Countermeasure
A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept it implies precision, is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process; the first known use of the term is in 1923. Countermeasures can refer to the following disciplinary spectrum: Defense Medicine Materials engineering Electro-magnetic engineering Policing Information technology Law Diplomatic security Pollution preventionDefense countermeasures are subdivided into "active" and "passive" countermeasures. In military applications, "active" countermeasures which alter the electromagnetic, acoustic or other signature of a target thereby altering the tracking and sensing behavior of an incoming threat are designated soft-kill measures. Measures that physically counterattack an incoming threat thereby destroying/altering its payload/warhead in such a way that the intended effect on the target is majorly impeded, such as close-in weapon systems, are designated hard-kill measures.
Both types are further described in active protection systems. "Passive" countermeasures include: Armor Camouflage Fortification Self-sealing fuel tank Tactic Anti-aircraft Anti-ballistic missile Electronic countermeasures Flare Infrared countermeasures Mine countermeasures National Missile Defense Strategic Defense Initiative
Light tank
A light tank is a tank variant designed for rapid movement now employed in the reconnaissance role or in support of expeditionary forces where main battle tanks cannot be made available. Early light tanks were armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility; the fast light tank was a major feature of the pre-World War II buildup, where it was expected they would be used to exploit breakthroughs in enemy lines created by slower, heavier tanks. Numerous small tank designs and "tankettes" were developed during this period and known under a variety of names, including the "combat car"; the light tank has been one of the few tank variants to survive the development of the main battle tank, has seen use in a variety of roles including the support of light airborne or amphibious forces and reconnaissance. Modified IFVs are assuming these roles in many militaries due to their immediate availability, as a cheaper alternative to developing and fielding a pure light tank.
In World War I industrial initiative led to swift advances. The car industry used to vehicle mass production and having much more experience in vehicle layout, designed the first practical light tanks in 1916, a class neglected by the British, it would be Renault's small tank design the FT, incorporating a proper climbing face for the tracks, the first tank to incorporate a top-mounted turret with a full rotation. In fact the FT was in many respects the first modern tank having a layout, followed by all designs since: driver at the front. Previous models had been "box tanks", with a single crowded space combining the role of engine room, fighting compartment, ammunition stock and driver's cabin; the FT would have the largest production run of any tank of the war - with over 3,700 built it was more numerous than all British and German tanks combined. The Carden Loyd tankette and its derivatives were adopted by several nations as small tracked vehicles carrying a machine gun for armament. In 1928, the British firm of Vickers-Armstrong started promoting another design by John Carden and Vivien Loyd as the "six-ton tank".
Although rejected by the British Army, it was bought by a large number of nations in small numbers. It formed the basis of the Soviet T-26 and the Polish 7TP tank and influenced the Italian Fiat M11/39; the British Army did not use the design as a light tank themselves but a developed version of the Carden-Loyd tankette as the starting point for a series of British light tanks intended for use in imperial policing and expeditionary warfare. As the only tank fit for immediate manufacture, it was a key element in the expansion of the British Army in the period leading up to the outbreak of war. In general, French tanks of the 1930s were well-armored, innovative vehicles that owed little to foreign designs. However, the light tanks lacked firepower and all French tanks were handicapped by their one-man turrets the larger tanks such as the Char B1, which overworked the commander who, besides directing the vehicle, or a troop, had to load and aim the turret gun; the lack of radios with the light tanks was not seen as a major drawback, since French doctrine called for slow-paced, deliberate maneuvers in close conformance to plans.
The role of small unit leaders was to execute plans. In 1939, a belated effort was made to increase the number of radios. Throughout the interwar period the US produced only a few hundred tanks. From the end of World War I to 1935, only 15 tanks were produced. Most were derivatives or foreign designs or poor quality private designs; the Christie designs were among the few better examples, but the US Army acquired only three Christies and did not pursue the idea any further. Budget limitations and the low priority given to the army meant that there were few resources for building tanks; the US Army instead developed and tested tank components such as suspensions and transmissions. This paid off; the Soviet BT tanks were the most advanced in the 1930s fast and mounting high velocity 45 mm cannons. Their only drawback were their petrol engines which caught fire and during the Nomonhan fighting which lasted from about May through September 1939; the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tank was equipped with a diesel engine, although mounting a 37 mm cannon, it was a low velocity gun with a maximum effective range of about 700 meters.
However, this conflict would be instrumental in developing the famous T-34 medium tank. Germany's armored Panzer force was not impressive at the start of the war. In the invasions of Poland and France, the German forces were made up of the Panzer I and Panzer II light tanks; the Panzer I was little more than a training vehicle armed only with machine guns, the Panzer II with a 20 mm cannon. The Panzer division included some Czech designed light tanks - the Panzer 35 and the Panzer 38. American light tank development started with the M2 light tank series; these light tanks were mechanically reliable, with good mobility. However, they had a high silhouette, only a few saw combat; the M3 Stuart series was an improvement of the M2 with better armor. The new medium tank just entering production in 1940 was the M2A1; this was a poor design with a high silhouette. The M3 Stuart saw use in the North African Campaign but was relegated to reconnaissance as soon as US-built medium tanks became available. Further light tank development in the war led to the improved M5 Stuart and inc
AGM-114 Hellfire
The AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-surface missile first developed for anti-armor use, but models were developed for precision strikes against other target types, have been used in a number of targeted killings of high-profile individuals. It was developed under the name Heliborne, Laser and Forget Missile, which led to the colloquial name "Hellfire" becoming the missile's formal name, it has multi-mission, multi-target precision-strike ability, can be launched from multiple air and ground platforms, including the Predator drone. The Hellfire missile is the primary 100-pound class air-to-ground precision weapon for the armed forces of the United States and many other nations; the Hellfire can be fired from rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, waterborne vessels and land-based systems against a variety of targets. Most variants are AGM-114L "Longbow Hellfire", being radar guided. Laser guidance can be provided either from the launcher, such as the nose-mounted opto-electronics of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, other airborne target designators or from ground-based observers, the latter two options allowing the launcher to break line of sight with the target and seek cover.
The development of the Hellfire Missile System began in 1974 with the U. S. Army requirement for a "tank-buster", launched from helicopters to defeat armored fighting vehicles. Production of the AGM-114A started in 1982; the Hellfire II, developed in the early 1990s is a modular missile system with several variants. Hellfire II's semi-active laser variants—AGM-114K high-explosive anti-tank, AGM-114KII with external blast fragmentation sleeve, AGM-114M, AGM-114N metal augmented charge —achieve pinpoint accuracy by homing in on a reflected laser beam aimed at the target. Predator and Reaper UCAVs carry the Hellfire II, but the most common platform is the AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship, which can carry up to 16 of the missiles at once; the AGM-114L, or Longbow Hellfire, is a fire-and-forget weapon: equipped with a millimeter wave radar seeker, it requires no further guidance after launch—even being able to lock-on to its target after launch—and can hit its target without the launcher or other friendly unit being in line of sight of the target.
It works in adverse weather and battlefield obscurants, such as smoke and fog which can mask the position of a target or prevent a designating laser from forming a detectable reflection. Each Hellfire weighs 104 pounds, including the 20 pounds warhead, has a range of 26,000 feet; the AGM-114R "Romeo" Hellfire II entered service in late 2012. It uses a semi-active laser homing guidance system and a K-charge multipurpose warhead to engage targets that needed multiple Hellfire variants, it will replace AGM-114K, M, N, P variants in U. S. service. In October 2012, the U. S. ordered 24,000 Hellfire II missiles, for both the U. S. armed forces and foreign customers. The Joint Common Missile was to replace Hellfire II by around 2011; the JCM was developed with a tri-mode seeker and a multi-purpose warhead that would combine the capabilities of the several Hellfire variants. In the budget for FY2006, the U. S. Department of Defense canceled a number of projects that they felt no longer warranted continuation based on their cost effectiveness, including the JCM.
A possible new JCM successor called. Due to budget reductions, JAGM development was separated into increments, with Increment 1 focusing on adding a millimeter wave radar to the Hellfire-R to give it a dual-mode seeker, enabling it to track moving targets in bad weather. Since being fielded, Hellfire missiles have been used in combat in Operation Just Cause in Panama, Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War, Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where they have been fired from Apache and Super Cobra attack helicopters, Kiowa scout helicopters, Predator and Reaper unmanned combat air vehicle drones. In 2008, the usage of the AGM-114N metal augmented charge variant caused controversy in the United Kingdom when it was reported that these thermobaric munitions were added to the British Army arsenal. Thermobaric weapons have been condemned by human rights groups; the UK Ministry of Defence refers to the AGM-114N as an "enhanced blast weapon".
The AGM-114 has been the munition of choice for airborne targeted killings that have included high-profile figures such as Ahmed Yassin in 2004 by the Israeli Air Force, Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2011, Abu Yahya al-Libi in Pakistan in 2012 by the United States, Moktar Ali Zubeyr in Somalia in September 2014. US officials are certain that on 12 November 2015, Jihadi John, real name Mohammed Emwazi, was killed by a drone-fired Hellfire missile, while travelling in a car near Clocktower Square, in Raqqa, the place where ISIL carried out public executions; the AGM-114 saw use as an air-to-air missile. The first operational air-to-air kill with a Hellfire took place on 24 May 2001, after a civilian Cessna 152 aircraft entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, with unknown intentions and refusing to answer or comply with ATC repeated warnings to turn back. An Israeli Air Force AH-64A Apache helicopter fired on the Cessna, resulting in its complete disintegration; the second operational air-to-air kill with a Hellfire occurred on 10 February 2018, after an Iranian UAV entered Israeli airspace from Syria.
An Israeli Air Force AH-64 launched a missile on the UAV d
Missile
In modern language, a missile known as a guided missile, is a guided self-propelled system, as opposed to an unguided self-propelled munition, referred to as a rocket. Missiles have four system components: targeting or missile guidance, flight system and warhead. Missiles come in types adapted for different purposes: surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, anti-satellite weapons. All known existing missiles are designed to be propelled during powered flight by chemical reactions inside a rocket engine, jet engine, or other type of engine. Non-self-propelled airborne explosive devices are referred to as shells and have a shorter range than missiles. In ordinary British-English usage predating guided weapons, a missile is such as objects thrown at players by rowdy spectators at a sporting event; the first missiles to be used operationally were a series of missiles developed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Most famous of these are the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, both of which used a simple mechanical autopilot to keep the missile flying along a pre-chosen route.
Less well known were a series of anti-shipping and anti-aircraft missiles based on a simple radio control system directed by the operator. However, these early systems in World War II were only built in small numbers. Guided missiles have a number of different system components: Guidance system Targeting system Flight system Engine Warhead The most common method of guidance is to use some form of radiation, such as infrared, lasers or radio waves, to guide the missile onto its target; this radiation may emanate from the target, it may be provided by the missile itself, or it may be provided by a friendly third party. The first two are known as fire-and-forget as they need no further support or control from the launch vehicle/platform in order to function. Another method is to use a TV guidance, with a visible light or infrared picture produced in order to see the target; the picture may be used either by a human operator who steering the missile onto its target or by a computer doing much the same job.
One of the more bizarre guidance methods instead used a pigeon to steer a missile to its target. Some missiles have a home-on-jam capability to guide itself to a radar-emitting source. Many missiles use a combination of two or more of the methods to improve accuracy and the chances of a successful engagement. Another method is to target the missile by knowing the location of the target and using a guidance system such as INS, TERCOM or satellite guidance; this guidance system guides the missile by knowing the missile's current position and the position of the target, calculating a course between them. This job can be performed somewhat crudely by a human operator who can see the target and the missile and guide it using either cable- or radio-based remote control, or by an automatic system that can track the target and the missile. Furthermore, some missiles use initial targeting, sending them to a target area, where they will switch to primary targeting, using either radar or IR targeting to acquire the target.
Whether a guided missile uses a targeting system, a guidance system or both, it needs a flight system. The flight system uses the data from the targeting or guidance system to maneuver the missile in flight, allowing it to counter inaccuracies in the missile or to follow a moving target. There are two main systems: aerodynamic maneuvering. Missiles are powered by an engine either a type of rocket engine or jet engine. Rockets are of the solid propellant type for ease of maintenance and fast deployment, although some larger ballistic missiles use liquid-propellant rockets. Jet engines are used in cruise missiles, most of the turbojet type, due to its relative simplicity and low frontal area. Turbofans and ramjets are the only other common forms of jet engine propulsion, although any type of engine could theoretically be used. Long-range missiles may have multiple engine stages in those launched from the surface; these stages may all be of similar types or may include a mix of engine types − for example, surface-launched cruise missiles have a rocket booster for launching and a jet engine for sustained flight.
Some missiles may have additional propulsion from another source at launch. Missiles have one or more explosive warheads, although other weapon types may be used; the warheads of a missile provide its primary destructive power. Warheads are most of the high explosive type employing shaped charges to exploit the accuracy of a guided weapon to destroy hardened targets. Other warhead types include submunitions, nuclear weapons, biological or radiological weapons or kinetic energy penetrators. Warheadless missiles are used for testing and training purposes. Missiles are categorized by their launch platform and intended target. In broadest terms, these will either be surface or air, t
Missile guidance
Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its "Single Shot Kill Probability", part of combat survivability calculations associated with the salvo combat model; these guidance technologies can be divided up into a number of categories, with the broadest categories being "active," "passive" and "preset" guidance. Missiles and guided bombs use similar types of guidance system, the difference between the two being that missiles are powered by an onboard engine, whereas guided bombs rely on the speed and height of the launch aircraft for propulsion; the concept of missile guidance originated at least as early as World War I, with the idea of remotely guiding an airplane bomb onto a target. In World War II, guided missiles were first developed, as part of the German V-weapons program. Project Pigeon was American behaviorist B.
F. Skinner's attempt to develop a pigeon-guided missile; the first U. S. ballistic missile with a accurate inertial guidance system was the short-range Redstone. Guidance systems are divided into different categories according to whether they are designed to attack fixed or moving targets; the weapons can be divided into two broad categories: Go-Onto-Target and Go-Onto-Location-in-Space guidance systems. A GOT missile can target either a moving or fixed target, whereas a GOLIS weapon is limited to a stationary or near-stationary target; the trajectory that a missile takes while attacking a moving target is dependent upon the movement of the target. A moving target can be an immediate threat to the sender of the missile; the target needs to be eliminated in a timely fashion in order to preserve the integrity of the sender. In GOLIS systems, the problem is simpler because the target is not moving. In every Go-Onto-Target system there are three subsystems: Target tracker Missile tracker Guidance computerThe way these three subsystems are distributed between the missile and the launcher result in two different categories: Remote Control Guidance: The guidance computer is on the launcher.
The target tracker is placed on the launching platform. Homing Guidance: The guidance computers are in the missile and in the target tracker; these guidance systems need the use of radars and a radio or wired link between the control point and the missile. These systems include: Command guidance - The missile tracker is on the launching platform; these missiles are controlled by the launching platform that sends all control orders to the missile. The 2 variants areCommand to Line-Of-Sight Command Off Line-Of-Sight Line-Of-Sight Beam Riding Guidance - The target tracker is on board the missile; the missile has some orientation capability meant for flying inside the beam that the launching platform is using to illuminate the target. It can be manual or automatic; the CLOS system uses only the angular coordinates between the missile and the target to ensure the collision. The missile is made to be in the line of sight between the launcher and the target, any deviation of the missile from this line is corrected.
Since so many types of missile use this guidance system, they are subdivided into four groups: A particular type of command guidance and navigation where the missile is always commanded to lie on the line of sight between the tracking unit and the aircraft is known as command to line of sight or three-point guidance. That is, the missile is controlled to stay as close as possible on the LOS to the target after missile capture is used to transmit guidance signals from a ground controller to the missile. More if the beam acceleration is taken into account and added to the nominal acceleration generated by the beam-rider equations CLOS guidance results. Thus, the beam rider acceleration command is modified to include an extra term; the beam-riding performance described above can thus be improved by taking the beam motion into account. CLOS guidance is used in shortrange air defense and antitank systems. Both target tracking and missile tracking and control are performed manually; the operator watches the missile flight, uses a signaling system to command the missile back into the straight line between operator and target.
This is useful only for slower targets, where significant "lead" is not required. MCLOS is a subtype of command guided systems. In the case of glide bombs or missiles against ships or the supersonic Wasserfall against slow-moving B-17 Flying Fortress bombers this system worked, but as speeds increased MCLOS was rendered useless for most roles. Target tracking is automatic, while missile tracking and control is manual. Target tracking is manual, but missile tracking and control is automatic. Is similar to MCLOS but some automatic system positions the missile in the line of sight while the operator tracks the target. SACLOS has the advantage of allowing the missile to start in a position invisible to the user, as well as being easier to operate, it is the most common form of guidance against ground targets such as tanks and bunkers. Target tracking, missile tracking and control are automatic; this guidance system was one of the first to be used and still is in service in anti-aircraft missiles. In this system, the target tracker and the missile tracker can be oriented in different directions.
The guidance system ensures the interception of the target by the missile by locating both in space. This m
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be tracked. Main battle tanks, armoured cars, armoured self-propelled guns, armoured personnel carriers are all examples of AFVs. Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their intended role on the battlefield and characteristics; the classifications are not absolute. For example lightly armed armoured personnel carriers were superseded by infantry fighting vehicles with much heavier armament in a similar role. Successful designs are adapted to a wide variety of applications. For example, the MOWAG Piranha designed as an APC, has been adapted to fill numerous roles such as a mortar carrier, infantry fighting vehicle, assault gun; the concept of a mobile and protected fighting unit has been around for centuries. Armoured fighting vehicles were not possible until internal combustion engines of sufficient power became available at the start of the 20th century.
Modern armoured fighting vehicles represent the realization of an ancient concept - that of providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. Armies have deployed war cavalries with rudimentary armour in battle for millennia. Use of these animals and engineering designs sought to achieve a balance between the conflicting paradoxical needs of mobility and protection. Siege engines, such as battering rams and siege towers, would be armoured in order to protect their crews from enemy action. Polyidus of Thessaly developed a large movable siege tower, the helepolis, as early as 340 BC, Greek forces used such structures in the Siege of Rhodes; the idea of a protected fighting vehicle has been known since antiquity. Cited is Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century sketch of a mobile, protected gun-platform; the machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of hand cranks and cage gears. Leonardo claimed: "I will build armored wagons which will be invulnerable to enemy attacks.
There will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome." Modern replicas have demonstrated that the human crew would have been able to move it over only short distances. Hussite forces in Bohemia developed war wagons - medieval weapon-platforms - around 1420 during the Hussite Wars; these heavy wagons were given protective sides with firing slits. Heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc; these carried a ball of about 3.5 ounces. The first modern AFVs were armed cars, dating back to the invention of the motor car; the British inventor F. R. Simms designed and built the Motor Scout in 1898, it was the first armed, petrol-engine powered vehicle built. It consisted of a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle with a Maxim machine gun mounted on the front bar. An iron shield offered some protection for the driver from the front, but it lacked all-around protective armour; the armoured car was the first modern armoured fighting vehicle. The first of these was the Simms' Motor War Car, designed by Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in 1899.
The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3.3-litre 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour. The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Another early armoured car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902; the vehicle was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun, with 7 mm armour for the gunner. Armoured cars were first used in large numbers on both sides during World War I as scouting vehicles. In 1903, H. G. Wells published the short story "The Land Ironclads," positing indomitable war machines that would bring a new age of land warfare, the way steam-powered ironclad warships had ended the age of sail. Wells' literary vision was realized in 1916, amidst the pyrrhic standstill of the Great War, the British Landships Committee, deployed revolutionary armoured vehicles to break the stalemate.
The tank was envisioned as an armoured machine that could cross ground under fire from machine guns and reply with its own mounted machine guns and cannons. These first British heavy tanks of World War I moved on caterpillar tracks that had lower ground pressure than wheeled vehicles, enabling them to pass the muddy, pocked terrain and slit trenches of the Battle of the Somme; the tank proved successful and, as technology improved. It became a weapon that could cross large distances at much higher speeds than supporting infantry and artillery; the need to provide the units that would fight alongside the tank led to the development of a wide range of specialised AFVs during the Second World War. The Armoured personnel carrier, designed to transport infantry troops to the frontline, emerged towards the end of World War I. During the first actions with tanks, it had become clear that close contact with infantry was essential in order to secure ground won by the tanks. Troops on foot were vulnerable to enemy fire, but they could not be transported
Military vehicle
A military vehicle is a type of vehicle that includes all land combat and transportation vehicles, which are designed for or are used by military forces. Many military vehicles have off-road capabilities or both. Under the Geneva Conventions, all non-combatant military vehicles such as field ambulances and mobile first aid stations must be properly and marked as such. In theory under the conventions, such vehicles are legally immune from deliberate attack by all combatants. A subtype that has become prominent since the late 20th Century is the improvised fighting vehicle, is seen in irregular warfare. A military truck is a vehicle designed to transport troops and military supplies to the battlefield, through asphalted roads and unpaved dirt roads. Several countries have manufactured their own models of military trucks, each of which has its own technical characteristics; these vehicles are adapted to the needs of the different armies on the ground. In general, these trucks are composed of a chassis, a motor, a transmission, a cabin, an area for the placement of the load and the equipment, axles of transmission, direction, electrical, hydraulic, engine cooling systems, brakes.
They can be operated with a gasoline engine or with a diesel engine, there are four-wheel drive vehicles, six wheeled, eight wheeled, ten wheeled and twelve wheeled vehicles. Land combat and military transport vehicles include: Armoured fighting vehicle Reconnaissance vehicle Military engineering vehicle Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns / Self-Propelled Air Defense Systems Military ambulances Electronic warfare vehicles Military draisnes Armoured trains Technical List of military vehicles List of military trucks Military aircraft Warship
