Anti-personnel weapon

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When the US M18 Claymore Anti-Personnel-Mine is detonated, it sends out 700 metal balls traveling at high velocity. These balls can kill or seriously injure any people in the 100-meter blast radius. M18 Claymore Mine.jpg
When the US M18 Claymore Anti-Personnel-Mine is detonated, it sends out 700 metal balls traveling at high velocity. These balls can kill or seriously injure any people in the 100-meter blast radius.

An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles gave rise to weapons designed specifically to attack them, and thus a need to distinguish between those systems and ones intended to attack people. For instance, an anti-personnel landmine will explode into small and sharp splinters that tear flesh but have little effect on metal surfaces, while anti-tank mines have considerably different design, using much more explosive power to effect damage to armored fighting vehicles, or use explosively formed penetrators to punch through armor plating.

Many modern weapons systems can be employed in different roles. For example, a tank's main gun can fire armor-piercing ammunition in the anti-tank role, high-explosive ammunition in the anti-structure role and fragmentation shells in the anti-personnel role.

There are also more exotic classes of weapons, such as neutron bombs, chemicals, and biological weapons, which are only designed to attack people. As there is a greater international criticism of them, they are therefore rarely used. These are not generally referred to as anti-personnel weapons but by their own names or group terms (e.g., NBC weapons) by which they are specifically banned. Such weapons often create much collateral damage and may affect large numbers of civilians, as well as causing long spanning consequences when they are not detonated in the case of buried explosives.

Debates

A debate has arisen over whether some primarily anti-material weapons can be used as anti-personnel weapons. The Barrett M82 rifle, standardized by the U.S. military as the M107, fires a large-caliber .50 BMG round that will penetrate most commercial brick walls and concrete blocks. It is an anti-materiel rifle designated as a Special Application Sniper Rifle and designed for use against military equipment (materiel), rather than against other combatants. It is used by many armies around the world both in regular forces and in special forces units. As it uses a .50 BMG round, this has led to some debates in the U.S. armed forces about the legality of using such a large anti-materiel rifle round against a human. There have been persistent reports that some U.S. military personnel believe that the use of .50 BMG in a direct antipersonnel role is prohibited by the laws of war. However, Maj. Hays Parks states that "No treaty language exists (either generally or specifically) to support a limitation on [the use of .50 BMG] against personnel, and its widespread, longstanding use in this role suggests that such antipersonnel employment is the customary practice of nations." [1]

The Raufoss Mk.211 round Raufoss NM140 MP (en).svg
The Raufoss Mk.211 round

The Raufoss Mk 211 is a .50 caliber (12.7×99mm NATO) multipurpose anti-matériel projectile produced by Nammo (Nordic Ammunition Group, a Norwegian/Finnish military industry manufacturer of ammunition), under the model name NM140 MP. [2] It is commonly referred to as simply multipurpose or Raufoss, which refers to Nammo's original parent company: Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikk (Ammunition Factory) in Raufoss, Norway, established in 1896. The "Mk 211" name comes from the nomenclature "Mk 211 Mod 0" used by the U.S. military for this round. [3] [4]

The multipurpose name is based on the projectile having an armor-piercing (tungsten core), an explosive, and an incendiary component, thus making it capable of penetrating lightly armored targets and causing damage to personnel inside the target after penetration. It is a suitable round for engaging helicopters, aircraft and lightly armored vehicles, as well as unarmored vehicles, and it is capable of igniting jet fuel. The Mk 211 has about the same destructive power as a standard 20mm round against such targets. [5] The Mk 211 is a very popular .50 caliber sniper round used in the Barrett M82 rifle and other .50 BMG rifles. [5] It is also often used in heavy machine guns such as the M2 Browning. Due to its popularity several U.S. arms manufacturers produce the round under license from NAMMO Raufoss AS. [6] There is also a tracer variant, the MK300, used in the Browning heavy machine gun.

There has been much debate over whether the Mk 211 projectile is legal to use against personnel, or if it is strictly anti-matériel ammunition. The International Committee of the Red Cross has sought to have the ammunition banned, due to concern over the incendiary and explosive components and their effect on personnel. Under the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 the "military or naval" use of explosive or incendiary projectiles with a mass of under 400 grams is forbidden. [7] Very few nations were parties to the St. Petersburg Declaration, however, and that declaration does not govern the conduct of non-signatory parties. Further, the Hague treaties of 1899 and 1907 – which superseded the St. Petersburg Declaration, and were signed by a far wider circle of nations – do permit the use of such ammunition for auto-cannons and heavy machine guns. Machine guns firing .50 cal/12.7mm ammunition are heavy machine guns. At best, the ICRC's position can be applied to only a small group of nations that were parties to the St. Petersburg Declaration; at worst, the ICRC's position is made moot by more than 100 years of subsequent international treaties.

The official stance of the Norwegian Government is that the 12.7 mm MP round should not be used against personnel, but an exception has been made for snipers using the round — due to the practical limitations of snipers having to change the type of ammunition used when switching between hardened and soft targets.[ citation needed ] It is being exported strictly in an anti-matériel capacity. Most nations[ who? ] using the round train their soldiers not to deploy the projectile against personnel, but in the heat of battle such regulations are easily overlooked. Also, many parties currently fielding the ammunition have no such regulations, including the U.S., whose policy is that the ammunition is suitable for use against all targets.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M2 Browning</span> .50 caliber heavy machine gun

The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge, the M2 uses Browning's larger and more powerful .50 BMG cartridge. The design has had many designations; the official U.S. military designation for the infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexible. It has been used against infantry, light armored vehicles, watercraft, light fortifications, and low-flying aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.50 BMG</span> Rifle cartridge designed by John Moses Browning

The .50 BMG, also known as 12.7×99mm NATO, and designated as the 50 Browning by the C.I.P., is a .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber cartridge developed for the M2 Browning heavy machine gun in the late 1910s, entering official service in 1921. Under STANAG 4383, it is a standard service cartridge for NATO forces. The cartridge itself has been made in many variants: multiple generations of regular ball, tracer, armor-piercing (AP), incendiary, and saboted sub-caliber penetrator rounds. The rounds intended for machine guns are made into a continuous ammunition belt using metallic links.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoulder-fired missile</span> Shoulder mounted recoilless launcher system for shells, unguided or guided rockets (missiles), etc

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mk 153 Shoulder-Launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon</span> Multi-role (anti-fortification, anti-armor) rocket launcher

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sniper rifle</span> Type of rifle used for long-range engagements against enemy personnel

A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, and mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses by military snipers. The modern sniper rifle is a portable shoulder-fired rifle with either a bolt action or semi-automatic action, fitted with a telescopic sight for extreme accuracy and chambered for a high-ballistic performance centerfire cartridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-tank rifle</span> Anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the armor of armored fighting vehicles

An anti-tank rifle is an anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that can be carried and used by one person, but is sometimes used for larger weapons. The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from the introduction of tanks in World War I until the Korean War. While medium and heavy tank armor became too thick to be penetrated by rigid projectiles from rifles that could be carried by a single soldier, anti-tank rifles continued to be used against other "soft" targets, though recoilless rifles and rocket-propelled grenades such as the bazooka were also introduced for infantry close-layer defense against tanks.

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The Maschinengewehr (MG) 151 is a belt-fed autocannon for aircraft use, developed in Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1940 and produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. It was originally produced in 15.1 mm caliber from 1940, with a 15×96mm cartridge, but due to demand for higher effect against aircraft, especially with the introduction of mine shells for the 20 mm MG-FF/M aircraft cannon, the design was rechambered to 20 mm caliber in 1941, using a newly developed 20×82mm cartridge which traded projectile velocity for explosive power. The initial 15 mm variant then became known as the MG 151/15, with the new 20 mm variant becoming the MG 151/20.

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The Barrett XM109, originally known as the Objective Sniper Weapon (OSW) and now called the Anti-Materiel Payload Rifle (AMPR), is a prototype anti-materiel sniper rifle. It is chambered for 25 × 59 mm grenade rounds and was developed by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. It was designed in accordance with a requirement set out in 1994, and is capable of defeating light armor and equipment out to 2 km.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">30 mm caliber</span> Specific size of autocannon ammunition

The 30 mm caliber is a range of autocannon ammunition. It includes the NATO standardized Swiss 30×173mm, the Soviet 30×155mmB, 30×165mm and 30×210mmB, the Czechoslovak 30×210mm, the Yugoslav 30×192mm, the British 30×113mmB, and the French 30×150mmB and 30×170mm cartridges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">12.7 × 108 mm</span> Rifle cartridge

The 12.7×108mm cartridge is a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and anti-materiel rifle cartridge used by the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and many others. It was invented in 1934 to create a cartridge like the German 13.2mm TuF anti-tank rifle round and the American .50 Browning Machine Gun round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrett M82</span> American anti-materiel sniper rifle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">14.5 × 114 mm</span> Heavy machine gun and anti-material rifle cartridge

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In warfare, high-explosive incendiary (HEI) is a type of ammunition specially designed to impart energy and therefore damage to its target in one or both of two ways: via a high-explosive charge and/or via its incendiary (fire-causing) effects. Each round has both capabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-explosive incendiary/armor-piercing ammunition</span> Multi-effect and multi-purpose ammuntion type

High-explosive incendiary/armor-piercing ammunition (HEIAP) is a form of shell which combines armor-piercing capability and a high-explosive effect. In this respect it is a modern version of an armor-piercing shell. The ammunition may also be called semi-armor-piercing high-explosive incendiary (SAPHEI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raufoss Mk 211</span> .50 caliber (12.7×99mm NATO) ammunition type

The Raufoss Mk 211 is a .50 BMG multi-purpose anti-materiel high-explosive incendiary/armor-piercing ammunition projectile produced by Nammo under the model name NM140 MP. It is commonly referred to as multipurpose or Raufoss, meaning red waterfall in Norwegian. This refers to Nammo's precursor company Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker, an ammunition manufacturer established 1896 in Raufoss, Norway. The "Mk 211" name comes from the nomenclature Mk 211 Mod 0 used by the U.S. military for this round.

Nammo, short for Nordic Ammunition Company, is a Norwegian-Finnish aerospace and defence group specialized in production of ammunition, rocket engines and space applications. The company has subsidiaries in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States. The company ownership is evenly split between the Norwegian government and the Finnish defence company Patria. The company has its headquarters in Raufoss, Norway.

References

  1. Parks, Maj W. Hays (January 1988). "Killing A Myth". Marine Corps Gazette. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  2. "Nammo AS - 12,7mm (.50 Cal)". Nammo AS. Archived from the original on April 15, 2008. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  3. "20mm AMR – New Use for Unused Ammo" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 4, 2011. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  4. "Army Ammunition Data Sheets for Small Caliber Ammunition" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. April 1994. p. 150. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  5. 1 2 John Pike (May 13, 2010). "Mark 211 .50-caliber Multipurpose Ammunition". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  6. "Small Caliber Ammunition" (PDF). ATK. pp. 31–32. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  7. "St Petersburg Declaration 1868". International Humanitarian Law. International Committee of the Red Cross . Retrieved 2010-08-27.