Plunging fire

Plunging fire is a form of indirect fire, where gunfire is fired at a trajectory to make it fall on its target from above. It is normal at the high trajectories used to attain long range, and can be used deliberately to attack a target not susceptible to direct or grazing fire due to not being in direct line of sight.[1][2]

Plunging fire on a warship: the steeper angle of fire allows the shell to hit the thinner deck armor

In naval warfare, plunging shellfire was theoretically capable of penetrating an enemy ship's thinner deck armor rather than firing directly at a warship's heavily armored side.

Plunging fire in terrestrial warfare allows attacking a target not in direct line of sight, for example over the brow of a hill engaging in a reverse slope defence. Artillery weapons such as howitzers and mortars are designed for this purpose. Machine guns and belt-fed grenade launchers may also use plunging fire.

A top attack weapon is designed to attack armoured vehicles from above as a form of plunging fire, as the armour is usually thinnest on the top of the vehicle. Ideally, it will penetrate perpendicular to the attacked surface. The device may be delivered (often as a submunition) by an anti-tank guided missile, mortar, artillery shell, or even an emplaced munition such as a mine. Top attack munitions use either a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead for direct impact or near impact, or an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead fired while flying over the target (overfly top attack, OTA).

The top attack concept was first put into service by the Swedish Armed Forces in 1988 with the Bofors RBS 56 BILL top-attack anti-tank missile.[3]

Weapon systems using top attack

An Australian Army soldier carrying two FGM-148 Javelins at the Besmaya Range Complex in Iraq, October 2016
An M41 tripod-mounted TOW ITAS-FTL with PADS (a variant of the BGM-71 TOW) of the U.S. Army in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, May 2009
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldier aiming a Type 01 LMAT during a military exercise, circa 2013

Notable weapon systems that utilize top attack include:

Weapon systemCountry of origin
AGM-114 HellfireUnited States
AT-1K RayboltSouth Korea
BGM-71F/TOW-2BUnited States
BLU-108United States
CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed WeaponUnited States
FGM-148 JavelinUnited States
Griffin LGBIsrael
HJ-12China
Kitolov-2MRussian Federation
KM-8 GranRussian Federation
KrasnopolRussian Federation
KSTAMSouth Korea
M93 Hornet mineUnited States
NLAWSweden / United Kingdom
MokopaSouth Africa
MPATGMIndia
NagIndia
OMTASTurkey
PARS 3 LRGermany
ProspinaIndia
RBS 56 BILLSweden
RBS 56B BILL 2Sweden
SADARMUnited States
SMArt 155Germany
SpikeIsrael
Strix mortar roundSweden
Toophan 3MIran
Type 01 LMATJapan
XM395 Precision Guided Mortar MunitionUnited States

See also

References

  1. "A State of War, Plunging Fire and Naval Construction, and more". Scientific American. 116 (13): 320–321. 1917. Bibcode:1917SciAm.116..320.. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican03311917-320. ISSN 0036-8733. (subscription required)
  2. Global Security, CHAPTER 5, COMBAT TECHNIQUES OF FIRE
  3. "RBS 56 BILL". robotmuseum.se (in Swedish). Retrieved February 26, 2022.


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