Live fire exercise

An army, being the main branch responsible for land and air combat, is perhaps the best known group that conducts live-fire exercises. Most live-fire exercises occur within the military base where the units conducting the exercise are located. In some cases, one installation will host units from another for a larger live-fire exercise. Equipment tested under these circumstances range from small arms and rocket launcher fire all the way up to missile systems and artillery fire. In the case of small arms, the tests are usually proficiency based and aimed at ensuring a soldier can fire their assigned weapons. In the case of the latter, missile systems may be test-fired at remotely controlled drones to simulate a situation in which enemy missiles or aircraft are launched at allied or friendly forces, while artillery units can take the opportunity to test new shells or to fire under adverse weather conditions for a chance to see how the artillery pieces will perform.

A B-2 Spirit dropping Mk.82 bombs in a 1994 training exercise off Point Mugu in the Pacific Ocean

An air force, due to its nature, usually limits live-fire exercises to the air, although bombing exercises can be conducted as well.

During live-fire exercises dealing with air-to-air combat, remotely controlled drones are frequently used to simulate enemy aircraft. In modern times, the drones are fired on by planes loaded with some type of air-to-air missile, with the objective of the exercise being to destroy the drone. These tests are usually done to ensure that guidance packages within the missiles will work, although they can be done to test other factors, such as a missile's susceptibility to jamming or to see if a new type of dodging technique will work against the missiles fired.

Live-fire exercises involving air-to-surface work are usually centered around precision-guided munitions. In some cases, tests involving bombs will make use of derelict buildings or, even more frequently, vehicles. Live-fire bombing exercises are usually conducted with precision-guided munitions to ensure that they work correctly, but are also used to test new and experimental weapons to ensure that they work as they were originally designed to. These tests are usually monitored by chase planes and by cameras to determine if everything worked as it was originally intended to.

Live-fire exercises may also be conducted against planes for the purpose of testing a plane's susceptibility to SAM sites, or as a means to test a plane's stealth features.

U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers firing anti-missile missiles during a live fire exercise

Naval live-fire exercises may use anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, although tests involving air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, guns and bombs are not uncommon. Navies conduct live-fire exercises to test elements of an integrated defense system, such as the US Aegis; namely, its ability to track and destroy enemy anti-ship missiles. Tests can also include an integrated defense system's compatibility to fire new missiles or newer versions of the same missile. Live-fire tests are also conducted with a CIWS system, which is designed as the last line of defense for a ship. Surface ships also frequently test-fire the various guns kept and maintained aboard the vessel; these can range from sidearms and rifles up to the 16" guns of the mothballed US Iowa-class battleships. This is done to maintain the skill and knowledge needed to operate the weapon. In the case of aircraft carriers, the pilots assigned to the carrier may conduct air-to-air and air-to-surface missile exercises similar to those of the air force; additionally, these pilots may also conduct live-fire exercises against derelict ships. Recent aircraft carriers have incorporated missile-launching systems, and have taken part in live-fire exercises involving missiles.

For submarines, both fast attack and ballistic missile (or "boomers"), live-fire tests may include firing sea-to-land missiles at targets on shore or launching dummy ballistic missiles; however, the most frequent live-fire exercises conducted by submarines involve firing torpedoes at a target. The best-known tests of torpedoes are those conducted against a derelict ship, typically on a ship from a navy's own mothball fleet that has become too old or obsolete to warrant maintaining. The purpose of these tests is to ensure that the torpedo will work under combat conditions, and such tests can be used to determine whether or not noisemakers or other decoys will have any effect against the unit when launched.

Some forces, especially more elite ones, have also been known to use live ammunition against their own forces in military exercises, to ensure that the soldiers 'take their training seriously' and get accustomed to being shot at before facing actual enemies. This kind of fire is usually not intended to kill anyone, though practices such as firing into the ground close to a soldier going through an obstacle course pose obvious risks.

German Waffen SS training involved the usage of live ammunition, designed to make the soldiers tougher than regular soldiers.[1]

A similar live nuclear test was performed by the US Marine Corps Test Unit and US Army Armored Task Force "Razor" during exercise Teapot (Desert Rock VI) at the Nevada Test Site in 1955.

The British SAS and Royal Marines are also known to use live rounds, for the former during the jungle phase of training, and the latter using live rounds in their final exercise. The SAS also use live-fire in regular close quarter combat training.