China's lightweight crew-served heavy machine gun — a 12.7×108mm belt-fed weapon that is among the lightest in its class, fielded by the PLA for infantry and vehicle roles.
The QSZ-92 is China's standard-issue PLA/PAP sidearm — a polymer-frame, rotating-barrel pistol chambered in two distinct cartridge families, including a unique 5.8×21mm armor-defeating round, and now being supplemented by the newer QSZ-193.
The RPK-74, the squad-level light machine gun of the AK-74 family, has provided sustained automatic fire for Russian and allied infantry since the 1970s. Featuring a heavier barrel, bipod, and 45-round magazine, it remains in widespread front-line service.
Russia's standard 12.7×108mm heavy machine gun, developed after the Soviet collapse to replace the NSV and fielded on tripods, vehicles, and main battle tanks from the late 1990s onward.
The PKM is the Soviet Union's workhorse 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun — a belt-fed, open-bolt design that has armed infantry squads, vehicle mounts, and tripod emplacements across more than five decades of continuous combat from Afghanistan to Ukraine.
Russia's standard-issue 9mm service pistol — a DA/SA sidearm adopted to replace the Makarov PM, fielded in Chechnya, Syria and Ukraine, and now being supplemented by newer designs.
The M249 SAW — FN's belt-fed, 5.56mm squad automatic weapon adopted by the US in 1984 and exported to 75+ countries, now being supplemented by the 6.8mm XM250.
The M240 — the US standard 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun, built from the FN MAG and fielded since 1995 — anchors infantry, vehicle, and helicopter firepower across NATO and beyond.
The M2 Browning "Ma Deuce" is the century-old .50 cal heavy machine gun that remains the standard NATO crew-served weapon for anti-materiel, anti-personnel, and vehicle defense.
The US military's iconic 9mm service pistol from 1985 to 2017 — a double-action hammer-fired design that defined the NATO sidearm era and remains in wide legacy and allied service.
The standard US military sidearm since 2017 — a modular, striker-fired 9mm pistol built by SIG Sauer to replace the M9, and the source of a contentious safety controversy.
The QBZ-03 is China’s conventional-layout, folding-stock assault rifle developed alongside the bullpup Type 95 — issued to border, airborne and reserve troops, and exported to Myanmar.
China's new-generation standard assault rifle — a conventional-layout, short-stroke piston platform with modular rail interface, firing the proprietary 5.8×42mm DBP-191 round, replacing the bullpup QBZ-95 family across the PLA.
China's standard-issue bullpup assault rifle for two decades — a gas-operated, short-stroke piston design in the proprietary 5.8×42 mm cartridge, now being replaced by the conventional-layout QBZ-191.
The AK-103 is Russia's 7.62×39 mm assault rifle of the AK-100 series — a modernised Kalashnikov built for export and internal security, keeping the legacy cartridge in a reliable, side-folding platform.
Russia's new-generation standard assault rifle — a fifth-generation Kalashnikov chambered in 5.45×39 mm, with improved ergonomics, burst-fire capability, and the combat-driven 2023 model refinements shaped by the war in Ukraine.
The AK-74M is the modernized Soviet-era 5.45 mm assault rifle that served as the Russian Federation's standard infantry weapon from 1991, bridging the gap from the AK-74 to the AK-12 with a side-folding polymer stock and dovetail optics rail.
The L85A2 (SA80) is the British armed forces’ standard bullpup assault rifle — a 5.56×45mm NATO weapon with a short-stroke piston, 518 mm barrel, and a tumultuous early service life redeemed by a Heckler & Koch mid-life upgrade.
The FN SCAR is Belgium's modular special-operations combat assault rifle in 5.56 mm (Mk16) and 7.62 mm (Mk17), adopted by USSOCOM and over a dozen other forces, combining a short-stroke piston with quick-change barrels.
Germany's standard-issue assault rifle from 1997 — a lightweight, polymer-intensive 5.56 mm design by Heckler & Koch that served through Kosovo and Afghanistan, and whose accuracy controversy reshaped Bundeswehr procurement.
The HK416 is Heckler & Koch's piston-driven re-engineering of the AR-15 platform — widely fielded as a special-forces carbine, France's standard rifle, and the US Marine Corps' M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle.
The U.S. Army's next-generation high-pressure 6.8 mm rifle, replacing the M4 in close-combat formations with greater range and barrier penetration.
The standard US carbine of the post-Cold-War era — a compact, 5.56 mm direct-impingement select-fire weapon that served across Afghanistan, Iraq and dozens of allied forces.
Spain's Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate — the first European Aegis air-defence combatant, carrying 48 Mk 41 VLS cells and shaping a generation of allied frigate designs.