with the new threat. The first such weapons to be used with limited success were flamethrowers, jury-rigged land mines and specially designed magnetic hollow charges, but all these weapons needed to get within a couple of meters from the target to be effective, which severely limited said effectiveness and greatly endangered the user.

The U.S. Army then introduced the bazooka on the battlefield, the first true rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which proved devastatingly effective against enemy armor. It was such a success that all involved nations soon bought or copied the bazooka for extensive use on all fronts.

But the bazooka had its drawbacks: large, cumbersome and rather fragile; it needed a dedicated (and trained) two-man team to be used efficiently. Hard-pressed on all fronts, Germany then developed an alternative to the bazooka: the Panzerfaust family of weapons. These one-shot rocket launchers were relatively cheap, needed no particular training (they were so simple of use that they were regularly issued to volkssturm regiments) and proved remarkably efficient against Russian armor on the eastern front.

The M72 LAW is the descendant of the Panzerfaust: a sturdy, lightweight, easy-of-use one-shot anti-tank rocket launcher.

Armbrust

Developed by Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm company in late 1970,Armbrust grenade launchers are disposable one-shot anti-tank weapons, especially suited for urban conditions.

Using Devis-type recoilless launch system, Armbrust has no significant backblast, and meter distance behind firer is enough for safety. Recoil is dampened using plastic countermass in form of flakes. Powder gases are locked in the launch tube after the shot, contained by two plungers, through which they push out charge and countermass.

Whole system is reminiscent of silenced ammo, used in russianPSS pistol and OTs-38 revolver. Similarly, Armbrust gives no flash or lound sounds. Launch tube is hot after the launch, but since it`s discarded right after, it`s not a big concern.

Armbrust is made out of cheap light materials - launching tube is fiberglass. It fires shaped charge warhead. Sights are placed on the left side of tube. It uses pieso-electric ignition mechanism. Grip is folding for more compact storage. Grip also acts as safety - while it`s folded, trigger is blocked.

Nowadays, Armbrust is no longer produced in Germany, but it`s still made on licenses around the world.

Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG)

It is basically a tube that can be shoulder-mounted and can fire an explosive Grenade/Rocket from it. RPGs were first created in WW2 to help dispose of enemy tanks.

The main problem with fighting tanks was the large amount of armour protecting them, early attempts to pierce through it were extremely high caliber bullets fired from large rifles, this however proved ineffective and the recoil produced was enough to break a man's shoulder and in some cases kill the soldier firing it, later the Germans resorted to old, well-known laws of physics. To cancel out the large recoil of firing an explosive a stream of fire or gas was released out of the rear of the tube to level out the projectile momentum, this design was quite old, dating back to WW1. The first successful break through was with the Faustpatrone, a very light, cheap, and easy to make and manufacture in large numbers; although it was highly dangerous, in some cases soldiers behind it could become engulfed in flames. Later break throughs came with the highly successful Panzerfaust. Now theRPG-7 is the preferred weapon of choice by combatants throughout the world, although not capable of penatrating modern tank armour it is still a large threat to armoured personal carriers.

Colt M-4

The M4 Carbine is a family of firearms tracing its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16,such as the XM177E2, all based on the original AR-15 made by ArmaLite.

The weapon is a shorter and lighter version of the M16A2assault rifle, achieving 80% parts commonality with the M16A2. The M4 has selective fire options including semi-automatic and three-round burst (like the M16A2), while the M4A1 has a "full auto" option in place of the three-round burst. The M4A1 is sometimes also found with a heavier barrel to withstand heat from sustained fully automatic fire. Each unit cost $1500 USD.

Except for the very first delivery order, all U.S. military-issue M4 and M4A1 possess a flat-top NATO M1913-specification (Picatinny) rail on top of the receiver for attachment of optical sights and other aiming devices — Trijicon TA11 and TA31 Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights (ACOG) and Aimpoint M68 Close Combat Optic (M68 CCO) being the favorite choices —, and a detachable rail-mounted carrying handle. The current government standards are the Colt Model 920 (M4) and 921 (M4A1).

M4/M4A1

The major difference between these models is that the M4 has a "S-1-3" (safe/semi-automatic/3-round burst) trigger group, while the M4A1 has a "S-1-F" (safe/semi-automatic/fully automatic) trigger group.

M4 MWS (Modular Weapon System/R.I.S)

M4 MWS (Modular Weapon System) shown with various accessories including M203 grenade launcher, RIS foregrip, removeable carry handle/rear sight assembly, AN/PEQ-2 laser system, and several optional optics.Colt Model 925 carbines were tested fitted with the Knight's Armament Corporation (KAC) M4 RAS under the designation M4E2, but this designation appears to have been scrapped in favor of mounting this system to existing carbines without changing the designation. The U.S. Army Field Manual specifies for the Army that adding the Rail Accessory System (RAS) turns the weapon into the M4 MWS or Modular Weapon System.

M4A1

The M4A1 carbine is a variant of the basic M4 carbine intended for special operations use. The M4A1 can be found in use by many U.S. military units, including the Delta Force, U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Army Rangers, and the U.S. Marine Corps' Radio Reconnaissance Platoons and Force Reconnaissance companies. The M4A1 Carbine is specially favored by counter-terrorist and special forces units for close quarters combat because of the carbine's compactness and firepower. These features are also very useful in urban warfare. Although the M4 does not have as great an effective range as the longer M16, many military analysts consider engagement with a non-specialized small arm above a range of 300 meters to be unnecessary. It is effective at ranges of 150 meters or less. It has a maximum effective range of about 400 meters.

In the last few years, M4A1 carbines have been refit or received straight from factory with barrels with a thicker profile under the handguard. This is for a variety of reasons such as heat dissipation during full-auto and accuracy as a byproduct of barrel weight. These heavier barrel weapons are also fitted with a heavier buffer known as the H2. Out of three sliding weights inside the buffer, the H2 possesses two tungsten weights and one steel weight, versus the standard H buffer, which uses one tungsten weight and two steel weights. These weapons, known by Colt as the Model 921HB (for Heavy Barrel), have also been designated M4A1, and as far as the government is concerned the M4A1 represents both the 921 and 921HB.

SOPMOD Block IEdit

USSOCOM developed the Special Operations Peculiar Modification (SOPMOD) Block I kit for the carbines used by units under its jurisdiction. The kit features an M4A1 carbine, a Rail Interface System (RIS) handguard developed by Knight's Armament Company, a shortened quick-detachable M203 grenade launcher and leaf sight, a KAC sound suppressor, a KAC back-up rear sight, an Insight Technologies AN/PEQ-2A visible laser/infrared designator, along with Trijicon's ACOG and Reflex sights, and a night vision sight. This kit was designed to be configurable (modular) for various missions, and the kit is currently in service with special operations units (though many soldiers have changed the Trijicon reflex sight for M68 CCO red dot sights and EOTech holographic sights).

SOPMOD Block II

A second-generation SOPMOD kit (now known as SOPMOD II) is currently under development, with many different manufacturers competing for a contract. Notable manufacturers include Knight's Armament Company and their URX II,Daniel Defense RIS II Omega Rail , ARMS and their Selective Integrated Rail (SIR) system, along with Lewis Machine & Tool's Monolithic Rail Platform (MRP).

Variants of the carbine built by different manufacturers are also in service with many other foreign special forces units, such as the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). While the SASR uses weapons of essentially the same pattern built by Colt for export (Colt uses different models to separate weapons for the U.S. military and those for commercial/export purposes), the British SAS uses a variant on the basic theme, the SFW built by Diemaco of Canada. Although Diemaco was purchased by Colt and renamed Colt Canada, the Diemaco names and related firearms were kept.

As mentioned, the M4 replaced the M3A1 "Grease Gun" submachine gun that remained in U.S. service, mainly with tank crews. They previously had M3s, but this was changed to two M4s and two M9 pistols ("personal defense weapons"). This was as much to increase capability as it was to change over from .45 ACP, as M3A1s could be configured to fire 9 mm ammunition.

MK 18 MOD 0

The MK 18 MOD 0 is a variant that is a CQB version with a 10.5 inch barrel.Equipped with a Daniel Defense M4 Omega Rail Systems. It is used primarily by US Navy SEALs. It was designed by the Naval Surface Warfare Crane Division.

Armalite AR-15

The Armalite AR-15 was originally developed from George Sullivan's original design in 1956. Sullivan used modern technology to create a rifle with less machine work while keeping parts interchangeable. This concept was inspired by the WWII German MP43. The design of the rifle keeps the barrel pointed at the target while it is fired. It fires .223 caliber (5.56 x 45 mm NATO) ammunition. The AR-15 was later developed into the fully automatic Colt M16, the standard infantry rifle of the U.S. military.

Colt M-16

The M16 Assault Rifle family, developed by Colt, is one of the more widely recognized assault rifles today, serving as the counterpoint to the AK-47. Firing the 5.56 mm (.223 Caliber) round, which is derived from but not identical to the .223 Remington cartridge. Being made mostly of plastic and aluminum, along with it's distinguishing black color, straight profile and long fore-grip.

When the XM16E1 was fully deployed in Vietnam war in 1965, it didn't perform so well, the plastic parts made the gun much more fragile and the operating system caused the M16 to have feeding problems. Also, in order to adapt the atmosphere in the Vietnam, the military added a lot of dehumidifier sprays to the M16 plus without proper instructions on the M16. Thus, performance suffered. In 1967 they had major revisions on the M16 and the rifle was given chrome lined chamber and a comic book was given as a manual on proper maintenance.

The dust cover on the ejector port of the weapon did not seal it against dust, which got into the loading mechanism and as a result, it jammed quite often without regular cleaning. Through various versions of the weapon, attempts were made to solve this problem, with little success. Another problem was the quality of the gunpowder in the casings, causing an incredible buildup of residue unless it was cleaned often. And since Colt had promoted the weapon as 'self-cleaning', the initial weapons did not have cleaning kits, and as a result, many soldiers threw away their M16A1s for enemy AK-47s, at the risk of being shot by their own troops.

Nowadays, military-issued M16s have a basic cleaning kit in the buttstock of the weapon.

M-79

Developed in the 1960s, the M79 (a.k.a the Thumper) Grenade Launcher was one of the first infantry/ hand held explosive firearms. Made famous in Vietnam.

In the end of 1940s, United States army had realized the need to fill the gap between 50 m throwing grenade distance and 400 m minimal range of light 60mm mortars. Project NIBLICK had been created to help fill this gap. By 1952, 40mm projectile was available - HE charge in fragmenting metallic shell. Later, by the 1953, a shell was developed to change the projectile into ammo. It has to be mentioned, that there were attempts to use rifle cups and spring launchers to launch projectiles, but they were not any notable in performance, apparently.

During the time until 1960, M-79s were developed, until in 1961, they went into manufacturing, and were immediately adapted into US Army service, which had the need of weapon of this class to aid war efforts in Vietnam.