US Infantry Weapons

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1. What weapons are infantry units equipped with?

2. What weapons do small arms include?

3. What are grenade launchers?

4. What are grenades?

5. What are grenades divided into?

6. What are rocket launchers?

7. How can rocket launchers be fired?

8. What are mortars?

9. What mortars does the US Army use?

10. What mortar shells do mortars fire?

11. What are wire-guided missiles designed for?

12. What are the main types of wire-guided missiles in the US Army?

Infantry units are equipped with small arms, grenades, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, antitank wire guided and air defense missiles, mortars.

Small arms, i.e. firearms with cal below.60 in, include handguns and shoulder guns. Handguns are arms intended to be fired with one hand. These include pistols and revolvers). Shoulder guns are weapons intended to be fired primarily from the shoulder. These include rifles, carbines, submachine-guns, machine-guns. SA are designed for destruction of enemy manpower, for close combat and for personal protection.

Grenades are weapons used by individual soldiers to carry out the missions of closing with and destroying the enemy in close combat. Grenades are thrown by hands (hand grenades) or fired from grenade launchers (rifle grenades). Grenades may be of two types: antipersonnel and antitank. They are classified as hand grenades and rifle grenades. Hand grenades are divided into fragmentation, offensive, chemical, practice. Rifle grenades are divided into fragmentation, smoke, signal and practice.

Grenade launchers are weapons attached to a rifle or used separately to fire grenades at considerable ranges. They are intended to defeat enemy manpower and fire means. Grenade launchers can use HE, practice, fragmentation, dual-purpose rounds.

Rocket launchers are lightweight arms. They can be fired from the shoulder in the standing, kneeling, sitting and prone positions. They are designed for use against armor, fortifications, vehicles, bunkers, troops and other targets. the traditional nickname for the RL is “bazooka”.

Mortars are high-trajectory, indirect fire weapons. With the high angle of fire, mortars are able to fire on targets in defilade which cannot be destroyed by flat trajectory weapons. They are also most effective against area targets such as enemy troops in the open and enemy assembly areas. The US Army uses 81 mm, 105 mm and 4.2 in mortars. The 81 mm mortar is hand-carried, fires HE, smoke or illuminating mortar shells.

The 105-mm mortar provides greater range and better accuracy. The mortar weighs about 450 pounds (1b).

The 4.2 – in mortar is heavy, its overall weights is about 333 lb. It can fire HE, smoke, and gas-type mortar shells.

Wire-guided missiles are designed for destruction of armor and field fortifications. The latest wire-guided missiles of the US army are TOW and Dragon. They are fired from the shoulder.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-25