Light weapon

Prior to 1997, the terms ‘small arms’ and ‘light weapons’ were often used interchangeably, or referred to as ‘light arms’; indeed, in French (‘armes légères’) and in Spanish (‘armas ligeras’) both categories are often conflated into one.

A 1997 report of a United Nations Panel of Experts on Small Arms clarified terminology. Its report states that ‘Broadly speaking, ... light weapons are those ... designed for use by several persons serving as a crew’, and provides a list of light weapons that includes heavy machine-guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, portable launchers of anti-tank missile and rocket systems, portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, and mortars of a calibre of less than 100 millimetres.Report of the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, UN doc. A/52/298, 27 August 1997, §§25 and 26(b).

This definition is largely reproduced in the 2005 International Tracing Instrument, which defines small arms and light weapons as:

Any man-portable lethal weapons that expels or launches, is designed to expel or launch, or may be readily converted to expel or launch a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive, excluding antique small arms and light weapons or their replicas.Art. 4, 2005 International Tracing Instrument.

It is further stipulated that:

‘Light weapons' are, broadly speaking, weapons designed for use by two or three persons serving as a crew, although some may be carried and used by a single person. They include … heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, portable launchers of anti-tank missiles and rocket systems, portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, and mortars of calibre of less than 100 millimetres.Art. 4(b), 2005 International Tracing Instrument.

According to the International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS) light weapons include:

any man-portable lethal weapon designed for use by two or three persons serving as a crew (although some may be carried and used by a single person) that expels or launches, is designed to expel or launch, or may be readily converted to expel or launch a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive.International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS) 01.20: 'Glossary of terms, definitions and abbreviations'.

Some confusion however remains to this day: for example, the 2010 Central African Convention for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons seemingly uses the term ‘light weapons’ to refer to small arms.

Last updated on: 08 August 2017