These are 25 of the most effective weapons in the US arsenal

Name: After the large two-handed Scottish sword.

Method: A shaped-direction charge, which can be 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 they cost just $110 a unit.

Caliber: 66 mm

Max Effective Range, Stationary Target: 600 feet

Warheads: In addition to fragmentary and antitank varieties, the M72 can fire a thermobaric warhead that is 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. Its 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.

Weight: 9,000 pounds

Crew: Seven to eight

Munitions: 155 mm explosive rounds; precision-guided rounds; white phosphorous; illumination; among many others.

Analysis: Combined with the precision-guided round, this weapon can level a building and leave its neighbors relatively unscathed.

The variety of rounds and their lethality make the M777 a force to reckon with.

Weight: 27 tons

Travel Range: 216 miles at 35 mph

Firing Range: 11 to 19 miles

Ordnance: 155 mm shell

Analysis: Even deadlier than a stationary howitzer, the Paladin self-propelled howitzer can support the initial invasion of one city, move, and support the invasion of another, with little maintenance or delay.

Also equipped with .50-caliber machine guns and thick armor, its survivability is better than any other mobile howitzer.

Weight: 67 tons

Range: 250 miles

Land Speed: 25-35 mph

Armament: 105 mm and 120 mm cannons, one .50-caliber machine gun, and two 7.62 mm machine guns.

Analysis: Though largely unused since America's invasion of Iraq and the second battle for Fallujah, armored "cavalry" units simply have no replacement in potential ground operations.

It's not very practical, and upgrades and other costs related to the tank are a source of controversy. Still, it's a main battle tank and could be the backbone of a future large-scale US ground operation.

Weight: 32 tons.

Combat Range: About 500 miles

Armament: JDAM, GBU, sidewinders, and the infinitely cool-sounding M61A2 Vulcan six-barreled Gatling cannon.

Analysis: Stealth, lethality, and survivability make this bird one of the deadliest in the flock, though it has been plagued with problems and sports an epic price tag. After a string of delays, the plane finally saw combat during the opening days of the US air campaign against Islamic State militants in 2014.

Crew: Two, pilot and gunner

Range: 315 miles

Speed: 175 mph

Armament: Three-barrel Gatling cannon, Hydra missiles, and TOW missiles

Analysis: A favorite of the US Marine Corps for its ability to act as a guard for helicopter flights as well as for its success in close air support.

The Cobra has outstanding maneuverability under fire and can coordinate fire to a 10-digit grid on the ground. Its pilots are notoriously cocky and more than willing to jump into the fight.

Range: 15 nautical miles

Accuracy: 7 to 13 meters

Use: Fixed and moving targets, precision strikes

Analysis: Shortly after Desert Storm in the early 1990s, the Air Force started researching guided bombs. It came up with the JDAM Kit, which essentially took existing "dumb" bombs and turned them into guided munitions.

Now they have become a favorite of troops on the ground engaging in combined-arms battles. A JDAM can be guided in via a simple map, or "lased" by a troop on the ground.

Weight: 25 tons

Combat Radius: About 600 miles

Armament: General Dynamics GAU-22/A Equalizer 25 mm (0.984 in) four-barreled Gatling cannon, with 180 rounds along with more ordnance than we can even name

Analysis: Again, many problems and costs, but its builders and military planners say it's worth the price — the F-35 is supposed to be the best fighter jet on the planet. Furthermore, it can carry a B61 nuclear weapon while flying stealth.

Its maneuverability has been called into question, but experts agree the fifth-generation fighter can duke it out in the air as well.

Weight: 15 tons

Combat Radius: 500 miles

Armament: The legendary 30 mm cannon with an impressive 1,200 rounds, as well as a laundry list of missiles, bombs, and rockets.

Analysis: The Warthog is an absolute favorite of ground troops pinned down by moderate-to-heavy resistance or well-entrenched enemy troops.

It can do antipersonnel, anti-armor, as well as anti-fortification bombing runs. Combined with well-coordinated ground intel, the Warthog is dreaded by enemies.

Effective Range: 2,000 yards

Round: .50-caliber BMG

Analysis: What started off as an anti-aircraft gun on US Naval ships has become the ultimate antipersonnel, antiarmor, antifortification intimidation factor on the battlefield.

It's not terribly different from its original 1918 design, and just the sound of the Fifty can send enemies scattering.

Range: 1,400 meters

Round: 40-53 mm

Weight: Any grunt who has carried it will say, "Heavy as hell." He'd be right — it's about 73 pounds.

Analysis: Great for general mayhem and destruction. The MK-19 Automatic Grenade Launcher is by far the most specialized crew-served weapon in the infantry.

It's also one of the deadliest, which is why it was banned from the battlefield in the final years of the Iraq War.

Weight: 91 pounds

Range: 6,000 meters

Armament: High Explosive, smoke, illumination, IR illumination, training dummy

Analysis: After the Howitzer, an 81 mm mortar is the straight-leg infantryman's best friend.

A mortar man's entire array of military training comes down to centering a level on his 81 mm's tripod and dropping those shells exactly where he wants them.

Capable of striking the enemy at distance, mortars can also be deadly accurate. Just drop in the tube and cover your ears.

Weight: 22 pounds

Range: 550 meters on a human target

Magazine: From 20- to 100-round drum, 5.56 NATO ball

Analysis: The SAW is being phased out with the Infantry Automatic Weapon, which looks a lot like a fully automatic M16 (which America had in Vietnam but later discontinued).

The replacement is not well received by many troops.

The SAW is gas operated, open bolt, and with a hundred-round drum, the sheer amount of lead that can be dumped on the enemy has made it a favorite among small-unit leaders worldwide.

Weight: 27 pounds

Range: 800 meters with tripod, 600 with bi-pod

Round: 7.62mm

Analysis: Capable of turning enemy armor into Swiss cheese with its ferocious muzzle velocity, the more than 40-year-old weapon is adored by US grunts.

Easy to manufacture but difficult to maintain, it isn't the most practical gun, but one trigger squeeze can drop a group of enemies or disable a vehicle.

Range: 1,150 miles

Payload: Almost 2 tons

Operational Altitude: 25,000 feet

Endurance: 14 hours fully loaded

Analysis: The Reaper and others like it have been a go-to weapon for high-level counterinsurgency operations for nearly 10 years.

The Reaper requires minimal exposure of American troops and delivers the greatest return, which boosts US morale while depleting that of the enemy. Even so, there are ongoing debates over the legality and morality of the kinds of targeted and signature strike missions the Reaper often undertakes.

Round: 50 mm BMG

Muzzle Velocity: 2,800 feet per second

Range: 1,800 meters

Analysis: The weapon was developed as "antimateriel," to be used on military equipment and not people. But times change.

Now it's best known for use by snipers during small-arms support of ground-assault elements: in other words it's now an antipersonnel weapon.

Weight: 14 ounces

Kill Radius: 5 meters

Casualty Radius: 15 meters

Analysis: Far more powerful than portrayed in Hollywood, the hand grenade is lethal in close-quarters combat.

Easy to produce, deploy, and employ, they are scarily simple and are still one of the deadliest battlefield weapons.

Weight: 168 tons

Range: 7,000 miles

Armament: A hugely capable stealth bomber that can carry 30,000-pound bunker-busters as well as nuclear weapons.

Analysis: The B2 bomber is designed primarily to perform penetration nuclear bombings, but it can also run reconnaissance missions and targeted strikes. Aside from the ordnance mentioned above it can dump 80 500-pound JDAM missiles on top of the enemy.

Weight: Between 6 and 10 pounds

Range: Effective against human targets up to 550 meters

Rounds: 5.56 mm

Analysis: Sleek, light, accurate, and in later versions as reliable as an AK. It can even be equipped with an upper receiver that fires larger 7.62 mm rounds.

The M16 has been standard-issue military for decades, and it seems poised to stay that way for a while.

Weight: 61 tons

Range: 2,500 miles

Arms: 40 mm, 105 mm, and two 25 mm cannons.

Analysis: The Spectre is a legend, taking on even more mythical proportions with every mission.

With quality ground intelligence the Spectre is an Army unto itself, capable of disrupting the movement and supply of thousands of enemy troops — and it can do it all under cover of darkness with a highly sensitive IR targeting system.

Displacement: 16,000 to 19,000 tons

Combat Radius: Limited only by onboard stores for personnel

Armament: Torpedoes, Tomahawk missiles, and a bevy of nuclear bombs

Analysis: Still said to be one of the keys to US defense, the Ohio class has global range and remains undeterred by above-ground attacks.

That independence is key. Without offshore nuclear-strike ability by the US, a gutsy enemy may think a land-based strike could take out American nuclear abilities. Ohio-class subs make that impossible.

Weight: 101,600 long tons

Range: Global

Power: Two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors

Analysis: The standard by which forward military projection is defined — indeed, the nuclear-powered carrier has possibly done more for peace than for war. Its nuclear reactors also provide unlimited distance and 25 years of service.

The carrier delivers about 70 aircraft atop 4 acres of sovereign US territory any place on the globe.

Since most of the planet's large cities are near the coasts, American military might is everywhere it wants and needs to be. The USS Eisenhower even has a Starbucks to serve its crew of more than 5,000.

America's nuclear arsenal is unmatched, plain and simple.

The technology is also unmatched, but some say we've shared with the Brits. The most explosive bomb the US designed (and admits to having), the MK-41, is a 25-megaton whopper — making it 1,000 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Fat Man.

The MK-41's stats:

Length: 12.4 feet

Weight: 10,670 pounds

Yield: 25 megatons

Analysis: The scope, spread, and practicality of this weapon make it both the ultimate peacekeeper and the ultimate potential death-dealer, all in a single trigger pull.

Weight: 30,000 pounds

Penetration: 200 feet of reinforced concrete

Warhead: 5,300 pounds of high explosives

Analysis: The GBU-57A/B Penetrator is the largest bomb of its kind in the world, and only a couple of planes in the American fleet are even capable of carrying it.

The MOP is why it's believed Israel will require US assistance on the increasingly distant chance it attacks Iranian nuclear facilities.

No other bomb will come close to passing through Iranian facilities' quartz-infused concrete; some of the strongest man-made material on earth refined from necessity by a country that's one big earthquake zone.

Height: 6 feet.

Weight: 185 pounds

Range: 25 miles

Armament: A big brain and centuries of finely honed military training.

Analysis: America's all-volunteer armed forces are as skilled as they are immense.

The US has taken the best of its ingenuity and enterprise and wrapped it up into the most sought-after military training in the world.

Countries from across the globe look to the US for help training their most elite and specialized forces. Driven by the largest economy in the world, there is little US troops can't do.

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