These Are the 5 Most Dangerous Guns of Modern War

By Kyle Mizokami,The National Interest

Modern warfare has seen breathtaking advances [3] in the last hundred years, as mortal competition between nations spawns successively deadlier weapons. Aircraft [4], missiles [5], tanks[6], submarines [7] and other inventions—many of which did not exist in practical terms in 1914—have quickly earned key positions in the militaries of the world.

Yet there is still one invention that, although conceived more than five hundred years ago, still has a vital place on today’s battlefield: the infantry weapon and supporting arms. No matter how high tech the armed forces of the world have become, warfare since the end of the Second World War has consistently involved some form of infantry combat.

In his seminal work on the Korean War, This Kind of War [8], historian T.R. Fehrenbach wrote, “you may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life—but if you desire to defend it, protect it and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men in the mud.” With that in mind, here are five of the most deadly guns of modern war.

AK-47:

The undisputed king of the modern battlefield is the Avtomat Kalashnikova model 47, or AK-47. Extremely reliable, the AK-47 is plentiful on Third World battlefields. From American rap music to Zimbabwe, the AK-47 has achieved icon status, and is one of the most recognizable symbols [9]—of any kind—in the world. The AK series of rifles is currently carried by fighters of the Islamic State [10], Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, various factions in Libya and both sides in the Ukraine conflict.

The AK-47, as the story goes, was the brainchild of the late Mikhail T. Kalashnikov. A Red Army draftee, Kalashnikov showed a talent for small-arms design while convalescing from battlefield injuries, and had assembled a prototype assault rifle by 1947. (There is some circumstantial evidence, however, that the AK-47 was at least partially designed by the German designer Hugo Schmeisser [11], who had created the similar Stg44 in 1942.)

The AK-47 was the world’s first standard-issue assault rifle. The rifle used a new 7.62-millimeter cartridge that generated less recoil and was lighter than rounds used in traditional infantry rifles. In return, the 7.62×39 round offered more controllability when fired in full automatic and allowed the infantryman to carry more rounds into battle.