Here are ten of the most dangerous and deadly weapons ever created by man. It won't surprise you to learn that all of these weapons are 20th-century inventions, although some of them date back thousands of years.
We'll start with three weapons that can be used by a single soldier before getting down to business.
10. RPG-7 – Rocket Propelled Grenade
With the RPG, you can fire anti-tank rockets from your shoulder! Based on Nazi Germany's Panzerfaust, it was developed into a feared anti-tank weapon. A soldier with limited training and this weapon alone can destroy a multi-million dollar tank.
It was widely used against the Americans during the Vietnam War, notably by the Viet Cong and the People's Army. When the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, they faced the mujahideen who quickly became very adept at using RPGs against tanks and military vehicles.
RPGs remain THE threat to armored vehicles and tanks.
9. DSR-50 cal. 50 - Sniper
The DSR-50 is a sniper rifle designed to fire .50 caliber BMG rounds. It is based on the DSR-1, a specialized sniper rifle for police snipers and others. The DSR-50 has an integrated hydraulic recoil dampening system in the stock and a built-in muzzle brake that reduces perceived muzzle blast.
Designed to punch holes in (lightly) armored military vehicles, we leave to your imagination what happens when you shoot a person.
8. Flamethrower
What is a flamethrower? A flamethrower is classified as an incendiary device, specifically designed to project fire in a long, controllable stream.
Flamethrowers were first used by the ancient Greeks, as early as the 1st century AD. More recently, flamethrowers were used throughout World War I, by the Germans, and even more so during World War II.
Not all flamethrowers are the same; some are designed to project a jet of fire caused by a flammable liquid that has been ignited. Others are designed to project a long gas flame. Liquids are the most common type used in military flamethrowers. Commercial devices choose to use propane and natural gases, at high pressure, as they are generally considered safer to use.
Military uses of flamethrowers are primarily focused on attacking fortifications, bunkers, etc. Civilian uses for flamethrowers tend to be more agricultural in nature; they are useful for clearing fields, for example.
Flamethrowers come in many forms; handheld flamethrowers are usually two-part devices (a backpack for fuel and a tube for the outlet), and they can also be mounted on a vehicle for easy use.
Simple to use and maintain, you certainly don't want to be in front of the mouth of the flamethrower spitting out its flame.
7. Schwerer Gustav
Schwerer Gustav - This is the name given to a German 80 cm railway gun, a huge artillery piece designed to be fired from a railway car. It was developed in the late 1930s by Krupp of Essen for the purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line during a siege. At the time, these were the strongest fortifications in existence.
The "Gustav" could fire seven-ton shells to a distance of 47 kilometers. When fully assembled, the "Schwerer Gustav" weighed nearly 1,350 tons. The Germans designed this artillery piece to prepare for the Battle of France. The largest artillery piece of World War II was not ready for combat when the battle began. But this didn't really matter, as the Wehrmacht's Blitzkrieg assault across Belgium quickly overwhelmed and isolated the Maginot Line's static defenses, forcing them to surrender without major losses and rendering the destruction of the fortifications pointless.
The "Schwerer Gustav" was deployed later in the war in the Soviet Union. During the artillery bombardment of Sevastopol, part of Operation Barbarossa, among others, the large gun destroyed an ammunition depot buried in layers of rock beneath a bay.
Leningrad was the next stop for the 80 cm gun and was probably intended for use in the Warsaw Uprising like other German heavy artillery weapons, but the rebellion was crushed before heavy artillery was needed. The Germans scrapped the "Schwerer Gustav" in 1945, near the end of World War II, so that it would not be confiscated by the Soviet army.
It was the largest artillery weapon ever used in combat, the heaviest mobile artillery ever built, based on total weight, and it fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece.
Only two larger caliber weapons exist: the British Mallet's Mortar and the American Little David mortar (both 90 cm).
6. Nimitz aircraft carrier
The Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are the largest warships in the world. They cost approximately $4.5 billion each and are therefore also the most expensive. The 100,000-ton carriers can hold up to 90 aircraft and are equipped with anti-aircraft guns and missiles.
They are expected to serve for 50 years. However, the United States is already developing their successor, which will be even larger and is expected to cost approximately $12 billion.
Currently, ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are in service with the U.S. Navy. The lead ship of the class is named after the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the last fleet admiral of the U.S. Navy.
Instead of the gas turbines or diesel-electric systems used to power most modern warships, aircraft carriers use two nuclear reactors that drive the four propeller shafts and can reach a top speed of over 30 knots. Because they use nuclear power, these enormous ships can operate for over 20 years without refueling!
5. Chimera Virus
A chimeric virus is made by combining the DNA of two or more other viruses.
In the 1980s, the Soviets experimented with this, using genetic material from other viruses and injecting it into a smallpox virus, producing a chimera. This process allows the new virus to retain the virulence and appearance of smallpox under a microscope while being able to spread an entirely different infection.
This breakthrough in genetic engineering allows viral agents to evade known treatments and vaccines, making them all the more deadly.
4. The Russian thermobaric bomb
"Everything alive evaporates," was the quote from Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff Alexander Rukshin when asked about their new bomb.
In 2007, the Russians successfully tested and launched their "enhanced thermobaric aviation bomb," quickly dubbed the "father of all bombs" (FOAB).
The FOAB is reportedly four times more powerful than the U.S. military's largest non-nuclear bomb, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Bomb, officially designated "MOAB" and known as the "Mother of All Bombs."
This makes the Russian device the most powerful non-nuclear conventional weapon in the world.
The MOAB replaces several small nuclear bombs in the Russian arsenal. It produces the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT while using only seven tons of a new high explosive.
Its blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to that of a small nuclear weapon, but on a smaller scale. The bomb detonates in mid-air, causing a supersonic shock wave and extreme temperatures.
Thermobaric weapons generate longer, more sustained shock waves with higher temperatures than conventional explosives. As a result, they produce more damage over larger areas than conventional weapons of similar mass.
They are also distinguished by the fact that they use oxygen from the atmosphere itself rather than relying on an oxidizing agent in their explosives. They produce more energy than normal and are therefore more difficult to control.
3. Intercontinental ballistic missile
The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile that is guided to the target. It can travel at least 3,400 miles and was primarily designed to carry nuclear weapons.
ICBMs can be launched from aircraft, submarines, missile silos, and vehicles. They became an integral part of the MAD doctrine because these weapons provided the flexibility that allowed the country to retaliate and destroy the enemy. They essentially guaranteed a second strike on the enemy.
With advances in technology, it became clear that an ICBM could be used to launch multiple nuclear warheads at once thanks to the MIRV.
2. MIRV
The MIRV, which stands for Multiple Independent Target Vehicle, is a payload for ballistic missiles that contains multiple warheads.
Each warhead can be independently directed to hit a specific target.
The next step was the MRV (Multiple Reentry Vehicle) missile, which could carry many warheads that were all dispersed but not individually targeted, resulting in an explosion similar to that of a shotgun.
The MIRV solved this problem; all the warheads could now be aimed at different targets.
1. Tsar Bomba
All aspects of the term "weapons of mass destruction" apply to the Tsar Bomba. A massive device, designed to decimate everything—that's what this bomb was. Only one was detonated, and that was enough.
The Tsar Bomba remains the most powerful device ever detonated by man. For comparison, the most powerful device the United States ever created was the B41. It was also the only three-stage nuclear device the United States created. The B41 had a maximum yield of 25 megatons of TNT, while the Tsar Bomba had a maximum yield of 100 megatons of TNT.
It is estimated that the mushroom cloud rose as high as 40 km into the sky, which is about seven times higher than Mount Everest. At that height, the cloud passed through the stratosphere as well as the mesosphere.
The bomb also unleashed a massive fireball to accompany the mushroom cloud. Once detonated, the fireball reached almost the height from which the bomb was dropped and was visible over 600 km from the site.
The bomb was essentially designed to weaken the Soviet Union's military strength. As such, the bomb was so enormous that it was actually too big. What does this mean? It means it was impractical for use in war. For one thing, moving the bomb was simply too complicated.
It didn't even fit on the plane that dropped it from the sky; that plane had to be heavily modified for the bomb. Second, the plane's crew only had a 50% chance of survival. All of this happens even after the bomb has been reduced from its original 100-megaton size.
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