IMI Galil

The Galil is one of the standard assault rifles used by the Israel Defense Forces. It was designed by Yisrael Galili, and bears his name. It is a variant on the AK-47 design, chambered for 5.56 mm NATO or 7.62mm NATO ammunition.

History

The Galil project began after the Six-Day War, and the design was selected by the Israel Defense Forces from two competing designs. The winner was based on the Finnish Rk 62 (itself a locally improved and further developed variant of the AK-47). The first rifles began to arrive in 1974, after the Yom Kippur War. The Galil was designed to be a domestically produced main battle rifle for the IDF, taking the best features of other rifles, such as the FN FAL, M16 and AK-47, and putting them into one rifle. That rifle could be adapted to any number of tasks. The result was the IMI Galil. The Galil was used by Israeli infantry during the Lebanon War in 1982; but towards the mid-1980s, it was determined to be less than optimal.

Variant

Nowadays, there are a number of models used:
Galil AR The main version
Galil ARM Bipod version with carry handle.
Galil SAR ("short") - no bipod or carry handle, shorter barrel.
Galil SNR ("sniper") - bipod, subsonic munition.
Galil MAR ("micro") - which retains the internal features with a completely new frame and even shorter barrel. It has been reported that this weapon is subject to severe overheating, becoming too hot to touch after sustained automatic fire. A redesigned version is now in service with Israeli special forces in undercover operations, small enough to conceal under a jacket, yet extremely powerful. A Galil MAR variant with a redesigned receiver and front sight is in widespread service with Israel's police.
Another version, the Galat'z, has a significantly longer barrel and fires heavier 7.62 × 51 mm ammunition and is intended to be used as a sniper rifle. The successor of the Galat'z is the SR-99. The South African R4, developed in 1982, is based on the Galil. This version was the base for some further variants, the R5, the R6 and a light machine gun
Galil
Type :Assault rifle

Place of origin :Israel
Service history :In service1974–
Used by :Colombia, Estonia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Myanma, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Tonga
Wars:Lebanon War,Operation Restore Hope2003- Operation Iraqi Freedom,Operatio Enduring Freedom/ISAF - Afghanistan
Production history: Manufacturer Bernadelli, Israel Military Industries (IMI) Indumil, Ka Pa Sa State Factories
Variants :See Variants
Specifications
Weight:3.9 kg (8.6 lb) (empty)
Length :979 mm,742 mm stock folded
Cartridge :5.56 x 45 mm NATO or 7.62 x 51 mm NATO
Action :Gas-operated, Rotating bolt
Rate of fire :650 rounds/min
Effective range :450 m (5.56 mm)500 m (7.62 mm)
Feed system :Detachable box magazine35 or 50 rounds (5.56 mm

Types of weapons

There are essentially three facets to classifying weapon types: who uses it, how it works, and what it targets.
Who uses it essentially determines how it can be employed:
Personal weapons (or Small Arms) are designed to be used by an single person.
Crew served 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 combine's matter and antimatter causing a powerful explosion.
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.
Future weapons make use of futuristic high tech weapon systems and advanced materials.
Improvised weapons are common objects that were not designed for combat purposes but are used as such in self defense or a violent crime.
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.
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.
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.

Light Armored Vehicle-25 (LAV-25)

The LAV-25 is an all-terrain, all-weather vehicle with night capabilities. It provides strategic mobility to reach and engage the threat, tactical mobility for effective use of fire power, fire power to defeat soft and armored targets, and battlefield survivability to carry out combat missions. It is air transportable via C-130, C-141, C-5 and CH-53 E. When combat loaded there are 210 ready rounds and 420 stowed rounds of 25 mm ammunition as well as 400 ready rounds and 1200 stowed rounds of 7.62mm. There are 8 ready rounds and 8 stowed rounds of smoke grenades. A supplementary M240E1 7.62mm machine gun can be pintle-mounted at the commander's station in the turret. The LAV-25 is fully amphibious with a maximum of 3 minutes preparation

F-15E Strike Eagle

Although the slogan of the F-15's original design team was "Not a pound for air-to-ground," the F-15 has long been recognized as having superior potential in the ground attack role. In 1987 this potential was realized in the form of the F-15E Strike Eagle. The F-15E became the newest fighter in Tactical Air Command when the 405th Tactical Training Wing, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., accepted delivery of the first production model in April 1988. The 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., was the first operational F-15E Strike Eagle wing in the Air Force.
While new to the operational inventory, F-15E Strike Eagles were among the first airframes tasked to react to events in the Persian Gulf in August 1990. The 4th Fighter Wing deployed two F-15E squadrons to Southwest Asia in August and December of that year, and spearheaded an attack on Iraqi forces Jan. 16, 1991. The war was brought to a swift and successful conclusion in late February 1991.
Unlike previous models, the F-15E uses two crew members, a pilot and a weapon systems officer. The two engine dual role fighter capable of speeds up to MACH 2.5. It is capable of carrying an external payload of up to 24,500 pounds, to include fuel tanks, weapons pylons, missiles, and bombs. The maximum takeoff weight ofthe F- 15E is 81,000 pounds. The basic empty weight is 36,500 pounds. Considered to be the most advanced tactical fighter aircraft in the world, the F-15E is the fifth version of the Eagle to come off the McDonnell Douglas assembly line in St. Louis, Mo., since 1972. While retaining the best features of its predecessors, the "E" model is equipped with an array of new avionics and electronics systems.

F-14 Tomcat

By early 2006 only 22 F-14 Tomcats remained in service, aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. These last two F-14 squadrons returned from theis last deployment on 10 March 2006. VF-213 Blacklions transition to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in April 2006, and the VF-31 Tomcatters give up their Tomcats in September 2006.
Fighter Squadron (VF) 31 returned home to Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana on Oct. 31, 2004, from a five-month Western Pacific deployment with the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). As part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 14, the squadron became the last to fly F-14 Tomcats over the skies of the Pacific Fleet.
Besides the United States, Iran is the only other country that deploys the F-14 Tomcat, and sales of military equipment to Iran is prohibited. By the end of 2006, Iran will be the only country operating the F-14. US Customs have made multiple arrests in conspiracies to transship military parts to Iran. One seuzure in 2001 involved 16 pallets containing military aircraft parts, missile parts, and other military items, including a crate containing an entire canopy to an F-14 Tomcat Fighter.
Manufactured by Grumman Aircraft Corporation, the F-14 employs variable geometry wings to optimize aircraft performance throughout the flight envelope. The F-14 swing-wing could be manually controlled by the pilot or shifted automatically according to the plane's speed. It moved forward to allow the plane to land on tiny aircraft carrier decks at relatively low speeds and backward as the plane dashed out to intercept Soviet bombers. The multiple tasks of navigation, target acquisition, electronic counter measures (ECM), and weapons firing are divided between the pilot and the radar intercept officer (RIO).

B-52 Stratofortress

The B-52H BUFF [Big Ugly Fat Fellow] is the primary nuclear roled bomber in the USAF inventory. It provides the only Air Launch Cruise Missile carriage in the USAF. The B-52H also provides theater CINCs with a long range strike capability. The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). It can carry nuclear or conventional ordnance with worldwide precision navigation capability.
With a gross weight of 488,000 pounds, the B-52H is even today one of the heaviest offensive military aircraft operated by any nation in the world. Maximum speed of the B-52H is 639 miles per hour at 20,700 feet, or a Mach number of 0.91, and cruising speed is 525 miles per hour. Mission radius is 4,480 miles with a weapons load of 10,000 pounds. Many other combinations of payload and range are, of course, possible. Range is, of course, greatly increased by in-flight refueling.
The B-52 was originally designed for high-altitude weapons delivery over the target. Like the B-47, however, the increasing effectiveness of enemy antiaircraft defenses required the development of low-altitude high-speed penetration tactics for the B-52. Again like the B-47, the B-52 has suffered from its share of structural fatigue problems. To cure these problems, many modifications have been made to the aircraft during its long-lived career.
A total of 744 B-52s were built with the last, a B-52H, delivered in October 1962. Only the H model is still in the Air Force inventory and all are assigned to Air Combat Command. The first of 102 B-52H's was delivered to Strategic Air Command in May 1961. The H model can carry up to 20 air launched cruise missiles. In addition, it can carry the conventional cruise missile which was launched from B-52G models during Desert Storm.
Today, 94 B-52H's are all that remain of 744 Stratofortresses built in the '50s and '60s. As part of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, signed by the United States and Russia, B-52 C/D/E/F/G aircrews flew their planes' final missions to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. Commonly known as the "Boneyard," the center became the last stop - but not a resting ground - for many of the old SAC warriors. The bombers, some still wearing faded "Peace is our Profession" emblems, were placed deep inside the sprawling complex, like sacrificial lambs awaiting slaughter. Then stripped of all usable parts, the bombers - which helped end two wars and kept the mighty Soviet Bear in check - were unceremoniously ripped into five pieces by a 13,000-pound steel blade. The modern-day guillotine crashed down four times on each plane, severing the mammoth wings and leaving the fuselage in three pieces. The battered remains sat there for three months, until orbiting Russian satellites confirmed nothing was left but 90 tons of junk.

The M-4 combat assault rifle first entered Army service in 1997. The rifle is the standard weapon used by some Army units such as the 82nd Airborne Division and special operations units, such as Army Rangers. With a shortened barrel and collapsible stock, the M-4 is ideal for close quarter marksmanship where light weight and quick action are required. Firing a standard 5.56 millimeter round, the weapon weighs a mere 5.6 lbs. (empty). A revised rear sight allows for better control of the weapon out to the maximum range of the ammunition used. With the PAQ-4 (Infrared Sight) mounted on the forward rail system, the M-4 can be fitted for increased firepower. The M-4 Carbine can also be fitted with the M-203 40mm grenade launcher. The M-203 is a lightweight, compact, breech loading, pump action, single shot launcher. The launcher consists of a hand guard and sight assembly with an adjustable metallic folding, short-range blade sight assembly, and an aluminum receiver assembly which houses the barrel latch, barrel stop and firing mechanism. The launcher is capable of firing a variety of low velocity 40mm ammunition. The launcher also has a quadrant sight that may be attached to the M-4 carrying handle and is used when precision is required out to the maximum effective range of the weapon. The M-4 in this photograph also has an M-68 close-quarters battle sight mounted on the rear rail and a PAQ-4 infra-red sight on the forward rail.
Type: Compact assault rifle
Entered Army Service: 1997
Specifications:
Caliber: 5.56mm
Weight: 5.65 lbs
Range: 500 m
Rate of fire: variable, depending on rate selected