Gun shield

A gun shield is a device designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun or artillery piece, sometimes improvised in the field in an add-hoc manner using salvaged materials, to protect the user(s) from incoming fire while operating the weapon. The most common examples were seen in the Vietnam War when the crews of armored fighting vehicles and PT Boats would affix metal plates to the machine guns, though gun shields have been in use as early as World War I. Gun shields fell out of widespread use after Vietnam, but have seen a resurgence in popularity during the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The major drawback of gun shields is that they limit the visibility of the user to the front, though new designs such as the Transparent Armor Gun Shield (TAGS for short) will alleviate this without sacrificing user protection.

ee also

*Hillbilly armor
*Gun mantlet