US deadliest weapons of 2024 embrace one 14x extra highly effective than Nagasaki missile

The United States is a super power for a good reason. Not only is it on of the largest countries on the planet, but they also have the highest military budget of any other nation by quite some distance.

Its annual expenditure in 2023 was around £700billion, which dwarfed that of second place China’s £230billion, and left third place Russia’s £84billion in the dust. And with that spending in mind it’s a safe bet to assume the folk across the pond have some fairly impressive tech at their disposal.

However, rather than spend countless hours trying to assess the pros of American firearms, we’re letting the YouTube channel The Military Show, do the lion’s share of researching.

The popular page has drilled down the seven deadliest weapons to emerge from the States this year. So we in turn at the Daily Star have filtered down the info into what we think are the most interesting facts from the impressive gear.

B61-13 Missile

The missile is the modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, which was originally built in 1961. But now it comes with all the modern safety, security and accuracy features to enhance its strategic effectiveness. It has 360 kilotons of pure explosive power.

And, to put that into perspective, the 10,300lb ‘Big Boy’ that devastated Nagasaki in the Second World War only had a yield of 21 kilotons. While it instantly killed 40,000 people, it is predicted the 17-times larger B61-13 could take out 1.3 million people, before even taking into consideration the nuclear fall-out.

F22 Raptor

The cornerstone of the US Air Force, the F-22 was designed for air superiority and delivers on that with bells on, being unmatched in terms of its combination of speed, agility and strength. The F-22 is capable of engaging in both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. And it comes packing a sophisticated sensor suite which allows its pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill an air-to-air target before the enemy even knows they’re in danger.

Weapons wise it comes with a whole array of munitions at its disposal, including a M61A2 20-millimetre cannon, which is capable of firing 480 rounds. Also there are two GPS guided 1,000lb bombs as well as two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air supersonic, heat-seeking missiles.

F35 Lightning II

The “centrepiece of 21st-Century global security”, the F-35 is more versatile than the F-22 and it comes with a ridiculously large number of possible armaments making it ready for virtually any type of mission. From 25mm cannons firing 180 rounds to radar and infrared guided missiles, the jet has the capability to engage with an enemy both up close and personally, as well as beyond visual range. It can also rain hell with 50 kiloton B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs.

MQ-9 Reaper Drone

At a cost of £42million each, the MQ-9 is described as the “apex predator of the skies”. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is designed for high altitude, long-endurance warfare. Capable of staying in the air for an astonishing 42 hours, it’s primarily used for intelligence collection but if it needs to it can really bring the heat with a huge payload capacity.

It comes with a sensor suite that includes infrared and night-vision cameras, thermal imaging and laser targeting. All of which can be controlled and monitored by operators thousands of miles away. And, if the kill order is given, it takes just 1.2 seconds to deliver.

The M4 assault rifle

The M4 was born out of necessity to replace the “unwieldy” M16. The bods at The Military Show say the rifle has made the list due to its being every bit as lethal as the high tech giants listed already. Lauded for its three key aspects of reliability, versatility and precision, it is claimed you could clamber through mud, sand or freezing rain, and still count on it to fire when your life depends on it. Its 5.56×45 mm NATO rounds are designed for accuracy and range, outperforming many other rifles – including the AK.

Ohio class ballistic submarine

The Ohio-class submarine is said to have the power to wipe out a nation in seconds. Each Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine can hold 24 Trident II missiles, and each missile is equipped with Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs). Each MIRV can carry a warhead of up to 475 kilotons, which is astonishing compared to the 15 and 21 kilotons of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Additionally, the Trident II missile has a range of about 4,000 nautical miles, allowing these massive weapons to hit targets worldwide.

SM-6 or RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile

The SM-6 is being touted as “the Navy’s deadliest weapon”. It has advanced guidance systems and multi-mission capability, and can take out enemy aircraft and ships, and ballistic missiles. The versatile piece of kit has proved its effectiveness in the field already, from virtually any vessel or location. In fact the SM-6 can be deployed on more than 60 surface vessels.

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