PARTS | TOPIC | PAGE NO | PART I | BRIEF HISTORY | 1 | PART II | RELATED TERMS | 2 | PART III | AMN USED IN INDIA | 9 | PART IV | AMN OF THE WORLD | 5 | PART V | AGL AMN USED IN INDIA | 12 | PART VI | AGL AMN OF THE WORLD | 12 | PART VII | RECOMMENDATIONS | 28 |
Introduction
1. There is an old saying among artillery men that their weapon is not the gun. It is the ammunition/shell, and the gun is only the last stage in transportation from the factory to the target. The same applies to all fire arms as they are merely devices for discharging bullets, shells, bombs/projectiles of one sort or another which are the things destined to have the desired effect on the enemy target. Without ammunition the finest firearm is merely an expensive club or at best, a handle for a bayonet, while a piece of artillery with no ammunition is no more than an ornament.
2. But for all its importance, ammunition is usually taken for granted : received, loaded, fired and if it does not work the firer gets more aggrieved even if he does not know why it failed. Yet it is a fascinating topic on its own. Many a weapon which appeared to have reached the end of its usefulness has been revitalized and given a new lease of life by nothing more than redesigning the ammunition for it, and many weapons have their effectiveness enhanced by new and improved ammunition. It is impossible to have a complete understanding of a weapon unless there is complete understanding of the ammunition as well.
3. The conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Kargil war with its emphasis on targeting specific enemy individuals while avoiding collateral damage, demands the use of wpns of high precision and limited destructive effect. As a result, inf small arms have a much more prominent role than that expected in conventional high-intensity warfare and this is highlighting the performance of their amn to a greater extent than ever before. Now that several nations have started the