What are Small Arms and Light Weapons?
Broadly speaking, small arms and light weapons include a wide variety of lethal instruments, from handguns to man-portable air defense systems. While there is no universally accepted definition of small arms, the term is commonly viewed as encompassing man-portable firearms and their ammunition primarily designed for individual use by military forces as lethal weapons. A typical list of small arms includes revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, and light machine-guns. Light weapons are usually heavier and larger than small arms and designed to be employed by a small team or crew of infantry personnel. They include some man-portable firearms and their ammunition, light artillery guns and rockets, and guided missiles for use against armored vehicles, aircraft, or fortifications. A typical list of light weapons could also include heavy machine-guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, man-portable air defense systems (such as shoulder-fi
