To paraphrase an American architect, we can say that war will always be in fashion. Either wars disappear, or people. Therefore, as they develop, states, companies and individuals seek to create the most powerful weapon in a given category using new technologies. For example, such an ancient weapon as a crossbow today is a mechanism that can kill an elephant (American model Stryker), because the arrow fired from it flies at an initial speed of 123 meters per second and has a kinetic energy of 210 joules (125 joules are enough for an elephant).
The most powerful weapon in the pistol category is represented by several models. The first of them is the “Thunder 50 bmg”, firing a cartridge of 99x12.7 mm. The second - “Pfeiffer Cielinski”, which weighs 6 kg, has a trunk of 20 (40.6 cm). The pistol drum holds 5 rounds weighing 33 grams and cost $ 40 each (a pistol costs more than $ 17,000). The weapon shoots at a speed of 2.1 thousand km / h and has a barrel energy of more than 4.3 thousand joules. The return is more than 40 J, which indicates that this is a "toy" not only for the rich, but also for very strong people. The above models are mass-produced. But the most powerful pistol in the world at the moment is made in Poland in one copy. The creation of Richard Tobis has a caliber of a bullet of 28 mm and weighs 45 kilograms.
The most powerful weapon in the tank troops at the moment is represented by the domestic T-90 tank. This giant weighs more than 46 tons, is equipped with a 125-mm cannon with ammunition for 43 rounds, a coaxial machine gun (ammunition for two thousand rounds), an anti-aircraft gun. A distinctive feature of Russian military products is that the tank shoots 2-2.5 times farther than its foreign counterparts, which allows you to hit targets without falling under the return tank fire.
However, tanks are far from rockets. In this group, Russia again has the most powerful weapon. This is the “Satan” ballistic system of the “air-to-air” class. It is a rocket 34 meters long, with a diameter of about 3 meters and weighing 211 tons. The range is 16 thousand kilometers, and the power of a nuclear charge is from 8 to 20 megatons. Start-up equipment can be ready for action in 1 minute.
We can say that Russia is a country where more than 50 years ago the most powerful weapon in the world was tested . This happened on the Small Earth at a nuclear test site. There was blown up the "Kuzkina mother" - the thermonuclear "Tsar bomb" with a capacity of 57 megatons (in TNT equivalent). The explosion was such a force that the shock wave circled the globe three times, which recorded special devices.
But on a smaller scale, we are inferior to other states where excellent examples of civilian weapons are being developed. For example, America leads in the production of hunting rifles, including the Quakenbush model, which is the most powerful air weapon. This gun is produced by a man who himself is a hunter under rifle bullets of standard caliber (most often 0.458). When a 32-gram bullet is fired, the charge exit speed is more than 200 meters per second with an energy of about 650 Joules.
It cannot be discounted that the USA, which is the main opposing side of the Russian Federation, has never reduced its military budget. The fifth-generation high-tech aircraft, anti-aircraft systems (Patriot), new tanks, and a missile defense system have been developed in this country. Therefore, it can be argued that today the arms race continues.