Artillery
Artillery
Artillery (/ɑːrˈtɪləri/), from the Old French artillerie meaning "to equip with weapons", is a class of heavy military ranged weapons built to launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry's small arms.
History
Artillery originated for use against ground fortifications, but over time its roles have expanded to include suppressing enemy infantry, tanks and aircraft. The term cannon is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane, or reed. In the modern era, the term artillery has generally been replaced with the shorter term, gun.
Types of Artillery
Artillery is categorized in several ways, such as by type, organizational role, and the projectile fired. The basic types of artillery are cannon, howitzer, and mortar.
Cannon
A cannon is a type of gun classified as artillery that launches a projectile using propellant. In the past, gunpowder was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century.
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent.
Mortar
A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, portable, and short-barreled firearm, designed to throw explosive shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories.
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Artillery
- Wikipedia's article - Artillery
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