Atlas Trail
Platforms That Carry the Fight: Vehicles, Aircraft and Ships from the BMP-1 to the Astute Class
Most weapons trails follow a gun or a missile. This one follows the platforms that carry a force and its weapons into battle: a tracked infantry vehicle, an attack helicopter, escort frigates, assault ships, aircraft carriers, a tiltrotor and a nuclear submarine. Read in order of entry into service, from 1966 to 2010, the stops show how Soviet, British, American and French designers answered the same question of how to deliver troops and firepower, and how often the answer was a compromise.
Stop 1 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The BMP-1 entered Soviet service in 1966 as the first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle. It was amphibious, carried a crew of three and eight dismounting infantry, and paired a 73mm smoothbore gun with an anti-tank missile launcher so it could fight beside tanks instead of merely delivering troops.
Stop 2 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The AH-1 Cobra entered United States Army service in June 1967, with the first six aircraft reaching Vietnam that August. Built for close air support and escort of troop-carrying helicopters, it flew in hunter-killer teams with lighter scouts, and roughly 300 were lost in combat during the war.
Stop 3 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The Oliver Hazard Perry class entered United States Navy service in 1977 as a general-purpose escort for amphibious groups, supply convoys and merchant shipping. Seventy-one ships were built in all, 51 of them for the American navy, and the last American example was decommissioned in 2015.
Stop 4 of 10.
Weapons Systems
First delivered to the United States Navy in 1977, the Harpoon turns a platform into a long-range threat to ships. It flies low over the sea, homes on its target by active radar, and can be launched from ships, submarines, aircraft and coastal batteries, with around 7,500 built.
Stop 5 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The British Warrior entered Army service in 1987 with a 30mm RARDEN cannon, a crew of three and seven dismounted infantry. Unlike the BMP-1 it has no firing ports for the infantry, reflecting a British doctrine that the vehicle delivers troops under armor rather than fighting mounted.
Stop 6 of 10.
Weapons Systems
USS Wasp was commissioned on 29 July 1989 as the first ship purpose-built to operate both AV-8B Harrier jump jets and air-cushioned landing craft. Each ship can embark around 1,687 Marines, an air group and landing craft, and carries a 64-bed hospital.
Stop 7 of 10.
Weapons Systems
Commissioned by the Soviet Navy on 20 January 1991, the Admiral Kuznetsov is Russia's sole aircraft carrier. Its aircraft flew 420 combat missions against targets in Syria in November 2016, its only combat use, and it has been out of service since March 2017.
Stop 8 of 10.
Weapons Systems
Commissioned on 18 May 2001, the Charles de Gaulle is the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier completed outside the United States Navy. It operates around 30 Rafale M fighters with E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft, and has deployed to Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria.
Stop 9 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The V-22 Osprey first flew in 1989 but did not enter Marine Corps service until June 2007, a long development for the first production tiltrotor. It combines helicopter takeoff with turboprop speed and range, and operates from ships such as the Wasp-class assault ships.
Stop 10 of 10.
Weapons Systems
HMS Astute was commissioned in 2010 as the lead boat of the Royal Navy's newest nuclear-powered fleet submarines. Each carries six 21-inch torpedo tubes with stowage for up to 38 weapons, including Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk missiles, and the class was the first nuclear submarine designed entirely with three-dimensional computer modeling.
Create an account to keep this trail. Saving copies its stops into a collection of your own, which you can add to, reorder and share.
Where you have got to in this trail is kept by your own browser and is never sent to us. Clearing your browser data clears it. All trails.