See http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/in_crew.html And, more generally, http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/ And also http://www.hqmc.usmc.mil/factfile.nsf/AVE?OpenView&Start=1&Count=1000&Expand=11#11

US Army: M4 carbine, M16A2 rifle, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, M240 General Purpose Machine Gun, M2 (fifty-cal) Heavy Machine Gun, M136 (Shoulder-launched AT weapon), TOW missile, possibly some SMAW-D (Shoulder Launched Assault Weapon - Disposable), 25mm chaingun (Bradley Fighting Vehicle) Javelin (anti tank guided missile) M203 underbarrel grenade launcher, M19 automatic grenade launcher. 60mm and 81mm mortars, 105 and 155 artillery, guided MLRS, guided bombs and missiles from the air US Marine Corps: M16A4 rifle, M203, M136, TOW, M249, M240, SMAW (reloadable version of the SMAW-D) M72 Light Anti-tank weapon. 60mm and 81mm mortars, 105 and 155 artillery, guided MLRS, guided bombs and missiles from the air Iraqi insurgents: Local AK47-copies, RPK Machine guns, RPG anti-tank grenade launchers, Improvised Explosive Device (IED, also in vehicle borne flavours, VBIED), mortars, artillery rockets (katushya-derivatives) Basically find out what's in the US inventory, and chances are that it's out there in some form. Then there's the various multinational forces with their own weaponry and support.

Also, is there an ROTC detachment on your campus? You could always ask them. Also, maybe Shek will show up and help.

I think the major weapon systems have already been covered. I would some other "weapon" systems that have non-lethal or less than lethal effects that are very appropriate for the counterinsurgency operational environment: 1. VaporTracer2 explosives detector 2. Phraselator English to Arabic translator that plays MP3 files of the available phrases 3. Taser X26 for less than lethal scenarios 4. ExSpray explosives detector kit 5. LRAD (long range acoustical device) directional loud speaker I'm curious about what class the paper is for, because a paper that could be written after a bit of research from a Jane's manual seems pretty bland.

I just found this on another site, thought it might interst some here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- June 9, 2006 A Soldier fires the Grenade Rifle Entry Munition to blast a door down. The GREM has been fielded to Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team. GREM fielded to troops Annette Fournier Bayonet staff Soldiers will be able to blast a door in from nearly half a football field away using a new munition fielded by Program Manager Soldiers and the Directorate of Combat Development's Small Arms Division. The Grenade Rifle Entry Munition M-100 system was designed minimize the time Soldiers are in the "fatal funnel," the line of fire in front of a door where Soldiers can be wounded while trying to enter a building. "The problem is, when Soldiers try to enter a building, they don't know what's on the other side of the door," said John Amick, senior systems analyst with DCD's Small Arms Division. "It could be a guy with a machine gun pointing straight at them. The GREM moves Soldiers away from the door and gets them out of the fatal funnel." Without the GREM, Soldiers can knock down a door with a battering ram, explosives or by shooting the lock with a shotgun. Those methods all put troops close to a building and in harm's way, Amick said. With the GREM, a Soldier can stand as close as 15 meters or as far as 40 and fire at a door straight on, or at a 20 degree angle from the right or left. To use the GREM, a Soldier slides the tail section onto the muzzle of an M-16 or an M-4, and launches the GREM by firing the weapon. "The GREM does not attach to the weapon used to fire it, so a Soldier is ready to shoot again immediately after firing the GREM," said Staff Sgt. Robert Jones, the Small Arms Division Crew Served Project NCO. "It is also fired using regular M-16 or M-4 rounds, so a shooter doesn't have to worry about using special ammunition." Previous breaching technology could blast holes through doors, but the GREM is designed to blast the door out of its frame, making the door fall in. Its design uses a footlong "standoff rod," which hits the door first. The impact sets off a disk-shaped explosive round inside the GREM. The charge's rounded shape causes the force of the explosion to be dispersed across the door's surface, rather than through the door, Amick said. Spreading out the force causes the door to fall rather than break, so Soldiers can easily enter a room. If there are noncombatants inside a room, they will not be injured by flying pieces of the door, Jones said. The GREM will not significantly add to an Infantryman's load, Jones said. It weighs only 1.37 pounds, and consists of two pieces about 15 inches long that are screwed together before being fired. The designers made the GREM as light and easy to carry as possible since Infantrymen have so much other gear, he said. Jones spent most of March and April in Iraq training 64 Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team to use the GREM. All of the 3rd BCT officers and NCOs became certified as trainers to teach other units to use the GREM. At this time, only the 3rd BCT has the authority to use the GREM, but it should be fielded to other units as early as October, Jones said. The Army's plan is to issue two types of GREMs: one for training and one live munition for use in combat. The training munitions can be used repeatedly so Soldiers can become familiar and comfortable with the weapon before using the live munition. The Small Arms Division received requests from six other units trying to get the GREM, and Amick said Soldiers shouldn't have to wait long. "If they haven't seen one yet, they will soon," he said.

Yeah, the GREM is very interesting. There's a video of it here: http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articles/military_photos_2006414222232.asp Re: that paper, of course; M16s, M14s, M204s, M2, etc those are indeed the weapons held by most people. However, for a college paper what may be more interesting is to focus on the new weapons, new kinds of weapons, and new doctrines about using weapons that are coming out of this. I'd say that's where the real impact of the war is being felt - at the end of the day, small arms themselves are just guns - a mature technology adressing a well known problem. The .50 round is 80 years old, and works great. The M2 is 50 years old. The M16/14 family of weapons is 30 years old, etc... I'd say that, if anything, guns are the things that have changed the least, by far. Everything else around them, though, there has been a real revolution. Some of the things I'd highlight would be; UAVs - They used to be few, large, expensive and centrally controlled. None of that is true any more; there are at least a dozen great new designs out and they're fundamentally changing the way ground war is fought. They will probably also change the way air-supremacy wars are fought Personal equipment - GPS, improved body armour, new materials, night vision optics, silver-doped fabrics, squad radios, battlefield computers, greatly improved rifle optics and their commonplace use, better socks, beter helmets, you-name-it. New munitions - Fuel-air explosives, 120MM 'shotgun' shells, the GREM, military 12-gauge shotgun rounds, airburst granades, precision guided artillery and mlrs and some new special purpose rounds like 6.8 and such. Airborne munitions - the SDB, JSOW, concrete-filed JDAMs, UAV-mounted munition, radical increases in acuracy across the board, corresponding decreases in bomb size and collateral damage, etc Force protection - armoured trucks and humvees, CROWS system, radar-operated RPG protection, multi-frequency IED Jammers, special purpose bomb disposal vehicles, scout/surveilance and bomb disposal robots, improved incoming fire pinpoint and respond systems, TESCO barriers, VLAD vehicle-arresting devices, improved tourniquets, use of police and israeli derived computer modeling/predicting systems to forecast insurgent activity, all kinds of stuff armour tactics - completely turned upside down, from the first "thunder runs" into bagdad tot he constant use of tanks and IFVs inside urban areas, the uparmouing of all vehicles, convoy procedures and protection, the arrival and great success of the Striker doctine and training - also completely revolutionized, from the structural changes at the batalion/brigade levels to BFT and net-centric warfare, decreasing role for FOs and the airforce itself, increasing role for SOC and adoption of SOC practices in the Army, increasing use of civilian affairs personel, dramatically wider/faster spreading of intelligence data, the de-centralization and speeding up of the purchasing process, the constant use of the internet by all troops, new CQB fighting doctrine, renewed focus on marksmanship and use of snipers and designated marksmen, huge growth in training centers both for US troops and Iraquis, widespread use of training technologies including virtual computer environments, videos, training aids etc. New classes of weapons - the main ones here would be non-lethal weapons and UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles). In the non-lethal class there are microwave, laser and directed sonic weapons, which produce temporary blindness, intense itching throughout the body, and disorientation/vomiting. These all have the potential to be breakthrough weapons to be used for hostile crowd control, and stopping vehicles charging a checkpoint without having to shoot them up. In the UCGV class there are both armed and non-armed varieties; we're nowhere near Terminator here, but are coming up with workable and really useful systems. Personal weapons - Well, there has been _some_ change... Military shotguns are back and apparently work great for specialized tasks such as door breaching, non-lethal loads, even some API and APDS rounds. Sniper rigles are another area of innovation, particularly in .50 cal, and they're having a real effect interdicting the enemy. Still, though, this really just isnt where the innovation is happening... Heart, eu4ea