Crew-served Weapons of the US Armed Forces

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A wheeled APC is intended for carrying troops. Its is usually armed with a machine-gun.

The body of the vehicle is of the open type and serves as a base for mounting all the vehicle units and mechanisms. It includes three compartments: engine, driving and fighting (troop).

The engine compartment occupies the front part of the body. It contains the engine, electrical equipment, the water radiator and oil cooler.

The driving compartment is located next to the engine compartment. There are driving controls, vision devices and measuring instruments, driver`s and commander`s seats, storage battery, fuel feed system in it.

The fighting (troop) compartment is located in the middle and rear parts of the body. It houses the machine-gun, ammunition supply, fuel tanks, receivers, spare parts, tools and accessories and medicine chest. Seats for seventeen men are installed along the sides and in the front part of the fighting compartment.

The armored carrier body is provided with two doors and six round hatches (three on each side) for observation and small arms fire. The hatches are closed by armor covers which can be opened and closed only from inside. The driver`s and commander`s vision hatches are in the front armor plate of the driving compartment.

The armored carrier is provided with a six-cylinder, carburetor type, automobile engine and two fuel tanks. The APC has a radio station ensuring good communication.

engine --- двигатель

vision device --- прибор наблюдения

measuring instrument --- измерительный прибор

storage battery --- аккумуляторная батарея

fighting compartment --- боевое отделение танка

fuel tanks --- топливные баки

spare parts --- запасные части

hatch --- крышка люка

An aircraft carrier is type of warship fitted with a runway of flight deck which is used to launch and recover planes. The hull of the carrier is made of extremely strong steel plates. Below the waterline, the hull is rounded and narrow but above the waterline the hull gets wider and forms the flight deck. When not in use, aircraft are secured in the hangar bay, located two decks below the flight deck. The aircraft are then lifted from the hangar bay to the light deck by an elevator.

The flight deck is not long enough for most planes to make an ordinary takeoff, so they are launched with a machine. To prepare for launching an aircraft, the carrier sails into the wind. This maneuver reduces the plane`s minimum take off speed by getting the wind moving over the flight deck and over the plane`s wings. A steam-powered catapult is then used for launching the aircraft. The power for the catapult comes the carrier`s nuclear reactor and the catapult is able to accelerate the aircraft from 0 to 240 kph in two seconds.

The flight deck only has about 150 meters of runway space for landing which is not enough for high-speed jets, so aircraft land in a process known as an arrested landing. Thick metal cables, or arresting wires are stretched across the deck and the pilot`s aim when he lands is to catch the cable with the tail hook – a long hook attached to the plane`s tail. This system can stop a 24.5-ton aircraft travelling at 241 kph in a 96-metre landing area in only two seconds.

runway --- взлётно-посадочная полоса

flight deck --- полётная палуба

hangar bay --- ангарная палуба авивносца

Dragon is man-portable short-range wire-guided anti-armor missile in use with the US Marine Corps and US Army. The system is designed to be carried and operated by a single infantryman. The missile was developed in the late 1960s.

Dragon is a ground-based missile system. The missile is launched from a tubular launcher that is attached to a bipod at the front of the tube. The tube is extended after launch.

Dragon employs semiautomatic-command-to-line-of-sight (SACLOS) guidance, with a thin trailing wire serving as the command link between the launcher and the missile. A Dragon gunner keeps his sight crosshairs on the target and an electronic mechanism in the launcher tracks an infrared tungsten lamp flare in the missile and keeps it aligned with the gunner`s sight via commands sent along two the wires.

Dragon is ejected from the launch tube by solid propellant charge. Flight corrections are obtained by detonating a system of 30 pairs of small rocket thrusters mounted on rows around the missile body.

The warhead on Dragon is a conventional shaped-charge type. The charge allows to penetrate tanks protected by combined steel/ceramic armor like the Russian T-72. The warhead on Dragon III penetrates tanks protected by reactive armor.

bipod --- двунога

infrared tungsten lamp --- вольфрамовый инфракрасный датчик

3. 21. Переведите письменно текст D со словарём.

The Army employs various crew-served weapons (so named because they are operated by two or more soldiers in order to transport items such as spare barrels, tripods, base plates, and extra ammunition) to provide heavy firepower at ranges exceeding that of individual weapons. The M240 is the Army's standard medium general-purpose machine gun. The M240 (left-hand feed) and M240C (right-hand feed) variants are used as coaxial machine guns on the M1 Abrams tank and the M2 Bradley IFV, respectively; the M240B is the infantry variant and can be fired from a bipod or tripod if carried by hand, or employed from a pintle mount atop a vehicle. The M2.50-caliber machine gun has been in use since 1932 in a variety of roles from infantry support to air defense. The M2 is also the primary weapon on most Stryker ACV variants and the secondary weapon system on the M1 Abrams tank. The MK 19 40mm grenade machine gun is mainly used by motorized units, and Military Police. It is commonly employed in a complementary role to the M2.

The Army uses three types of mortar for indirect fire support when heavier artillery may not be appropriate or available. The smallest of these is the 60 mm M224, normally assigned at the infantry company level. At the next higher echelon, infantry battalions are typically supported by a section of 81 mm M252 mortars. The largest mortar in the Army's inventory is the 120 mm M120/M121, usually employed by mechanized battalions, Stryker units, and cavalry troops because its size and weight require it to be transported in a tracked carrier or towed behind a truck.

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