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Artillery has been one of primary weapons of war since before the Napoleonic Era. Several countries have developed and built artillery systems, while artillery itself has been continually improved and redesigned to meet the evolving needs of the battlefield.
Two distinct forms of artillery were developed: the towed gun, used primarily to attack or defend a fixed-line; and the self-propelled gun, intended to accompany a mobile force and to provide continuous fire support and/or suppression.
- Overview
- Rifled bores
artillery, in military science, crew-served big guns, howitzers, or mortars having a calibre greater than that of small arms, or infantry weapons. Rocket launchers are also commonly categorized as artillery, since rockets perform much the same function as artillery projectiles, but the term artillery is more properly limited to large gun-type weapons using an exploding propellant charge to shoot a projectile along an unpowered trajectory.
For three centuries after the perfection of cast-bronze cannon in the 16th century, few improvements were made in artillery pieces or their projectiles. Then, in the second half of the 19th century, there occurred a series of advances so brilliant as to render the artillery in use when the century closed probably 10 times as efficient as that which marked its opening. These remarkable developments took place in every aspect of gunnery: in the pieces, with the successful rifling of cannon bores; in the projectiles, with the adoption of more stable elongated shapes; and in the propellants, with the invention of more powerful and manageable gunpowders.
In the middle years of the 19th century, smoothbore field artillery was placed at a disadvantage by the adoption of rifled small arms, which meant that infantry weapons could now outrange artillery. It therefore became vital to develop rifling for artillery weapons as well. The advantages of rifling were well known, but the technical difficulties of adapting the principle to heavy weapons were considerable. Several systems had been tried; these generally involved lead-coated projectiles that could engage shallow rifling grooves or projectiles fitted with studs that would fit into deeper rifling. None had proved adequate.
Britannica Quiz
The following list of artillery cover guns, howitzers, mortars, and other large projectile weapons. Small arms and missiles are not included, though artillery rockets and other bombardment weapons are.
Name/designationOriginDescription28 mm anti-aircraft gun1.59 inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F.40 mm light field gun later adapted for ...20 mm anti-aircraft gun20 mm anti-aircraft gunMilitary technology - Artillery, Development, Warfare: The earliest known gunpowder weapons vaguely resembled an old-fashioned soda bottle or a deep-throated mortar and pestle. The earliest such weapon, depicted in the English de Millimete manuscript, was some three feet long with a bore diameter of about two inches (five centimetres).
artillery, In modern military science, big guns such as cannons, howitzers, or mortars operated by crews and of a calibre greater than 15 mm. The earliest artillery, introduced in the 14th century, were cannons and mortars of bronze, brass, or iron mounted on two-wheeled carriages.
11 ott 2021 · The Extended Range Cannon Artillery, or ERCA, and precision strike missile, or PrSM, will cause us to modify current doctrine, training products to add these new systems.
