All Topics  
Anti-personnel weapon

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Anti-personnel weapon
 
 
  Topics Anti-personnel weapon Topic Home

An anti-personnel weapon
Weapon

A weapon is a tool used to apply or threaten to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack or defense in combat, subduing enemy personnel, or to destroy enemy weapons, equipment and defensive structures....
 is one primarily used to injure or kill people
Person

The term person in common usage means an individual human being. In the fields of law, philosophy, medicine, and others, the term also has specialised context-specific meanings....
. Because these do not discriminate between soldiers and civilians, there are international political movements to ban these various weapons. The most common use of this term is for certain low-powered explosive devices.

While the distinction is very old—a spear
Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze....
 is anti-personnel, while a catapult
Catapult

A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance?particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines....
 is of more use against building
Building

In architecture, construction, engineering and Real estate developer the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s than individuals—the large-scale development of military technology
Military technology

see also Military technology and equipment'Military technology a broad concept that deals with a range of systems which is distinctly not civilian in application....
 in the 19th and 20th centuries has made the concept a key consideration in design.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Anti-personnel weapon'
Start a new discussion about 'Anti-personnel weapon'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


An anti-personnel weapon
Weapon

A weapon is a tool used to apply or threaten to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack or defense in combat, subduing enemy personnel, or to destroy enemy weapons, equipment and defensive structures....
 is one primarily used to injure or kill people
Person

The term person in common usage means an individual human being. In the fields of law, philosophy, medicine, and others, the term also has specialised context-specific meanings....
. Because these do not discriminate between soldiers and civilians, there are international political movements to ban these various weapons. The most common use of this term is for certain low-powered explosive devices.

While the distinction is very old—a spear
Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze....
 is anti-personnel, while a catapult
Catapult

A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance?particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines....
 is of more use against building
Building

In architecture, construction, engineering and Real estate developer the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s than individuals—the large-scale development of military technology
Military technology

see also Military technology and equipment'Military technology a broad concept that deals with a range of systems which is distinctly not civilian in application....
 in the 19th and 20th centuries has made the concept a key consideration in design. For instance, an anti-personnel landmine
Land mine

A land mine is an explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the proximity of a vehicle, person, or animal....
 will explode into small and sharp splinters that tear flesh but have no effect on metal surfaces, and will be designed not to explode when a vehicle rolls over it.

In general, anti-personnel weapons are designed to exploit human fragility: the general delicacy of the human frame, the need for breathable air and drinkable water, susceptibility to fire
Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
 and radiation
Radiation

In physics, radiation describes any process in which energy emitted by one body travels through a medium or through space, ultimately to be absorbed by another body....
, and so forth. Anti-personnel weapons need not muster great force, as in the case of armor-piercing shell
Armor-piercing shot and shell

An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships....
s, but instead may spread smaller and slower projectiles over a larger area.

The most common modern anti-personnel weapons are cluster bomb
Cluster bomb

Cluster munitions or cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject smaller submunitions: a cluster of bomblets....
s, claymore mines, and booby trap
Booby trap

A booby trap is a device set up to be triggered by an unsuspecting victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it....
s. A hand grenade
Hand grenade

A hand grenade is an anti-personnel weapon that explodes a short time after release. The word "grenade" is derived from the French word for pomegranate, as shrapnel reminded soldiers of the seeds....
 is generally used as an anti-personnel weapon, though it can destroy light vehicles and structures, but it isn't generally referred to as one because it is hurled at a specific, tactical target and its results are immediate, rather than randomly sown to deny access to a stretch of ground and left around until it detonates.

There are also more expensive and technical weapons, such as neutron bomb
Neutron bomb

A neutron bomb, technically referred to as an enhanced radiation weapon , is a type of tactical nuclear weapon formerly built mainly by the United States specifically to release a large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation....
s, chemicals, and biological weapons which only attack people. But as there is greater international criticism of them, they are therefore not used. These are not generally referred to as anti-personnel weapons, but by their own names or group terms (e.g., NBC weapons) which serve to get them specifically banned.