Artillery

Rocket launchers guide the take-off of missiles, which are propelled through the air towards a target. Missiles can travel vast distances and hit targets with great accuracy. Most missiles consist of a rocket, which propels the missile, and an explosive charge called a warhead. There are two main types of missiles: unguided and guided. (See Guided Missiles). Unguided missiles, sometimes called rockets, are aimed by a rocket launcher at a specific trajectory. Guided missiles have special equipment that leads them to a target after they have been launched.

Rocket launchers were not widely used until World War II (1939-1945). Among the most powerful weapons used during the war was the German V-2 rocket, which left the Earth's atmosphere during its high-arc flight to the target and had a range of 350 km (220 mi). Modern missiles can be fired in rapid succession from multiple rocket launchers. These missiles may be armed with a nuclear warhead.

The Romans and other peoples of ancient times used devices such as catapults to hurl rocks and other projectiles at enemy fortifications and formations. The first gunpowder weapons appeared in Europe in the early 1300s. Usually in the form of firing rocks, iron balls, or large, arrow-shaped bolts, the artillery of this time was often more successful in creating fear in enemy ranks than in inflicting actual damage. The first artillery pieces were notoriously unreliable and had a tendency to explode upon firing. This remained a problem until the late 1800s. By then, advances in casting gun barrels improved effectiveness and artillery earned a pre-eminent place in major armies.

The development of artillery produced changes in warfare tactics. The first guns and mortars were used primarily against fortified cities because the artillery's great weight prevented it from being used in mobile warfare. Not until the late 1400s did the French effectively use wheeled cannons in battle. For nearly another three centuries artillery was attached to ground forces. By the early 1800s artillery had come into its own as a mobile supporting force in warfare. Used in batteries of many guns, massed artillery fire was used to destroy attacking enemy formations or disrupt defending forces before launching an attack. Mobile horse-drawn artillery could be shifted from place to place on a battlefield.

During World War I (1914-1918) massed artillery fire denied both sides the ability to manoeuvre forces, a condition that led to the stalemate of trench warfare. World War II saw a return to manoeuvre tactics with the advent of tanks and tracked personnel carriers, but artillery continued to be the most destructive force on the battlefield.

In recent conflicts, such as in the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1959-1975), artillery has provided most of the fire support for ground forces. Cannon artillery delivers close-in supporting fire with antiarmour and anti-personnel munitions. Examples include laser-guided projectiles that can destroy moving tanks, and munitions that dispense anti-personnel or antiarmour bomblets. Beehive projectiles are canisters filled with hundreds of small darts that are employed against massed personnel at close range. United States Army medium howitzers are capable of firing chemical and nuclear munitions along with scatterable mines.

Recent advances in on-board computers and self-locating capabilities enable modern cannons and rocket launchers to move around the battlefield independently, stopping to shoot, and then quickly moving to a new firing position. Some modern artillery cannons and launchers can deliver what are called “smart” munitions. These are projectiles and warheads that can locate and home in on stationary or moving targets using sophisticated sensors and seekers. These munitions are referred to as “fire-and-forget” because they do not have to be updated in flight.