1.
Upshot-Knothole Grable
–
Upshot–Knothole Grable was a nuclear weapons test conducted by the United States as part of Operation Upshot–Knothole. Detonation of the nuclear weapon occurred 19 seconds after its deployment at 8, 30am PDT on May 25,1953. The codename Grable was chosen because the letter Grable is phonetic for G, as in gun, as a shell, or artillery-fired atomic projectile, the device was the first of its kind. The test remains the only nuclear artillery shell ever fired in the U. S. nuclear weapons test program. Grable was the second of only four gun-type warheads ever detonated, the shell, designated a Mark 9 nuclear weapon, had a diameter of 280 mm, was 1380 mm long and weighed 364 kg. The M65 Atomic Cannon from which it was fired had a velocity of 625 m/s, for a nominal range of 32 km. The detonation of Grable occurred 19 seconds after its firing and it detonated over 11,000 yards away from the gun it was fired from, over a part of the Nevada Test Site known as Frenchman Flat. The explosion was an air burst of 160 m above the ground,26 m west and 41 m south of its target and its yield was estimated at 15 kilotons, around the same level as Little Boy. An anomalous feature of the blast was the formation of a precursor and this precursor was formed when the shock wave reflected off the ground and surpassed the incident wave and Mach stem due to a heated ground air layer and the low burst height. It resulted in a lower overpressure, but higher overall dynamic pressure and this led strategists to rethink the importance of low air bursts in tactical nuclear warfare. Some images from Upshot–Knothole Grable were accidentally relabeled as belonging to the Priscilla shot from Operation Plumbbob in 1957, as a consequence many publications including official government documents have the photo mislabeled. Admiral Arthur W. Radford, at the time the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, video clip of Grable nuclear artillery experiment The Atomic Cannon from AtomCentral. com, including video
2.
Nevada Test Site
–
Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1-kiloton-of-TNT bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on 27 January 1951. Many of the images of the nuclear era come from the NTS. During the 1950s, the clouds from the 100 atmospheric tests could be seen for almost 100 mi. The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the distant mushroom clouds, St. George, Utah, received the brunt of the fallout of above-ground nuclear testing in the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site. Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George, the vast majority—828 of the 928 total nuclear tests—were underground. Those arrested included the astronomer Carl Sagan and the actors Kris Kristofferson, Martin Sheen, the Nevada Test Site contains 28 areas,1,100 buildings,400 miles of paved roads,300 miles of unpaved roads, ten heliports, and two airstrips. The Nevada Test Site was established as a 680-square-mile area by President Harry Truman on December 18,1950, within the Nellis Air Force Gunnery, the Nevada Test Site was the primary testing location of American nuclear devices from 1951 to 1992,928 announced nuclear tests occurred there. The site is covered with subsidence craters from the testing, the NTS was the United States primary location for tests in the 500-to-1,000 kt range. 126 tests were conducted elsewhere, including most larger tests, many of these occurred at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands. During the 1950s, the clouds from atmospheric tests could be seen for almost 100 mi. The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the distant mushroom clouds, the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site was Little Feller I of Operation Sunbeam, on 17 July 1962. Although the United States did not ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it honors the articles of the treaty, subcritical tests not involving a critical mass continue. It created a crater 1,280 feet wide and 320 feet deep that can still be seen today, the site was scheduled to be used to conduct the testing of a 1, 100-ton conventional explosive in an operation known as Divine Strake in June 2006. The bomb is an alternative to nuclear bunker busters. After objections from Nevada and Utahs members of Congress, the operation was postponed until 2007, on 22 February 2007, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency officially canceled the experiment. On December 7,2012 the most-recent explosion was conducted, an underground sub-critical test of the properties of plutonium, NTS also performed piggyback testing of effects of nuclear detonation during the above-ground tests. Vehicles, shelters, utility stations, and other structures were placed at distances from the Ground Zero detonation point of each weapon. Homes and commercial buildings were built to typical of American and European cities
3.
Nuclear weapon yield
–
An explosive yield of one terajoule is 0.239 kt of TNT. The yield-to-weight ratio is the amount of weapon yield compared to the mass of the weapon, the practical maximum yield-to-weight ratio for fusion weapons has been estimated to six megatons of TNT per metric ton of bomb mass. Yields of 5.2 megatons/ton and higher have been reported for large weapons constructed for use in the early 1960s. Most artificial non-nuclear explosions are considerably smaller than even what are considered to be very small nuclear weapons, the yield-to-weight ratio is the amount of weapon yield compared to the mass of the weapon. According to nuclear-weapons designer Ted Taylor, the practical maximum yield-to-weight ratio for fusion weapons is about 6 megatons of TNT per metric ton. The Taylor limit is not derived from first principles, and weapons with yields as high as 9.5 megatons per metric ton have been designed and built. The 25 Mt yield option reported for the B41 would give it a ratio of 5.1 megatons of TNT per metric ton. This results in the B41 still retaining the record for the highest Yield-to-weight weapon ever designed, in 1963 DOE declassified statements that the U. S. had the technological capability of deploying a 35 Mt warhead on the Titan II, or a 50-60 Mt gravity bomb on B-52s. Neither weapon was pursued, but either would require yield-to-weight ratios superior to a 25 Mt Mk-41, for current smaller US weapons, yield is 600 to 2200 kilotons of TNT per metric ton. By comparison, for the very small devices such as the Davy Crockett it was 0.4 to 40 kilotons of TNT per metric ton. For historical comparison, for Little Boy the yield was only 4 kilotons of TNT per metric ton, and for the largest Tsar Bomba, the yield was 2 megatons of TNT per metric ton. The largest pure-fission bomb ever constructed Ivy King had a 500 kiloton yield, however, there is no known upper yield limit for a fusion bomb. For example, the Mk-36 bomb as built had a ratio of 1.25 megatons of TNT per metric ton. Delivery size limits can be estimated to ascertain limits to delivery of high yield weapons. If the full 250 metric ton payload of the Antonov An-225 aircraft could be used, likewise, the maximum limit of a missile-delivered weapon is determined by the missile gross payload capacity. The large Russian SS-18 ICBM has a capacity of 7,200 kg. A Saturn V-scale missile could deliver over 120 tons, giving a maximum yield of about 700 megatons. The following list is of nuclear explosions
4.
Tactical nuclear weapon
–
Tactical nuclear weapons were a large part of the peak nuclear weapons stockpile levels during the Cold War. Tactical nuclear weapons include gravity bombs, short-range missiles, artillery shells, land mines, depth charges, also in this category are nuclear armed ground-based or shipborne surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles. In wartime, such explosives could be used for demolishing choke-points to enemy offensives, such as at tunnels, narrow mountain passes, there is no precise definition of the tactical category, neither considering range nor yield of the nuclear weapon. Modern tactical nuclear warheads have yields up to the tens of kilotons, or potentially hundreds, several times that of the used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima. Use of tactical nuclear weapons against similarly-armed opponents carries a significant danger of escalating the conflict beyond anticipated boundaries. For example, firing a nuclear artillery shell similar to the W48 at the enemy invites retaliation. It may provoke the enemy into responding with several artillery shells similar to the W79. By using tactical nuclear weapons there is a risk of escalating the conflict until it reaches a tipping point which provokes the use of strategic nuclear weapons such as ICBMs. Additionally, the nuclear weapons most likely to be used first have usually been under less stringent political control at times of military combat crises than strategic weapons. Early Permissive Action Links could be as simple as a combination lock. For these reasons, stockpiles of nuclear warheads in most countries arsenals have been dramatically reduced c. 2010, and the smallest types have been completely eliminated, some variable yield nuclear warheads such as the B61 nuclear bomb have been produced in both tactical and strategic versions. This concept was formalized when Putin took power in Russia in the following year, ten NATO member countries have advanced a confidence-building plan for NATO and Russia that could lead to treaties to reduce the tactical nuclear weapons in Europe
5.
Shell (projectile)
–
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used, originally, it was called a bombshell, but shell has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages, shells are usually large-calibre projectiles fired by artillery, combat vehicles, and warships. Shells usually have the shape of a cylinder topped by a nose for good aerodynamic performance, possibly with a tapering base. Solid cannonballs did not need a fuse, but hollow munitions filled with something such as gunpowder to fragment the ball, needed a fuse, percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented a challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism hit the target. Therefore, shells needed a fuse that was ignited before or during firing. The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376, shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop, as described in their book, these hollow, gunpowder-packed shells were made of cast iron. At least since the 16th Century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe, a hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt, Germany dated to the 17th Century. Lots of the grenades obtained their orignal blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. Early powder burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire put down the barrel to light the fuse, other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into use in the 16th Century. By the 18th Century, it was known that the fuse towards the muzzle could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel, the use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in the 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder and they were usually made of cast iron, but bronze, lead, brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter and they were about two thirds the weight of solid shot of the same calibre. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses towards the muzzle, in 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognised that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardised sabot thickness as a half inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading, despite the use of exploding shell, the use of smoothbore cannons, firing spherical projectiles of shot, remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. By the late 18th century, artillery could use canister shot to defend itself from infantry or cavalry attack and this involved loading a tin or canvas container filled with small iron or lead balls instead of the usual cannonball
6.
Cannon
–
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile, which may or may not be explosive. The word cannon is derived from languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane. The Greeks invented the first type—a steam cannon—designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse, ctesibius built a steam cannon in Alexandria and in the fifteenth century Leonardo da Vinci designed another, the Architonnerre, based on Archimedes work. The earliest form of artillery was developed in Song China, over time replacing siege engines. In the Middle East, the first use of the cannon is argued to be during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluk Sultanate and Mongol Empire. The first cannon in Europe were in use in the Iberian Peninsula by the mid-13th century and it was during this period, the Middle Ages, that cannon became standardised, and more effective in both the anti-infantry and siege roles. After the Middle Ages most large cannon were abandoned in favour of greater numbers of lighter, Cannon also transformed naval warfare in the early modern period, as European navies took advantage of their firepower. In World War I, the majority of fatalities were caused by artillery. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, Cannon was widely known as the earliest form of a gun and artillery, before early firearms were invented. The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, both Cannons and Cannon are correct and in common usage, with one or the other having preference in different parts of the English-speaking world. Cannons is more common in North America and Australia, while cannon as plural is more common in the United Kingdom, Cannon in general have the form of a truncated cone with an internal cylindrical bore for holding an explosive charge and a projectile. The thickest, strongest, and closed part of the cone is located near the explosive charge, as any explosive charge will dissipate in all directions equally, the thickest portion of the cannon is useful for containing and directing this force. Field artillery cannon in Europe and the Americas were initially made most often of bronze, though later forms were constructed of cast iron and eventually steel. However, cast iron cannon have a tendency to burst without having any previous weakness or wear. The following terms refer to the components or aspects of a classical western cannon as illustrated here. In what follows, the words near, close, and behind will refer to those parts towards the thick, closed end of the piece, and far, front, in front of, and before to the thinner, open end. Bore, The hollow cylinder bored down the centre of the cannon, including the base of the bore or bottom of the bore, the diameter of the bore represents the cannons calibre. Chamber, The cylindrical, conical, or spherical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore into which the gunpowder is packed
7.
Artillery rocket
–
Rocket artillery is a type of artillery equipped with rocket launchers instead of conventional guns or mortars. Types of rocket artillery pieces include multiple rocket launchers, the use of rockets as some form of artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used. Fire arrows were used in multiple launch systems and transported via carts. Devices such as the Korean hwacha were able to fire hundreds of fire arrows simultaneously, the use of medieval rocket artillery was picked up by the invading Mongols and spread to the Ottoman Turks who in turn used them on the European battlefield. The use of war-rockets is well documented in Medieval Europe, in 1408 Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy used 300 incendiary rockets in the siege of Liège. The city dwellers coped with this tactic by covering their roofs with dirt, the earliest successful utilization of rocket artillery is associated with Tipu Sultan of Mysore. Tipu Sultans father Hyder Ali successfully established the powerful Sultanate of Mysore, Tipu Sultan used them against the larger forces of the British East India Company during the Anglo-Mysore Wars especially during the Battle of Pollilur. Although the rockets were quite primitive, they had an effect on the enemy due to the noise. Although the hammered soft iron he used was crude, the strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction. Thus a greater pressure was possible, with a resultant greater thrust of the propulsive jet. The rocket body was lashed with leather thongs to a bamboo stick. Range was perhaps up to three-quarters of a mile, although individually these rockets were not accurate, dispersion error became less important when large numbers were fired rapidly in mass attacks. They were particularly effective against cavalry and were hurled into the air, after lighting, or skimmed along the hard dry ground. Hyder Alis son, Tipu Sultan, continued to develop and expand the use of rocket weapons, in battles at Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with considerable effect against the British. The Indian rocket experiences, including Munros book of 1789, eventually led to the Royal Arsenal beginning a military rocket R&D program in 1801, several rocket cases were collected from Mysore and sent to Britain for analysis. The development was chiefly the work of Col and he was told that the British at Seringapatam had suffered more from the rockets than from the shells or any other weapon used by the enemy. In at least one instance, an eye-witness told Congreve, a rocket had killed three men and badly wounded others. In the Battle of Pollilur and in the battles at Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with effect against the British
8.
Tactical ballistic missile
–
A tactical ballistic missile is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range is less than 300 kilometres, warheads can include conventional high explosive, chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads. Typically tactical nuclear weapons are limited in their total compared to strategic rockets. Tactical ballistic missiles fill the gap between conventional rocket artillery and longer-range short-range ballistic missiles, tactical missiles can carry heavy payloads deep behind enemy lines in comparison to rockets or tube artillery, while having better mobility and less expense than the more strategic theatre missiles. Additionally, due to their mobility, tactical missiles are better suited to responding to developments on the battlefield, for many nations, tactical missiles represent the upper limit of their land-based military equipment. They can provide a weapon for a very economical price. Currently, ballistic missile technology is accessible to nations that may find other military technology beyond easy reach. Ballistic missiles are still difficult to defeat on the battlefield, newer air defense systems have improved ability to intercept tactical missiles, but still can not reliably protect assets against ballistic missile threats. Early large rockets and missiles were propelled by liquid-propellant rocket engines and these were replaced as soon as possible by solid fuel rocket motors. Liquid propellants involve cryogenic or corrosive oxidisers and these must be loaded before launch, delaying the rockets time into action. This delay was a problem for large strategic missiles, but especially so for tactical, missiles, particularly in the Soviet Union, switched to using storable liquid propellants such as IRFNA, inhibited nitric acid. These were still hazardous to handle, but could be stored pre-loaded in the missile and this also allowed the development of single vehicle transporter erector launchers, rather than the previous convoy of carriers, launchers, fuel vehicles and service vehicles. Western missiles adopted solid propellants instead, which were inherently storable, tactical missiles are now almost universally solid-fuelled, except for some satellite states using indigenous developments of the original Scud platform
9.
State (polity)
–
A state is a type of polity that is an organized political community living under a single system of government. States may or may not be sovereign, for instance, federated states are members of a federal union, and may have only partial sovereignty, but are, nonetheless, states. Some states are subject to external sovereignty or hegemony, in which ultimate sovereignty lies in another state, States that are sovereign are known as sovereign states. The term state can also refer to the branches of government within a state, often as a manner of contrasting them with churches. Speakers of American English often use the state and government as synonyms. Many human societies have been governed by states for millennia, over time a variety of different forms developed, employing a variety of justifications of legitimacy for their existence. In the 21st century, the modern nation-state is the predominant form of state to which people are subjected, there is no academic consensus on the most appropriate definition of the state. The term state refers to a set of different, but interrelated and often overlapping, general categories of state institutions include administrative bureaucracies, legal systems, and military or religious organizations. Another commonly accepted definition of the state is the one given at the Montevideo Convention on Rights, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, a state is a. an organized political community under one government, a commonwealth, a nation. B. such a community forming part of a federal republic, confounding the definition problem is that state and government are often used as synonyms in common conversation and even some academic discourse. According to this schema, the states are nonphysical persons of international law. The relationship between a government and its state is one of representation and authorized agency, States may be classified as sovereign if they are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Other states are subject to external sovereignty or hegemony where ultimate sovereignty lies in another state, many states are federated states which participate in a federal union. A federated state is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation, such states differ from sovereign states in that they have transferred a portion of their sovereign powers to a federal government. One can commonly and sometimes readily classify states according to their apparent make-up or focus, the concept of the nation-state, theoretically or ideally co-terminous with a nation, became very popular by the 20th century in Europe, but occurred rarely elsewhere or at other times. Imperial states have sometimes promoted notions of racial superiority, the concept of temple states centred on religious shrines occurs in some discussions of the ancient world. To some extent, urban secession, the creation of a new city-state, a state can be distinguished from a government. The government is the group of people, the administrative bureaucracy that controls the state apparatus at a given time
10.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
11.
Blue Water (missile)
–
Blue Water was a British battlefield nuclear missile of the early 1960s, intended to replace the MGM-5 Corporal, which was becoming obsolete. With roughly the same role and range as Corporal, Blue Water was a far simpler missile that was easier to support in the field. It was seen as a replacement for Corporal both in the UK as well as other NATO operators, notably Germany and possibly Turkey, the missile entered testing in 1962 was generally successful, and praised in the industry. Blue Water was a name assigned randomly by the Ministry of Supply based on their Rainbow Code system. It was also known as Red Rose early in development, in 1956 the Corporal missile had been adopted by the Royal Artillery as a battlefield tactical nuclear missile. This missile was liquid-fuelled, thus requiring a large convoy of vehicles to prepare it slowly for launch. It also required continual command guidance in flight, yet only achieved relatively poor accuracy, also in use within the Royal Artillery was the Honest John rocket. This was solid-fuelled and could be launched rapidly, but was unguided and had short range. There was a requirement for a missile that would combine guidance and long range with rapid deployment. This resulted in a 1958 Operational Requirement for a corps support weapon that was solid-fuelled with autonomous guidance. It also took advantage of the dimensions and weight of nuclear warheads. It was also a requirement that the system should be air-portable through the RAFs standard Argosy transport aircraft, like the Corporal, range was set at around 55 miles. As English Electrics Guided Weapons Division in Stevenage had been the foster-parent for the UK deployment of the Corporal, a suitable warhead of 10 kiloton began development at Atomic Weapons Establishment. Codenamed ‘Tony’, this was a UK version of the US W44 Tsetse primary, the Propellant and Explosives Research and Manufacturing Establishment developed the solid rocket motor based on the successful Cuckoo originally developed for the Black Knight experimental rocket. The engines were built by Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd and it gave a thrust of 1,700 pounds-force. Initial testing of the engine suggested it would be underpowered, the first test vehicle flew in 1960 from Aberporth followed by full-range trials at Woomera. Initial hopes for Blue Water had been optimistic, seeing it as a NATO-wide replacement for the clearly obsolete Corporal, the anticipated customer was the West German Bundeswehr, but there were serious expectations that this would become standard equipment across NATO. The US replacement for Corporal was the Sergeant, solid-fuelled and generally comparable to Blue Water, although it was more complex and slower to operate and, like Corporal, still required a train of semi-trailer vehicles
12.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
13.
West Germany
–
West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany
14.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
15.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
16.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
17.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
18.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
19.
W48
–
The W48 was an American nuclear artillery shell, capable of being fired from any standard 155 mm howitzer, e. g. the M114, M198 or M109. It was manufactured starting in 1963, and all units were retired in 1992, the W48 was 6.1 inches in diameter and 33.3 inches long. It came in two models, Mod 0 and Mod 1, which are reported to have weighed 118 and 128 pounds respectively and it had an explosive yield equivalent to 72 tons of TNT, which is very small for a nuclear weapon. The W48 was a small diameter linear implosion nuclear fission weapon, a bare critical mass of plutonium at normal density and without additional neutron reflector material is roughly 10 kilograms. This amount of alpha-phase plutonium takes up 657 cm3, giving a sphere of radius 5.4 cm ), to achieve a large explosive yield, a linear implosion weapon needs somewhat more material, about 13 kilograms. The mass, known as the pit, is configured in a lower density non-spherical configuration, to fit weapons into small artillery shells bare pits are required. Linear implosion weapons have much lower due to low pressure. They are also heavier, and much smaller than conventional implosion weapons. The W54 nuclear warhead used in the Davy Crockett nuclear artillery unit was about 11 inches diameter, the W48 is 6 inches in diameter and weighs over twice as much, and probably requires twice as much plutonium. Linear implosion weapons requiring 2-3 times more plutonium are proportionally more expensive, the W82 was the most successful, but not complete, replacement for the W48. Nuclear weapon design List of nuclear weapons On page 10 A heavy spring is used to hold the pit in place. As there are no pits in a gun system like that of, it is likely the W48 was most certainly an implosion type device. Denotes a spherical system, for an artillery piece. The B61 Earth Penetrator Allbombs. html list of all US nuclear weapon models at nuclearweaponarchive. org Linear Implosion in the Nuclear Weapons FAQ at nuclearweaponarchive. org
20.
MGR-1 Honest John
–
The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile in the United States arsenal. Designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first such rocket was tested 29 June 1951, the designator was changed to M31 in September 1953. The first Army units received their rockets by years end and Honest John battalions were deployed in Europe in early 1954. Developed at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, Honest John was a large but simple fin-stabilized, unguided artillery rocket weighing 2,640 kilograms in its initial M-31 nuclear-armed version. Mounted on the back of a truck, HJ was aimed in much the way as a cannon and then fired up an elevated ramp. The M-31 had a range of 24.8 kilometres with a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead and was capable of carrying a 680 kilograms conventional warhead. Early tests exhibited more scatter on target than was acceptable when HJ was conventionally armed, development of an upgraded Honest John, M-50, was undertaken to improve accuracy and extend range. The size of the fins was reduced to eliminate “weathercocking”. Increased spin was applied to restore the positive stability margin that was lost when fin size was reduced, Honest John was manufactured by the Douglas Airplane Company of Santa Monica, California. The M31 consisted of a truck-mounted, unguided, solid-fueled rocket transported in three separate parts, before launch they were assembled in the field, mounted on an M289 launcher and aimed and fired in about 5 minutes. There was a W31 variant of 20 kt used in the Nike Hercules antiaircraft system exclusively, M-31 had a range between 5.5 and 24.8 km. In the 1960s Sarin nerve gas cluster munitions were also available for Honest John launch, initially the M79 GB cluster warhead, containing 356 M134 bomblets for the M31A1C Honest John. The production model was the M190 GB cluster warhead, containing 356 M139 bomblets when the M31A1C was phased out in favor of the XM50 Honest John, under nominal conditions it had an MAE of 0.9 square kilometers. The Hercules Powder Company X-202 rocket motor was 5.015 metres long, weighed 1,786 kilograms, and had 401.79 kN average thrust. MGR-1B was 7.5827 metres long, had an diameter of 58 centimetres, a warhead diameter of 76 centimetres, a span of 140 centimetres, weighed 1,965 kilograms. An improved propellant formulation gave the rocket motor 670 kN thrust, production of the MGR-1 variants finished in 1965 with a total production run of more than 7,000 rockets. Honest John’s bulbous nose and distinctive truck-mounted launch ramp made it a recognized symbol of the Cold War at Army bases world-wide. Even though HJ was unguided and the first U. S. nuclear ballistic missile, the system was replaced with the MGM-52 Lance missile in 1973, but was deployed with NATO units in Europe until 1985 and National Guard units in the United States as late as 1982
21.
Mark 7 nuclear bomb
–
Mark 7 Thor was the first tactical fission bomb adopted by US armed forces. It was also the first weapon to be delivered using the method with the help of the low-altitude bombing system. The weapon was tested in Operation Buster-Jangle, to facilitate external carry by fighter-bomber aircraft, Mark 7 was fitted with retractable stabilizer fins. The Mark 7 warhead also formed the basis of the 30.5 inches BOAR rocket, the Mark 90 Betty nuclear depth charge, MGR-1 Honest John rocket, and MGM-5 Corporal ballistic missile. It was also supplied for delivery by Royal Air Force Canberra aircraft assigned to NATO in Germany under the command of SACEUR and this was done under the auspices of Project E, an agreement between the USA and the UK on the RAF carriage of US nuclear weapons. In UK use it was designated 1,650 lb. H. E, the Mark 7 was in service from 1952 to 1967 with 1700–1800 having been built. The Mark 7 nuclear weapon weighed approximately 1,600 pounds and it was fitted with one vertical retractable stabilizer fin that allowed it to fit better in or under some planes. This was unique, and made it one of the first nuclear weapons to be streamlined enough to be carried on smaller planes, the bomb’s diameter is a total of 30 inches. It used a 92-point HE detonation system to initiate implosion and nuclear fission, Mark 7 was a dial-a-yield capsule-type weapon with fissile elements stored in a separate container. This bomb used a 92 lens implosion system and this means that the Uranium 235 would be compressed into critical mass by a combination of fast and slow explosions. The High Explosives shell was around 5 inches thick and these would ensure an even compression of the Plutonium core which would cause the core to go critical and then detonate. This is illustrated in the adjacent image, the missile could then detonate above the target called “Airburst”, or the missile could detonate upon contact with the target. The later versions of this used a PAL A type arming system. This would ensure that the weapon could not be armed or fired without an access code. There were 10 different types of this produced, and due to this there were several different delivery systems. Often the bomb was carried on Fighter jets or other types of planes due to the low range of the weapon, such as the F-84, F-100, F-101, and the B-57 planes. The Mark 7 bomb used a control system, this used a combination of gyros and servos to collect data. Once the flight data was calculated it would use the gyro to adjust the yaw, the fins were used to control the flight path using pitch
22.
M65 atomic cannon
–
The M65 atomic cannon, often called Atomic Annie, was a towed artillery piece built by the United States and capable of firing a nuclear device. It was developed in the early 1950s, at the beginning of the Cold War, picatinny Arsenal was tasked to create a nuclear capable artillery piece in 1949. Robert Schwartz, the engineer who created the designs, essentially scaled up the 240mm shell. The design was approved by the Pentagon, largely through the intervention of Samuel Feltman, chief of the section of the ordnance departments research. The project proceeded quickly enough to produce a model to participate in Dwight Eisenhowers inaugural parade in January 1953. The cannon was transported by two specially designed tractors, both capable of independent steering in the manner of some extra-long fire trucks. Each of the tractors was rated at 375 hp, and the somewhat awkward combination could achieve speeds of 35 miles an hour and negotiate right angle turns on 28 ft wide, paved or packed roads. The artillery piece could be unlimbered in 15 minutes, then returned to traveling configuration in another 15 minutes, on May 25,1953 at 8, 30am, the atomic cannon was tested at the Nevada Test Site as part of the Upshot–Knothole series of nuclear tests. They were deployed overseas to Europe and Korea, often continuously shifted around to avoid being detected and targeted by opposing forces, however, it remained a prestige weapon and was not retired until 1963. Of the twenty M65s produced, at least seven survive on display, most no longer have their prime movers. Army weapons by supply catalog designation, 2A3 Kondensator 2P The short film The 280 mm Gun at the Nevada Proving Ground is available for free download at the Internet Archive Atomic Annie fired during NATO Exercise Keystone,1954
23.
W9 (nuclear warhead)
–
The W9 was an American nuclear artillery shell fired from a special 11 inch howitzer. It was produced starting in 1952 and all were retired by 1957, the W9 was 11 inches in diameter,55 inches long, and weighed 850 pounds. It had a yield of 15 kilotons. The W9 units which were retired in 1957 were recycled into lower yield T-4 Atomic Demolition Munitions and these were the first man-portable nuclear weapons. The W9 is only the second nuclear weapon known to have been detonated. The W9 artillery shell was test fired once, fired from the Atomic Annie M65 Atomic Cannon, yield was the expected 15 kilotons. Subsequently, the W33 nuclear artillery shell was test fired twice during its development and these four detonations are the only identified gun-type bomb detonations. Nuclear artillery List of nuclear weapons Allbombs. html list of all US nuclear weapons models at nuclearweaponarchive. org
24.
MGM-5 Corporal
–
The MGM-5 Corporal missile was a nuclear-armed tactical ground to ground missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead, a guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission or high-explosive warhead up to a range of 75 nautical miles. The first U. S. Army Corporal battalion was deployed in Europe in 1955, six U. S. battalions were deployed and remained in the field until 1964, when the system was replaced by the solid-fueled MGM-29 Sergeant missile system. The Corporal was first developed at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico and it came out of the project ORDCIT series of rockets developed by the Army and the forerunner to Caltechs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After being sold to the United Kingdom in 1954, it became the first U. S. guided missile destined for service in a country to be used by a foreign power. For what was the front line of defense, the Corporal missile was notoriously unreliable. For guidance, it employed commands sent through a reworked World War II-era radar system, until 1955, its in-flight accuracy was less than 50%, with only modest improvements thereafter. The first year of British test firings in 1959 yielded a success rate of only 46%, guidance consisted of a complex system of internal and ground guidance. During the initial phase, inertial guidance kept the missile in a vertical position. The ground guidance system was a modified SCR584 pulse tracking radar which measured the missiles azimuth and elevation and this information was sent to an analog computer which calculated the trajectory and any necessary correction to hit the target. A Doppler radar was used to measure the velocity and this information was also used in the trajectory calculation. The Doppler radar was used to send the final range correction. Transponder beacons were used in the missile to provide a return signal, in Germany, frequent unannounced Alerts were performed—necessitating assembling all personnel and moving vehicles and missiles to a pre-assigned assembly point. From there the battalion would move to a launch site—usually somewhere in a remote forest—set up the missile on its launcher and this was not a trivial operation as these electronic systems were all vacuum tubes. A mock firing would be performed and the battalion would be gone as soon as possible in order to not be a target of counter-battery fire. The deployment in the field during an Alert was amazingly swift due to the trained crews. Live-fire training for Germany- based US Forces took place at Fort Bliss, missiles were fired toward designated target coordinates in the Atlantic Ocean. Radar on St Kilda, Scotland scored successful firings, frequently, Soviet fishing trawlers would intrude into the target area
25.
M110 howitzer
–
The 8 inch M110 self-propelled howitzer was the largest available self-propelled howitzer in the United States Armys inventory. Consisting of a M115203 mm howitzer installed on a purpose built chassis, it was deployed in division artillery in general support battalions and in separate corps-, missions include general support, counter-battery fire, and suppression of enemy air defense systems. The M110 was exported to a number of countries, according to the operators manual, the M110s typical rate of fire was three rounds per two minutes when operated at maximum speed, and one round per two minutes with sustained fire. The M110 featured a hydraulically operated rammer to automatically chamber the 200+ pound projectile and these rammers were prone to breakdown and generally slowed operation of the gun, because the rammers required crews to completely lower the massive barrel before using it. Using the manual rammer was physically demanding, but crews were not required to lower the barrels nearly as much as with the hydraulic rammer. The M110s range varied from 16,800 meters to approximately 25,000 meters when firing standard projectiles, the heritage of the M110 goes back to the British 8 inch howitzer of World War I. A number of these were used by the American forces and the design was used as the basis for their howitzer, the M110A2 is the latest version with a double muzzle brake, the earlier A1 version had a plain muzzle. It first entered service with the U. S. Army in 1963 and it was used in the Vietnam War by the United States Army, and in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm by Romeo Battery 5th Battalion 10th Marines, and the British Army. The 2nd Battalion 18th Field Artillery and the 5th Battalion 18th Field Artillery served in Desert Storm with the M110A2 Howitzer. Most of the U. S. Army and USMC relied on the M109 series 155 millimeter gun systems during this conflict and these units then took possession of M109s as they returned from service in the Gulf. M110s were still in service with the 3/92 FA and running fire missions at Camp Atterbury as late as the summer of 1994, gun barrels from retired M110s were initially used as the outer casing in the manufacture of the GBU-28 bunker buster bomb. The M110A2s were made from refitted M110s or M107175 mm SP guns, islamic Republic of Iran Army 30. Japan Ground Self-Defense Force as 91 M110A2, jordanian Armed Forces 120 as M110A2. Pakistan Army 60 in service as of 2010, royal Bahraini Army 13 M110A2 from Netherlands delivered in 1994,25 M110A2 from US delivered in 1996. Republic of China Army 60 as M110A2, turkish Army, currently phasing out 219 M110A2 in favor of T-155 Fırtına Former operators Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Belgian Army 11 M110A2 between 1972 and 1993 used by the 20 Artillery Regiment in Germany, italian Army M110A2, phased out by 1998. Republic of Korea Army M110 until 2008, royal Netherlands Army M110A1 and M110A2, replaced by the M109 in the 1990s Spanish Army as 64 M110A2, deployed in divisional fire support regiments until 2009. British Army as M110A2 firing high explosive and nuclear shells only, United States Army and United States Marine Corps
26.
M115 howitzer
–
The M115203 mm howitzer, also known as the M1158 inch howitzer, was a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army. Until the 1950s it was designated the 8 inch Howitzer M1, the original design started in 1919 but lapsed until resurrected in 1927 as a partner-piece for a new 155 mm gun. It was standardized as 8 inch Howitzer M1 in 1940, the M115/M1 was towed by the M35 Prime Mover gun tractor or a Mack 7⅓ ton 6×6 truck. The M115 was towed with 21 men per gun, and was shipped over to Germany Oct 1961 in response to the Berlin Crisis, like the British BL8 inch Howitzer of the First World War, the M115 uses a Welin screw for its breech. The carriage was the same as used for the US155 mm gun and was adopted by the British for their 7.2 inch Mark 6 howitzer. It consists of equilibrator assemblies, elevating and traversing mechanisms, two single-wheel, single-axle heavy limber, and a bogie with eight tires and two trails. Four spades, carried on the trails, are used to emplace the weapon, the British 8 inch howitzer was produced in England and under license in the US, for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I, as the 8-inch Howitzer MK. It was in service with the US Army till replaced by the M115, there are no reports of the MK. VI or another marks being used during World War II, the first photos of the M115 type 8 inch cannon on its redesign carriage appeared in 1931 but development was slowed by the Great Depression. The M115 saw U. S. service in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It was also adopted as a weapon by a number of nations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and saw service in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. United States Republic of China Croatia, former operator,24 systems Denmark, former operator 1953–1992,12 systems Greece, former operator Italy, - Gruppo Artiglieria Pesante Rovigo, 1° Gr. A. Pe. - Gruppo Artiglieria Pesante Adige, Gruppo A. U. C. -T. M, the resulting vehicle was initially designated 8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage T89 and eventually standardized as 8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage M43. A total of 48 units were built,8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage T80 – based on T23 Medium Tank chassis, never advanced past proposal stage. 8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage T84 – based on T26 Medium Tank chassis, the howitzer was mounted on a purpose-built tracked chassis to become the 8 inch Self-Propelled Howitzer M110. Notably accuracy and rate of fire suffered from having to depress the cannon tube to loading elevation for each round in order to use the track-mounted auto loader, the howitzer fired separate loading, bagged charge ammunition, with seven different propelling charges, from 1 to 7. The M454 Nuclear shell had its own M80 cartridge with three propelling charges, hunnicutt, R. P. Pershing, A History of the Medium Tank T20 Series. Technical Manual TM 9-1901, Artillery Ammunition, missing Lynx TM 9-2300 Standard Artillery and fire Control Material TM 9-335 TM 9-1350 Media related to M115203 mm howitzer at Wikimedia Commons
27.
W33 (nuclear warhead)
–
The W33 was an American nuclear artillery shell, fired from an eight-inch M110 howitzer and M115 howitzer. A total of 2,000 W33 projectiles were produced, the first of which was manufactured in 1957, the W33 remained in service until 1992. The warhead used oralloy as its fissile material and could be used in two different yield configurations. This required the assembly and insertion of different pits, with the amount of materials used controlling whether the destructive yield was low or high. The highest-yield version of the W33 may have been a boosted fission weapon, information regarding the W33 has suggested that it was either a double gun and/or that it may have used an annular barrel assembly. The devices internal mechanism was apparently code-named Fleegle, a double gun mechanism reduces the required velocity of each projectile by half, which reduces the gun system weight by a factor of 8. An annular bore may allow a larger projectile which remains subcritical by itself, titanium was used to reduce weight of some components. Judging by the photographic evidence, it is likely that the exterior casing of the artillery shell itself was made of titanium. This is logical, given that the driving band around the base of the shell is the only part of the shell which engages with the rifling on the artillery pieces barrel. The W33 mechanism has been reported to have comprised two critical nuclear parts which were required to assemble a complete W33 warhead. The initial disassembly of stockpiled W33 warheads in 1992 proceeded first by disassembling all existing parts for one of the components, the W33 is the third known model of gun-type fission weapons to have been detonated as a test. The W33 was tested twice, first in Operation Plumbbob Laplace, on September 8,1957, neither test involved firing a W33 from an actual howitzer. Laplace Plumbob was test fired with the hanging from a balloon at an altitude of 750 feet. Nougat Aardvark was test fired underground, at a depth of 1,424 feet, list of nuclear weapons W79 Allbombs. html list of all US nuclear weapons models at nuclearweaponarchive. org Historical nuclear weapons list at GlobalSecurity. org
28.
Davy Crockett (nuclear device)
–
The M-28 or M-29 Davy Crockett Weapon System was the tactical nuclear recoilless gun for firing the M-388 nuclear projectile that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War. It was one of the smallest nuclear weapon ever built. It is named after American soldier, congressman, and American folk hero Davy Crockett, the Davy Crockett recoilless spigot gun was developed in the late 1950s for use against Soviet and North Korean armor and troops in case war broke out in Europe or the Korean peninsula. Davy Crockett Sections were assigned to United States Army Europe and Eighth United States Army armor, during alerts to the Inner German border in the Fulda Gap the Davy Crocketts accompanied their battalions. All V Corps combat maneuver battalions had preassigned positions in the Fulda Gap and these were known as GDP positions. The Davy Crockett sections were included in these defensive deployment plans, in addition to the Davy Crocketts, V Corps had nuclear artillery rounds and Atomic Demolition Mines, and these were also targeted on the Fulda Gap. The M-388 round used a version of the Mk-54 warhead, a very small sub-kiloton fission device, the Mk-54 weighed about 51 lb, with a yield equivalent to somewhere between 10 and 20 tons of TNT—very close to the minimum practical size and yield for a fission warhead. The only selectable feature with either versions of the Davy Crockett was the height-of-burst dial on the warhead, post-Davy Crockett versions of the W54 nuclear device apparently had a selectable yield feature. The complete round weighed 76 lb, long with a diameter of 11 in. at its widest point, a subcaliber piston at the back of the shell was inserted into the launchers barrel for firing. The piston was considered a spigot prior to the discharge of the propellant cartridge in the gun chamber of the Davy Crockett. The M-388 atomic projectile was mounted on the barrel-inserted spigot via bayonet slots, once the propellant was discharged the spigot became the launching piston for the M-388 atomic projectile. The nuclear yield is hinted at in FM 9-11, Operation and Employment of the Davy Crockett Battlefield Missile, XM-28/29. The M-388 could be launched from either of two known as the Davy Crockett Weapon System, the 4. 7-inch M28, with a range of about 1.25 mi, or the 6. 1-in M29. Both weapons used the same projectile, and were mounted on a tripod launcher transported by an armored personnel carrier. The Davy Crocketts were operated by a three-man crew, in the 3rd Armored Division in Germany in the 1960s many Davy Crockett Sections received what became a mix of M28 & M29 launchers. Eventually, the M28s were replaced by M29s, so both the armored personnel carriers and the Jeeps carried the M29. Both recoilless guns proved to have poor accuracy in testing, so the shells greatest effect would have been its extreme radiation hazard, the M-388 would produce an almost instantly lethal radiation dosage within 500 feet, and a probably fatal dose within a quarter mile. The weapon did not have a function, if fired
29.
W54
–
The W54 was one of the smallest nuclear warheads deployed by the United States. It was a very compact implosion-type nuclear weapon design, designed for use and had a very low yield for a nuclear weapon. The W54 was designed by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and built by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, around 400 units were manufactured from 1961 until early 1962 and were deployed until at least 1971. The earliest identified nuclear tests of devices corresponding to the W54 characteristics were the Pascal-A and Pascal-B test detonations in 1957 and these were both intended to have very low yield, but overshot to higher yields. These were followed by tests of the XW-51 design, which evolved into the XW-54 in the Operation Hardtack I test series in 1958 and these were both described as fizzles, or test failures. Further testing followed in the 1961 Operation Nougat test series, probably including Nougat Shrew, Boomer, Ringtail, by this time the W-54 design was performing consistently as expected at low yields. Other pictures show a smoothly contoured 5 minor by 5.5 major axis elliptical nose with a 5 minor by 21.5 truncated elliptical tail. Four fins extend the over all length to 31, with a central hemi-spherical to cylindrical projection that serves to join the bomb to the spigot-piston that is loaded into the launcher. These small-size devices were first intended for use by United States Army ground soldiers in battle and were in small enough to be delivered by a bazooka-style firing mechanism. Early known versions could destroy an area, with an estimated yield comparable to approximately 10 tons of TNT. Larger versions were developed with a selectable yield of between 10 and 250 tons.05 tons. By comparison, the smallest yield version of the W54 is two to four times as powerful as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, making the 250-ton version 50 to 100 times as powerful. Several variations of the W54 are known to exist and were used in projects by every branch of the U. S. armed forces except the Coast Guard. The W54 style warhead was known to be used on the M-388 Davy Crockett, the W54 is small enough to be deployed as a SADM, or so-called Backpack Nuke. It was the closest thing the U. S. is known to have developed to a suitcase bomb. The SEAL version would be delivered into water by parachute along with a team, then floated to the target, set in place. The United States Air Force also developed a project using the W54 and this was a larger, more powerful version of the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile. It is notable for being the only known production U. S. guided air-to-air weapon with a nuclear warhead and it was intended to destroy formations of Soviet bombers at a time when guided missiles were not accurate enough to produce high-probability kills with small conventional warheads
30.
MGR-3 Little John
–
The MGR-3 Little John was a free flight artillery rocket system designed and put into service by the U. S. Army during the 1950s and 1960s. Carried on the XM34 rocket launcher, it could carry nuclear or conventional warheads. It was primarily intended for use in assault operations and to complement the heavier. Development of the missile was started at Army’s Rocket and Guided Missile Agency laboratory at Huntsville, Alabama, in June 1956, the first launch of the XM47 Little John occurred. The Little John was delivered to the field in November 1961 and it was a fin-stabilized field artillery rocket that followed a ballistic trajectory to ground targets. The rocket XM51 consisted of a warhead, a motor assembly. The components were shipped in containers and assembled by the user. The Little John differs from the Honest John in not only its size, the flight of the Honest John is stabilized by a spin that is imparted to the rocket by spin rockets after the round leaves the launcher. The Little John rocket flight is stabilized by applying spin to the rocket while on the launcher and this manual method of stabilization was called spin-on-straight-rail. The system was manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, the missile and launcher system were light enough to be easily transported by helicopters and other aircraft or towed by a vehicle. The Phase II Little John weapon system was deployed with the 1st Missile Battalion, 57th Field Artillery in Okinawa. The missile was retired beginning in July,1967, with the final missile removed from inventory in 1970, five hundred missiles were produced during the life of the weapon program. Propellant, solid rocket fuel Maximum range,19 kilometres
31.
W45
–
The W45 was a multipurpose American nuclear warhead developed in the early 1960s, first built in 1962 and fielded in some applications until 1988. It had a diameter of 11.5 inches, a length of 27 inches, the yields of different W45 versions were 0.5,1,5,8,10, and 15 kilotons. The W45 was designed at the Livermore branch of the University of California Radiation Laboratory, the W45 used a common nuclear fission core called the Robin primary, which was used as the fission primary in the thermonuclear W38 and W47 weapons
32.
MGM-18 Lacrosse
–
The MGM-18 Lacrosse was a short-ranged tactical ballistic weapon intended for close support of ground troops. Its first flight test was in 1954 and was deployed by the United States Army beginning in 1959, the programs many technical hurdles proved too difficult to overcome and the missile was withdrawn from field service by 1964. The Lacrosse project began with a United States Marine Corps requirement for a guided missile to supplement conventional field artillery. The missile system was named the Lacrosse because it employed a forward observation station which had a view of the target. The forward observation station was mounted on a jeep and after the missile was launched control was passed to the station for final guidance to the target. Hence the name Lacrosse which is how the game of lacrosse is played with the ball being passed to players closer to the goal, Cornell and Johns Hopkins continued with the project, with the former having primary responsibility for guidance systems design. In 1955, the Glenn L. Martin Company was awarded contracts to participate in research and development, Martin would take over much responsibility for the project, as Cornell moved to work on expanding the missiles capabilities beyond the original requirements. Early testing began in 1954 and production prototypes were available the next year, the difficulties encountered by the project are illustrated by the protracted design and testing periods, with the missile not entering into service until July 1959. Problems included reliability concerns and difficulties with guidance, particularly susceptibility to ECM jamming of the guidance signals, MOD1, however, was terminated in 1959, causing the United States Marine Corps to withdraw their participation in the project. The first units received Lacrosse in 1959, though the system would continue to be in need of development and refinement, nearly 1,200 Lacrosse missiles were produced and deployed at a cost of more than US$2 billion in 1996 dollars. The first unit to be equipped with Lacrosse was 5th Battalion, 41st Artillery, based at Fort Sill, in total, eight battalions would be equipped with Lacrosse, with most going to Europe, except one to Korea and one retained by the Strategic Army Corps. The original navy project was assigned the designator SSM-N-9, when transferred to the army, the program became SSM-G-12, which changed to SSM-A-12 after minor changes in the armys designation scheme. When adopted into service, the system was referred to as M-4. Related lists List of military aircraft of the United States List of missiles List of United States M- sequence missiles
33.
M109 howitzer
–
The M109 is an American 155mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7, the M109 family is the most common western indirect-fire support weapon of maneuver brigades of armored and mechanized infantry divisions. The M109 has a crew of six, the chief, the driver, the gunner. The gunner aims the cannon left or right, the assistant gunner aims the cannon up, the M109A6 Paladin needs only a crew of four, the commander, driver, gunner and an ammunition loader. The British Army replaced its M109s with the AS-90, several European armed forces have or are currently replacing older M109s with the German PzH2000. Upgrades to the M109 were introduced by the U. S. with the cancellation of the U. S. Crusader and Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon, the M109A6 will remain the principal self-propelled howitzer for the U. S. for the foreseeable future. The M109 was the variant of a U. S. program to adopt a common chassis for its self-propelled artillery units. The light version, the M108 Howitzer, was phased out during the Vietnam War, the M109 saw its combat debut in Vietnam. Israel used the M109 against Egypt in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, iran used the M109 in the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s. The M109 saw service with the British, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Armies in the 1991 Gulf War, the M109 also saw service with the U. S. Army in the Gulf War, as well as in the Iraq War from 2003-2011. The M109 was developed by the Ground System Division of United Defense LP, the HVP costs $25,000 per round and is capable of being fired out to 50 nautical miles from a conventional cannon. It weighs 68 lb with a 23 lb flight body containing its guidance and warhead, less powerful but more agile to hit small and it had a 23 caliber 155 mm M126 gun in an M127 Howitzer Mount, and carried 28 rounds of 155 mm ammunition. It was also armed with a. 50cal M2HB machine gun with 500 rounds of ammunition, easily identified by its short barrel and a double baffle muzzle brake with a large fume extractor just behind it. Maximum range of 14600 m, replaced the M126 gun with a longer barreled,39 caliber M185 gun, increasing maximum range to 18100 m. Incorporated 27 Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability mid-life improvements, stowage increased from 28 rounds of 155 mm, to 36 rounds. 50cal ammunition remained at 500 rounds. During M109A2 production, a simplified version was also produced for export. This had minor changes and deleted the hull flotation feature. M109A1s and M109A1Bs rebuilt to M109A2 standard respectively, some A3s feature three contact arm assemblies, while all A2s have five
34.
M114 155 mm howitzer
–
The M114155 mm howitzer was a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army. It was first produced in 1942 as an artillery piece under the designation of 155 mm Howitzer M1. It saw service with the US Army during World War II, the Korean War, in some countries, the M114 still remains in service. So development began anew with a designed to be used for either the 155 mm howitzer or the 4. 7-inch gun. This was completed by 15 May 1941 when the Howitzer M1 on the Carriage M1 was standardized, the howitzer itself differed from the older model by a lengthened barrel of 20 calibers and a new breech mechanism. Uniquely it was the sole slow-cone interrupted screw mechanism to enter service after 1920 and this meant that two separate movements were necessary to open the breech, versus the single movement of the steep cone mechanism that simultaneously rotated and withdrew the breech. The M1A1 was redesignated as the M114A1 in 1962, the carriage was also used by the 4.5 inch Gun M-1. It went through a number of changes over time. The original Warner electric brakes were replaced by Westinghouse air brakes on the M1A1, both the M1 and M1A1 carriages used a mid-axle firing pedestal that was extended by a ratchet mechanism. The M1A2 replaced the ratchet with a system and also modified the traveling lock. The T-9 and T-10 carriages were projects using low-grade steel alloys that were canceled when no longer needed. The T-16 was a carriage using high-grade steel that was estimated to save some 1,200 lb, work began in July 1945 and continued after the war. A mid-1960s variant was the 155mm XM123 & M123A1 auxiliary-propelled howitzers, the extra weight on the left trail displaced the howitzer after each round was fired requiring it to be realigned and the project was abandoned. The concept was copied from the Soviet 85mm SD-44 auxiliary-propelled antitank gun developed in 1954, the non howitzer was experimentally mounted on a lengthened chassis of the M5 light tank. The resulting vehicle received the designation 155 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T64, a single prototype was built before the T64 project was abandoned in favor of T64E1, based on the M24 Chaffee light tank chassis. This was eventually adopted as the M41 Howitzer Motor Carriage and saw action in the Korean War, towards the end of the Korean War the US Army replaced the M41 self-propelled howitzer with the M44 self-propelled howitzer. The gun fired separate loading, bagged charge ammunition, with up to seven different propelling charges, muzzle velocity, range and penetration in the tables below are for maximum charge in form of complete M4A1 propelling charge. Afghanistan Argentina Tunisia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Cameroon Chile Ecuador Iran South Korea Lebanon Morocco Pakistan,144 in service with the Pakistan Army. S
35.
M198 howitzer
–
The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed 155mm artillery piece, developed for service with the United States Army and Marine Corps. It was commissioned to be a replacement for the WWII-era M114155 mm howitzer and it was designed and prototyped at the Rock Island Arsenal in 1969 with firing tests beginning in 1970 and went into full production there in 1978. It entered service in 1979 and since then 1,600 units have been produced, the M198 is being replaced in US and Australian service by the M777 howitzer. The M198155 mm howitzer weighs less than 16,000 pounds, the M198 is a towed howitzer that is transported tail first. The gun tube can be rotated over the trail legs to reduce its length, though this requires removal of the muzzle brake. When firing, the weapon is lowered onto its baseplate rather than being anchored to the ground, the breech is operated manually via a screw type mechanism that rests low in an ergonomic position. The M198 fires non-fixed ammunition and can be loaded with a variety of propellants, the effective range is 18,100 meters when firing standard projectiles, which increases to 30,000 meters when firing rocket-assisted projectiles and guided ammunition. With the 52-caliber modification the range can surpass 40,000 meters, the weapon system requires a crew of 9 and is capable of firing at a maximum rate of four rounds per minute, two sustained. The M198 is deployed in separate corps- and army-level field artillery units, as well as in artillery battalions of light and it also provides field artillery fire support for all Marine Air-Ground Task Force organizations. High Explosive, Explosive Composition B material packed into a thick, internally scored shell which causes a large blast, the kill zone is approximately a radius of 50 meters and casualty radius is 100 meters. The Marine Corps and US Army also uses the M795 High Explosive round, rocket Assisted Projectile A rocket-assisted HE M549 round that adds to the maximum range of the normal HE. For the 155 mm RAP round, max range is 30.1 kilometres, white Phosphorus A base-ejecting projectile which can come in two versions, felt-wedge and standard. White phosphorus smoke is used to fires, burn a target. Illumination Illumination projectiles are base-ejecting rounds which deploy a parachute flare ideally 600 meters above the ground. Illumination rounds are used in conjunction with HE rounds, to illuminate the target area so that HE rounds can be fired more effectively. Illumination rounds can also be used during the daytime to mark targets for aircraft, the M485 Illumination round burns for 120 seconds. Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition A base-ejecting projectile that drops 88 bomblets above a target, each bomblet has a shaped-charge munition capable of penetrating two inches of solid steel as well as a fragmentation casing which is effective against infantry in the open. The DPICM round is effective against armored vehicles, even tanks, area Denial Artillery Munition System An artillery round that releases anti-personnel mines
36.
MGM-29 Sergeant
–
The MGM-29 Sergeant was an American short-range, solid fuel, surface-to-surface missile developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The missiles were built by Sperry Utah Company, activated by the US Army in 1962 to replace the MGM-5 Corporal, it was deployed in Europe and South Korea by 1963, carrying the W52 nuclear warhead or alternatively one of high explosives. A biological warhead, the M210, was standardized but not procured, and there was also a chemical variant and it was replaced by the MGM-52 Lance and the last US Army battalion was deactivated in 1977. It avoided the Corporals liquid-fuel-handling drawbacks, but still requiring extensive setup and checkout before launch, more advanced missiles, such as the contemporary Blue Water and later Lance, would reduce setup time. The Sergeant had a takeoff thrust of 200 kilonewtons, a weight of 4,530 kilograms, a diameter of 790 millimetres, a length of 10.52 metres. The Sergeant missile had a range of 40 kilometres
37.
MGM-31 Pershing
–
The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. Pershing later replaced the European-based MGM-13 Mace cruise missiles deployed by the United States Air Force, Development began in 1958, with the first test missile fired in 1960, the Pershing 1 system deployed in 1963 and the improved Pershing 1a deployed in 1969. The U. S. Army replaced the Pershing 1a with the Pershing II Weapon System in 1983 while the German Air Force retained Pershing 1a until all Pershings were eliminated in 1991. The U. S. Army Missile Command managed the development and improvements while the Field Artillery Branch deployed the systems and developed tactical doctrine. George Bunker, president of the Martin Company, paid a call on General John Medaris, USA, of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal. Medaris noted that it would be helpful to the Army if there was a plant near the Air Force Missile Test Center in Florida. The Martin Company subsequently began construction of their Sand Lake facility in Orlando, edward Uhl, the co-inventor of the bazooka, was the vice-president and general manager of the new factory, which continues to operate today as the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control facility. The U. S. Army began studies in 1956 for a missile with a range of about 500–750 nautical miles. Later that year, Secretary of Defense Charles Erwin Wilson issued the Wilson Memorandum that removed from the U. S. Army all missiles with a range of 200 miles or more. The United States Department of Defense rescinded the memorandum in 1958, the missile was initially called the Redstone-S, where the S meant solid propellant, but renamed to Pershing in honor of General of the Armies John J. Pershing. The Secretary of the Army, Wilber M. Brucker, the governor of Michigan – was apparently under pressure from his home state to award the contract to a company in Michigan. Chrysler was the contractor from Michigan, but Medaris persuaded Brucker to leave the decision entirely in the hands of the ABMA. The first launch of the XM14 R&D Pershing 1 test missile was on 25 February 1960, the first launch from the tactical transporter erector launcher was on 26 July 1960. For training there was an inert Pershing 1 missile designated XM19, in June 1963, the XM14 and XM19 Pershing missiles were redesignated as XMGM-31A and XMTM-31B, respectively. The production version of the missile was later designated as MGM-31A. President Eisenhower viewed the Pershing missile when he visited Cape Canaveral on 11 February 1960, president Kennedy viewed Pershing three times, as part of the inaugural parade in 1961, at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961, and at White Sands Missile Range in 1963. Plans were for organization of ten battalions, one at Fort Sill, one in Korea and eight in West Germany. Each missile battalion organized at Fort Sill for deployment, each missile battalion had four launchers
38.
MGM-52 Lance
–
The MGM-52 Lance was a mobile field artillery tactical surface-to-surface missile system used to provide both nuclear and conventional fire support to the United States Army. The missiles warhead was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and it was replaced by MGM-140 ATACMS, which was initially intended to likewise have a nuclear capability during the cold war. A Lance battery consisted of two M752 launchers and two M688 auxiliary vehicle, for a total six missiles, the firing rate per unit was approximately three missiles per hour. The payload consisted either of a W70 nuclear warhead with a yield of 1–100 kt or a variety of conventional munitions, the W70-3 nuclear warhead version was one of the first warheads to be battlefield-ready with an enhanced radiation capability. The original design considered a chemical weapon warhead option, but this development was cancelled in 1970
39.
Pershing II
–
The U. S. Army replaced the Pershing 1a with the Pershing II Weapon System in 1983 while the German Air Force retained Pershing 1a until all Pershings were eliminated in 1991. The U. S. Army Missile Command managed the development and improvements while the Field Artillery Branch deployed the systems, development began in 1973 for an updated Pershing. The Pershing 1a 400 kt warhead was greatly over-powered for the quick reaction alert mission, the contract went to Martin Marietta in 1975 with the first development launches in 1977. Pershing II was to use the new W85 warhead with a five to 50 kt variable yield or an earth-penetrator W86 warhead, the warhead was packaged in a maneuverable reentry vehicle with active radar guidance and would use the existing rocket motors. Requests from Israel to buy the new Pershing II were rejected in 1975, the Soviet Union began deployment of the SS-20 Saber in 1976. The Pershing II with the motors was initially referred to as Pershing II Extended Range. Both the hard target capability and W86 nuclear warhead were canceled in 1980, a concept warhead using kinetic energy penetrators for counter-airfield operations never materialized. Because of SALT II agreements, no new launchers could be built, the warhead and radar sections were carried as an assembly on a pallet that rotated to mate with the main missile. There were two prime movers for the launcher, both with a used for missile assembly and a generator to provide power for the launcher. The U. S units used the M983 HEMTT with a Hiab 8001 crane, tactical units in Germany used the M1001 MAN tractor with an Atlas Maschinen GmbH AK4300 M5 crane and a 30 KW generator. Since the new system was self-orienting, the launcher could be emplaced on any surveyed site. The new rocket motors were built by Hercules, To minimize airframe weight, the reentry vehicle was structurally and functionally divided into three sections, the radar section, the warhead section, and the guidance and control/adapter section. The G&C/A section consisted of two portions, the G&C and the adapter connected by a manufactured splice. At the forward end of the G&C there was a quick access splice for attachment to the warhead section, at the aft end, the adapter was grooved to accept the V-band that spliced the propulsion section to the G&C section. The RV separation system consisted of a shaped charge ring assembly bolted to the G&C section so that separation occurred just forward of the G&C manufactured splice. A protective collar on the surface of the adapter, mounted over the linear shaped charge. The G&C portion contained two guidance systems, the primary guidance system was a Goodyear Aerospace active radar guidance system. Using radar maps of the area, the Pershing II had an accuracy of 30 metres circular error probable
40.
W85
–
The W85 was a thermonuclear warhead developed by the United States of America to arm the Pershing II missile. It had a variable yield— often referred to as dial-a-yield — which could be set between 5 and 80 kilotons, the Pershing Ia missile was armed with a 400 kiloton W50 warhead. By the early 1970s it was clear that this was far too large to allow the missile to be used as a nuclear weapon — by this time 400 kt was larger than most strategic warheads. The Pershing II had a high accuracy maneuverable reentry vehicle, equipped with a terminal guidance system. Like many US nuclear weapons, it was a development of the B61 nuclear bomb - in this case, after the Pershing missiles were scrapped, all 120 of the W85 warheads produced were modified into B61 bombs, in this case the B61-10 free-fall weapon. The W85 was a cylinder 13 inches in diameter and 42 inches long
41.
Gun-type fission weapon
–
Its name is a reference to the fact that it is shooting the material through an artillery barrel as if it were a projectile. Other potential arrangements may include firing two pieces into each other simultaneously, though whether this approach has been used in actual weapons designs is unknown, since it is a relatively slow method of assembly, plutonium cannot be used unless it is purely the 239 isotope. Production of impurity-free plutonium is difficult and is impractical. The required amount of uranium is large, and thus the overall efficiency is relatively low. The method was applied in four known programs, the second program was a family of 11-inch nuclear artillery shells, the W9 and its derivative W19, plus a repackaged W19 in a 16-inch shell for US Navy battleships, the W23. The third family was an 8-inch artillery shell, the W33, all known gun-type nuclear weapons previously built worldwide have been dismantled. The gun method is roughly how the Little Boy weapon, which was detonated over Hiroshima, worked, in the Little Boy design, the U-235 bullet had a mass of around 86 pounds, and it was 7 inches long, with a diameter of 6.25 inches. The hollow cylindrical shape made it subcritical and it was powered by a cordite charge. The uranium target spike was about 57.3 pounds, both the bullet and the target consisted of multiple rings stacked together. The use of rings had two advantages, it allowed the bullet to confidently remain subcritical, and it allowed sub-critical assemblies to be tested using the same bullet. The barrel had an diameter of 6.5 inches. Its length was 70.8 inches, which allowed the bullet to accelerate to its speed of 984 feet per second before coming into contact with the target. When the bullet is at a distance of 9.8 inches and this means that some free neutrons may cause the chain reaction to take place before the material could be fully joined. Typically the chain reaction takes less than 1 μs, during which time the bullet travels only 0.3 mm, although the chain reaction is slower when the supercriticality is low, it still happens in a time so short that the bullet hardly moves in that time. This could cause a fizzle, a predetonation which would blow the material apart before creating much of an explosion, thus it is important that the frequency at which free neutrons occur is kept low, compared with the assembly time from this point. This also means that the speed of the projectile must be high, its speed can be increased. In the case of Little Boy, the 20% U-238 in the uranium had 70 spontaneous fissions per second, during the 1.35 ms of supercriticality prior to full assembly, there was a 10% probability of a fission, with somewhat less probability of pre-detonation. Initially the Manhattan Project gun-type effort was directed at making a gun weapon that used plutonium as its source of fissile material and it was thought that if a plutonium gun-type bomb could be created, then the uranium gun-type bomb would be very easy to make by comparison
