The 10 is the most powerful weapon of the modern era

23/12/14

What are the most powerful weapons of the modern era? The American press, as it happens every year, has compiled the ranking of the ten most powerful weapon systems of the modern era. Since the beginning of time, man has always tried to invent ever more powerful, more lethal weapons.

Thousands of years ago, the bow and arrow were considered to be the utmost expression of the technology of the time. Technology jealously guarded to gain a battle advantage.

Just as when single shotguns went to automatic ones: states around the world have constantly improved the weapons they used to fight.

Today's weapons, at least those known, appear to have come out of a science fiction film. However, some of the most powerful are the same ones used decades ago, only optimized and made even more deadly.

 

 

 

 

10 - XM25 Airburst ammunition grenade launcher

It is called “The Punisher” even though officially it is an Individual Semiautomatic Air Burst System. The XM25 is Airburst ammunition grenade launcher manufactured by Alliant Techsystems and Heckler & Koch: it is 300 times more powerful than current grenade launchers. Fires 25mm grenades programmed to explode in midair at or near the target. The weapon's laser rangefinder is used to determine the distance to the target. The four / six magazine grenades can multi-head: Airburst, thermobaric, fléchette, ultra-high penetration 50mm, HE and non-lethal. The range is about one thousand meters for area damage, 500 meters for targets. It was tested in Afghanistan in real-life confrontations. It weighs just over six kilos and is considered one of the deadliest weapons ever made, even though its current cost, around $ 50, doesn't make it cheap for infantry equipment. Upon entering production, the price will drop to around $ 35. As well as the battery that powers the system today stands at one thousand dollars, which will become just 35 once mass production starts. The United States plans to purchase 10.876 units. The first units to be equipped will be those of special forces and Rangers. Despite some accidents and the 130 changes made to the project, the weapon will begin to equip the departments starting next year.

 

9 - Auto Assault-12

The Atchisson Assault rifle was designed in the 1972 and consistently perfected by becoming a fully automatic weapon capable of spraying anything at a maximum distance of 100 meters (200 with Frag-12 ammunition).

Its drum magazine with multiple ammunition from 32 blows and the 188 modifications made over the past thirty years, have made it a lethal weapon in tight spaces. Able to use both fragmentation grenades for special uses and magnum cartridges, it reaches the total weight of 7,3 kilos. The shooting cadence of thirty shots per minute makes the Atchisson a portable weapon that no one would want to be bet on.

 

8 - Mk 19 grenade launcher from 40 mm

It weighs 33 kilos, it's not easy to use, but it's awfully powerful and able to shoot devastating M430 grenades from 40mm to two thousand feet away with a cadence of 375 shots per minute.

The MK-19 manages the armed towers of US Army vehicles and Marine departments and was used for the first time during the Vietnam War.

With a cost of twenty thousand dollars a sample is in production since the end of the years' 60.

It is in service in at least fifteen countries.

 

7 - Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System

The robot designed by Qinetiq, a member of the Talon, is a robotic platform designed for the recognition, surveillance and acquisition of targets.

It can also be armed with M240 machine guns and M203 launchers with a total weight of 170 kilos. Its 360 rotating turret tower makes it a perfect 'Terminator' piloted remotely.

His 450 ammunition transported him makes him a lethal soldier. It should go into service within the 2018.

 

 

6 - Rotating cannons

The only thing to do while standing in front of a General Electric M-134 is to start praying. Against that monster capable of pouring six thousand strokes to multiple ammunition a minute, there's nothing to be done. In service since the 1962, the rotary gun machine gun equips the forces of half the world. It weighs thirty pounds and depending on the installed loader, can be equipped with 10 thousand strokes from 7,62mm.

An anecdote is told about the weapon. For the saturation fire, the Delta and Navy Seal deployed in Iraq received the M-134s to be installed on their vehicles. After the first firefights, the terrorists began to no longer deal with units equipped with M-134. From that moment, the weapon is always hidden.

 

5 - XM2010 Reconfigured Sniper Weapon System

A ten-inch 300 Winchester gauge charger and a maximum range of 2km make the XM2010 precision rifle, the lord of death. Developed by Remington Arms is the substitute for the M24 rifle, it will equip all special-class snipers and some of the army.

On 3600 guns ordered, they were delivered about 2700. The XM2010 will be the standard equipment of the USA snipers up to the 2040. Its 300 Winchester ammunition has a 50% margin greater than the 7,62 × 51 mm NATO.

 

4 - Railgun

Imagine a 3,2 chilli bullet fired at a speed of seven times that of the sound. This is the current devastating power of the rail cannon developed by the United States. The system uses the principles of an oblique engine. Within the 2025, the US counts to have in service electric weapons capable of shooting tungsten bullets at Mach 10 and able to pierce a tank armor as if it were butter.

The US Navy plans to integrate a railgun capable of firing multiple shots per minute with a range of over 160 km on a ship within the 2016. Currently the only US navy ship capable of producing enough electricity for rail cannons is the leader class Zumwalt capable of generating 78 megawatts of power.

 

3 - Reaper

The "Reaper" does not carry an excessive war load, but is the first automated hunter killer to handle an operational zone for 28 consecutive hours. The Predator armed version is produced by General Atomics at a cost of $ 17 million copies .

Over the last six years, Reaper has become CIA's killer and represents US projection in hostile countries. Its 14 Hellfire missiles carried, have repeatedly demonstrated the effectiveness of the remote pilot drone.

 

2 - Chimera

The super virus Chimera is certainly the most terrifying weapon created today in the lab.

The possibility of unleashing the power of a pandemic virus capable of wiping out an entire population is not an ethical question, but an icy reality.

 

1 - The nuclear bomb

Needless to write something to describe the horror of nuclear. We can, however, bring you an example. If an Ohio class submarine launched all its 24 'Trident-II' ships would die between direct attack, subsequent contamination, pollution and radiation from thirty to fifty million people. How many would survive tens and tens of kilometers from the explosion, they should face the climatic conditions created following the toxic cloud that would reach the stratosphere. And that would be just the beginning.

 

 

 

Honorable mention - Fractional orbital bombardment system

The Soviet FOB system was the only system of orbiting nuclear weapons ever deployed. Put into service in the 1969, it was withdrawn into the 1983 following the Salt-II treaties. With a range of 40 thousand km, the orbiting warheads, developed by the R-36 intercontinental ballistic missile, could hit every part of the planet.

If a conflict broke out, the Soviets could have destroyed all the major US bases and the space defense system with impunity.

Franco Iacch