History UsefulNotes / ModernBattlefieldWeapons

* The classic UsefulNotes/WorldWarII example is the 8.8 cm [=Flak=] ('''Fl'''ugzeug'''a'''bwehr-'''K'''anone) fielded by UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, who also found it extremely effective against tanks. Matter of fact, on the field "88"s were just as likely to be assigned to anti-tank artillery role as to actual AA duty.

This will be split into weapons a soldier can carry and weapons that need a vehicle to transport them.

** Ironically, due to the inherent problems of riding into battle inside an APC/IFW outlined above, the BMP, originally Boyevaya Mashina Pehoty (literally translating to IFW), is informally but universally known as [[ArmoredCoffins Bratskaya Mogila Pehoty]] (Infantry Common Grave) in the Russian Army. Despite this it is appreciated for fire power equivilant to some WWII tanks it provides for infantry support.

A large missile with a range under 500 km (300 miles), these weapons are designed for long-distance deep strikes against hardened targets i.e. concrete bunkers. Older versions aren't much use unless they're carrying nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, but the newer ones have radars on to help ensure an accurate hit.

Using these on towns is highly frowned upon- Russia accused Georgia of using MLRS weapons on towns during their 2008 war.

* The U.S. MIM-104 PATRIOT system, which entered service in the late 1980s as an Anti-Ballistic Missile platform[[note]]This is ''technically'' inaccurate: there is no true anti-ballistic missile weapon. The PATRIOT missile system was designed as a rapid-acquisition anti-air platform (i.e. quickly locking on to enemy planes and firing extremely fast-moving missiles to kill them), but was pressed into service as a "Scud killer" during the Iraq war...where it didn't do a terribly good job (but not through any fault of the system: the missiles weren't targeted on areas that the PATRIOT batteries were actually defending)[[/note]].

* Possibly the single most common type found around the world today is the old Russian [[http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/zpu-4.htm ZPU-4]], which is a lightweight (light enough to tow behind a jeep or the Russian equivalent thereof, anyway) wheeled towed mount with four KPV 14.5mm heavy machine guns on it, introduced in 1949. It has no radar, no rangefinder, just iron sights. It is normally operated by a single gunner (though for obvious reasons there is normally a gun crew of about half a dozen, to help set it up and take it down, haul cans of ammo to it and help load it, etc). It was replaced decades ago in Soviet service by the ZU-23, a dual 23mm autocannon on a very similar wheeled mount. Both were exported very heavily indeed during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and are commonplace all over the world today. Iraqi troops made very heavy use of both designs during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, but mainly against Iranian human wave assaults (against which a cluster of four HMGs or two autocannon is ''murderously'' effective) rather than aircraft.

In contrast to more complicated missile systems, AAA systems are vastly easier to use: pointing guns at a target and pulling a trigger is much simpler than figuring out the lock-on process and firing method for a SAM. This was particularly exploited during the Cold War, when client states might have conscripted, poorly-educated peasant armies who would have difficulties with the intricacies of electronic warfare, or, for that matter, figuring out the Russian or Chinese label for "ON" (and before you laugh, try to imagine the difficulty of finding the "dummy load" switch on your impressive new Russian SA-6 launcher[[note]]That's having the radar fully powered, but not actually transmitting. Feature added to the "Fan Song" acquistion radar of the S-75/SA-2 because US aircraft in Vietnam kept getting away because of the time the radar took to warm up[[/note]], or the "single sideband mode" button on your Chinese SAM launcher. Complicated technical equipment given to client states required training, and, more importantly, ''literacy'' in a foreign language, in a country where the majority of people can't read ''their own'' language). But shooting machine guns at the enemy airplane? That's much easier to comprehend, and much easier to train troops lacking a technical background to do.

* Electrically driven Gatling autocannon have been very popular in this role since the 1950s. Towed 20mm gatling autocannon are still in service with some US airborne and airmobile units, and were often used in Vietnam for perimeter defense on firebases. Weapons in this class tend to be able to supply very high volumes of fire, which can be useful against more things than airplanes.
* Bofors of Sweden has exported an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bofors_40_mm antiaircraft gun system]] using 40mm autocannon since 1934, using either single or more commonly dual guns on the carriage. Some of the newer ones have radar, though most do not. The twin Bofors 40 is very commonly encountered around the world. The single-barrel version is the "medium-sized" cannon mounted on the AC-130 gunship.
* Possibly the single most common type found around the world today is the old Russian [[http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/zpu-4.htm ZPU-4]], which is a lightweight (light enough to tow behind a jeep or the Russian equivalent thereof, anyway) wheeled towed mount with four KPV 14.5mm heavy machine guns on it, introduced in 1949. It has no radar, no rangefinder, just iron sights. It is normally operated by a single gunner (though for obvious reasons there is normally a gun crew of about half a dozen, to help set it up and take it down, haul cans of ammo to it and help load it, etc). It was replaced decades ago in Soviet service by the ZU-23, a dual 23mm autocannon on a very similar wheeled mount. Both were exported very heavily indeed during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and are commonplace all over the world today. Iraqi troops made very heavy use of both designs during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, but mainly against Iranian human wave assaults rather than aircraft.

** '''Squad automatic weapons (SAW)''' are a subtype of light machine gun, usually issued at the squad level (hence the name) for fire support. . They are typically chambered in intermediate-power rounds like the 5.56x45mm, typically the same round as the squad's rifle. In fact, their design may even be based on the squad's standard rifle (adapted for sustained fire). Examples include the FN Minimi/[=M249=] and the Russian RPD and RPK.

YouCanPanicNow

* The M1917 revolver, produced by both Colt and Smith & Wesson and sharing a designation. Based off of both companies' large-frame models that were previously chambered in .45 Colt, the M1917 was rechambered for the .45 ACP round to share ammo commonality with the M1911 pistol. Due to the nature of the rimless cartridge (because they load from a box magazine, semi-auto cartridges need to be rimless so they can stack properly), it is difficult to eject the empty casings from a revolver, as the ejector star depends on a rim to catch on. An engineer at S&W came up with a solution in the form of moon clips that hold multiple cartridges together and serve as a contact point for the ejector to catch, making reloads much faster.

* The M82 Barrett, your characteristic BFG, this is a .50 caliber rifle most often used for unexploded ordnance disposal and interdiction of ''light armored vehicles'' and has been used at distances of two kilometers and beyond. This weapon stands on the border between "anti-personnel" sniper rifles and...

* New Israeli designs counteract the problem of subpar armor by actually using tanks; the Achzarit was a converted version of captured T-54 and T-55 tanks, while the from-scratch Nammer is essentially a Merkava with the turret ripped off, and the weight savings put into actually giving it '''heavier''' armor than a main battle tank.

The Americans developed the M1 Bazooka—a long but light long reloadable tube with a rocket in it that so greatly resembled [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka_(instrument) a particular type of musical instrument]] that it stole the name. Recoil was reduced by the simple principle of letting all the exhaust escape out the back of the weapon, creating a huge cloud of hot gas behind the firer, which both gave away his position and severely hurt anybody stupid enough to stand right behind him, but gave the weapon an impressive effective range. Theoretically the rocket was supposed to finish burning by the time it left the tube. [[RunningGag Many American veterans without eyebrows will tell you that this was not always the case]]. The bazooka was issued in improved versions until the 1970s.

* The AKM (or, officially, the ''modernizírovanny Avtomát Kaláshnikova'', "modernised Kalashnikov automatic rifle") and all its descendants. [[MemeticBadass Memetically tough and nigh-indestructible]], this weapon family entered mass production around 1948 and is widespread around the world and has more licensed copies / unlicensed knock-offs than can be easily recounted, including some in use by Western-aligned nations (designs based on it but not outright copies have been manufactured in Israel, Finland, and South Africa, among other countries). According to some estimates, more than thirty million [=AKM=] and [=AK74=] pattern rifles have been manufactured worldwide since 1960. Often crudely made--the definitive mass-produced variations in Soviet service, the AKM (in 7.62x39mm caliber, appearing in 1960) and [=AK74=] (in 5.45x39mm caliber, appearing in 1974) have a receiver made from stamped sheet metal riveted together and most often a buttstock and handguard cut roughly from plywood, even the military issue ammunition in these calibers is usually loaded in lacquered steel cases instead of more expensive brass (though the bores, chambers, and gas cylinders are usually chrome-lined to reduce wear and protect them from corrosive primer residue).