Shoot-and-scoot (alternatively, fire-and-displace or fire-and-move) is an

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

tactic Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tact ...

of firing at a target and then immediately moving away from the location from where the shots were fired to avoid

counter-battery fire Counter-battery fire (sometimes called counter-fire) is a battlefield tactic employed to defeat the enemy's indirect fire elements (multiple rocket launchers, artillery and mortars), including their target acquisition, as well as their command ...

(e.g. from enemy artillery).

Caucasian war

The first recorded use of this tactic came from the

Caucasian war The Caucasian War (russian: Кавказская война; ''Kavkazskaya vojna'') or Caucasus War was a 19th century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the ...

where the Chechen Naib Talhig of Shali became famous for his shoot and scoot tactics (referred to as Nomadic artillery by Russians) in the 1830-50s. He was according to the Russian historian and professor Nikolay Smirnov one of the first commanders that used this tactic.

World War II

The need for such tactics in World War II became obvious from the noticeable smoke signature produced by the use of anti-tank infantry weapons such as the German

Panzerfaust The ''Panzerfaust'' (, "armour fist" or "tank fist", plural: ''Panzerfäuste'') was a development family of single-shot man-portable anti-tank systems developed by Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapons were the first single-use light an ...

anti-tank grenade launcher, the American M1 bazooka and its German

Panzerschreck ''Panzerschreck'' (lit. "tank fright", "tank's fright" or "tank's bane") was the popular name for the ''Raketenpanzerbüchse'' 54 ("Rocket Anti-armor Rifle Model 54", abbreviated to RPzB 54), an 88 mm reusable anti-tank rocket launcher dev ...

derivative anti-tank rocket launchers, and also by the various models of

Nebelwerfer The Nebelwerfer (smoke mortar) was a World War II German series of weapons. They were initially developed by and assigned to the Wehrmacht's "smoke troops" (''Nebeltruppen''). Initially, two different mortars were fielded before they were replace ...

and

Wurfrahmen 40 The ''Wurfrahmen 40'' ("launch frame 40") was a German World War II multiple rocket launcher. It combined a vehicle such as the Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack or captured French Renault UE Chenillette with rocket artillery to form a more mobile and protect ...

German barrage rocket systems. In modern times, moving after firing is important as there are a multitude of electronic systems, such as

counter-battery radar A counter-battery radar (alternatively weapon tracking radar or COBRA) is a radar system that detects artillery projectiles fired by one or more guns, howitzers, mortars or rocket launchers and, from their trajectories, locates the position on ...

that can automatically detect artillery fire in near real-time and direct counter-battery fire from friendly artillery.

Rocket launcher

Shoot and scoot was originally made possible and used by Soviet Katyusha rocket artillery, whose rudimentary construction of rails on a truck chassis made it comparatively light and mobile, while its quick 7-10 second full salvo, slow reload, and complete lack of protection made switching positions its main tactic and best defence.

NATO

Shoot and scoot tactics were first adopted by NATO in the early 1960s by its nuclear artillery units using towed 8-inch

howitzers A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like oth ...

and truck-mounted

MGR-1 Honest John The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the United States arsenal.The first nuclear-authorized ''guided'' missile was the MGM-5 Corporal. Originally designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first uni ...

rockets. These operated as single guns or launchers, typically deployed to a hide, came into action when given a nuclear fire mission, fired and immediately came out of action and moved to another hide adjacent to another firing position. These tactics became normal for missile units and were successfully used by Iraqi missile units in the 1990–1991

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

M270

Similar tactics were adopted by

M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (M270 MLRS) is an American-developed armored, self-propelled, multiple rocket launcher. The U.S. Army variant of the MLRS vehicle is based on the chassis of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The first M270s wer ...

(MLRS) platoons when it entered service, although in this case the launchers usually went first to a reload site after firing. It may be used by Indian Pinaka MBRL or

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n Grad, Uragan, and Smerch, although originally systems like Grad used more traditional tactics.

Self-propelled gun batteries

The tactic has also been adapted for more general use with self-propelled gun batteries (such as the US

M109 Paladin The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7. The M109 family is the most common Western indirect-fi ...

or German

PzH2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 ("tank howitzer 2000"), () abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for the German Army. It is capable of a very high ...

AS-90

A refined version are gun manoeuvre areas developed by UK for use by

AS-90 The AS-90 ("Artillery System for the 1990s"), known officially as Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, is an armoured self-propelled artillery weapon used by the British Army. It can fire standard charges up to using 39 calibre long barrel (com ...

batteries when the counter-battery threat is high. These areas cover several square kilometres and the guns move around in them in pairs. The difficult decision is deciding how long guns can remain in one place before moving. This requires judgement about the enemy's counter-battery responsiveness. In these areas, the battery's command elements remain in one place and there are various options for replenishing the guns' on-board ammunition. The tactic is affected by the rate of fire of the manoeuvring guns and the time it takes them to come out of action. However, it is also very wearing on the gun crews and for sustained use relief crews are essential.

G6 Howitzer

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

G6 Howitzer The G6, sometimes denoted as the G6 ''Rhino'', is a South African mine-protected self-propelled howitzer. It was developed as a turreted, self-propelled variant of the G5 howitzer series, mating the gun to a six-wheeled armoured chassis. Des ...

s used the technique very effectively in Angola against Cuban forces in the

Battle of Cuito Cuanavale The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988, south and east of the town of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and advisors and sold ...

References

{{Reflist Maneuver tactics Artillery operation