American ingenuity is an incredible force, and nowhere more so than on the battlefield.
Weapons like the M16 rifle have been battle tested and refined to near-perfection. Others like the atomic bomb are so powerful they changed the world.
While there's no scientific way to compare these weapons, we took what we saw in service, what we've read, and what we've heard from troops to rank the most effective.
These weapons are trusted by the U.S. military to defeat the enemy and save lives.
#25 — The GBU-28 Laser Guided Bunker Buster
Range: 5 miles from plane to target
Depth: 20 feet, reinforced concrete
Weight: 4,700 lbs
Payload: 630 lbs high explosives
Analysis: Nicknamed "Deep Throat" this bunker buster is integral to digging out a well-entrenched enemy and is the largest such bomb in the Israeli arsenal.
There's a certain comfort in the ability to disable well-fortified enemy positions allowed by the GBU-28 and after the US sold Israel 100 of the bombs in 2005, it sold a batch to South Korea in 2009. The South received them just months after the North's successful nuclear test in May of that year.
#24 — The M18 Claymore Mine
Service record: Exemplary.
Name: After the large two handed Scottish sword.
Method: A shaped direction charge, either victim operated or command detonated, flings several hundred high-velocity steel ball bearings into the face of the enemy.
Round: 700 1/8 inch steel balls traveling 4,000 feet per second.
Analysis: Not just deadly, but deadly reliable, it's got 60 years of active service. The claymore mine can be used for area denial and alarm systems, as well as for coordinated ambush — and at $110 a unit, America could line it's borders with Claymores.
#23 — M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
Caliber: 66 mm
Max Effective Range, Stationary Target: 600 feet
Warheads: fragmentary, anti tank, and a heat and high-pressure thermobaric, capable of killing everyone in a room or bunker with air pressure and heat alone.
Analysis: Practicality and Spread are key here. Marines can each carry two of these instead of one AT-4 rocket, at approximately the same cost. It's small size and minimal backblast make it perfect for urban warfare — a favorite of ground troops who know the enemy is behind a wall, or hunkered inside an enclosure.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.