This is a list of established military terms which have been in use for at least 50 years. Since technology and doctrine have changed over time, not all of them are in current use, or they may have been superseded by more modern terms. However, they are still in current use in articles about previous military periods. Some of them like ''camouflet'' have been adapted to describe modern versions of old techniques.
Administrative
* Cantonment: a temporary or semi-permanent military quarters; in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
, the term cantonment also describes permanent military stations.
*
Logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
*
Materiel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the spec ...
signals intelligence in modern history
Before the development of radar and other electronics techniques, signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) were essentially synonymous. Sir Francis Walsingham ran a postal interception bureau with some cryptanalytic c ...
* Demilitarized zone (DMZ): Area that is specifically established to be free from military presence or action. Often used to create a buffer between two conflicting states to prevent accidental border skirmishes and established by treaty or a third party peace keeper.
* No man's land: land that is not occupied or, more specifically, land that is under dispute between countries or areas that will not occupy it because of fear or uncertainty, or for tactical or strategical considerations. No man's land was what the Allied Expeditionary Force under the command of General Pershing would refer to the land separating the fronts of the two opposing armies, as it was deadly to be there.
Arms and services
*
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 si ...
includes any engine used for the discharge of large projectiles.
*
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...
: an organized group of artillery pieces (previously artillery park).
* Also see below
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 si ...
Doctrinal
These terms are used for talking about how armed forces are used.
Many of the terms below can be applied to combat in other environments although most often used in reference to land warfare.
*
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind moun ...
: carrying out a surprise attack on an enemy that passes a concealed position.
*
Artillery barrage
In military usage, a barrage is massed sustained artillery fire (shelling) aimed at a series of points along a line. In addition to attacking any enemy in the kill zone, a barrage intends to suppress enemy movements and deny access across tha ...
: a line or barrier of exploding artillery shells, created by continuous and co-ordinated fire of a large number of guns.
* Battalia: an army or a subcomponent of an army such as a battalion in battle array (common military parlance in the 17th century).
* Blockade: a ring of naval vessels surrounding a specific port or even an entire nation. The goal is to halt the movement of goods which could help the blockaded nation's war effort.
*
Booby trap
A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...
*
Breach
Breach, Breached, or The Breach may refer to:
Places
* Breach, Kent, United Kingdom
* Breach, West Sussex, United Kingdom
* ''The Breach'', Great South Bay in the State of New York
People
* Breach (DJ), an Electronic/House music act
* Miroslav ...
: a gap in fortified or battle lines.
* Breakout: exploiting a breach in enemy lines so that a large force (division or above) passes through.
* Bridgehead and its varieties known as
beachhead
A beachhead is a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a landing beach by sea and begins to defend the area as other reinforcements arrive. Once a large enough unit is assembled, the invading force can begin advancing inland. The ...
s and airheads.
* Charge: a large force heads directly to an enemy to engage in close quarters combat, with the hope of breaking the enemy line.
* Chequered retreat, (''retraite en échiquier'', Fr.) a line or battalion, alternately retreating and facing about in the presence of an enemy, exhibiting a deployment like chequered squares
* Column: a formation of soldiers marching in files in which the files is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation.
*
Counterattack
A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...
* Counter-battery fire
* '' Coup de grâce'': a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded soldier; also applied to severely damaged ships (called scuttling when applied to friendly ships).
* '' Coup de main'': a swift pre-emptive strike.
* ''
Debellatio
The term "debellatio" or "debellation" ( Latin "defeating, or the act of conquering or subduing", literally, "warring (the enemy) down", from Latin ''bellum'' "war") designates the end of war caused by complete destruction of a hostile state. Isra ...
'': to end a war by complete destruction of a hostile state. More severe than sacking.
* Decisive victory: an overwhelming victory for one side, often shifting the course of conflict.
* Defilade: a unit or position is "defiladed" if it is protected from direct exposure to enemy fire; see also Hull-down.
* DUSTOFF: a now traditional call sign for US Army Air Ambulance helicopter operations engaging in MEDEVAC.
*
Echelon formation
An echelon formation () is a (usually military) formation in which its units are arranged diagonally. Each unit is stationed behind and to the right (a "right echelon"), or behind and to the left ("left echelon"), of the unit ahead. The name of ...
: a military formation in which members are arranged diagonally.
* Encirclement: surrounding enemy forces on all sides, isolating them.
* Enfilade: a unit (or position) is "enfiladed" when enemy fire can be directed along the long axis of the unit. For instance, a trench is enfiladed if the enemy can fire down the length of the trench. May also refer to placing a unit in a position to enfilade, or the position so enfiladed.
*
Envelope
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a ...
* Extraction point: the location designated for reassembly of forces and their subsequent transportation out of the battle zone.
* Fabian strategy: avoiding pitched battles in order to wear down the enemy in a war of attrition.
* Fighting withdrawal: pulling back military forces while maintaining contact with the enemy.
* File: a single column of soldiers.
* Flanking maneuver: to attack an enemy or an enemy unit from the side, or to maneuver to do so.
* Forlorn hope: a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the leading part in a military operation, such as an assault on a defended position, where the risk of casualties is high.
* Frontal assault or
frontal attack
The military tactic of frontal assault is a direct, full-force attack on the front line of an enemy force, rather than to the flanks or rear of the enemy. It allows for a quick and decisive victory, but at the cost of subjecting the attackers to ...
: an attack toward the front of an enemy force.
*
Garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mili ...
: a body of troops holding a particular location on a long-term basis.
*
Guerrilla tactics
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tacti ...
: attacking the enemy and the subsequent breaking off of contact and retreating; also referred to as "hit-and-run tactics".
* ''
Hors de combat
''Hors de combat'' (; ) is a French term used in diplomacy and international law to refer to persons who are incapable of performing their combat duties during war. Examples include persons parachuting from their disabled aircraft, as well as ...
Infiltration
Infiltration may refer to:
Science, medicine, and engineering
*Infiltration (hydrology), downward movement of water into soil
*Infiltration (HVAC), a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning term for air leakage into buildings
*Infiltration (me ...
* Interdiction: to attack and disrupt enemy supply lines.
*
Killing field
A killing field, in military science, is an area in front of a defensive position that the enemy must cross during an assault and is specifically intended to allow the defending troops to incapacitate a large number of the enemy. Defensive emplacem ...
*
Lodgement
A lodgement is an enclave, taken and defended by force of arms against determined opposition, made by increasing the size of a bridgehead, beachhead, or airhead into a substantial defended area, at least the rear parts of which are out of dire ...
: an enclave made by increasing the size of a bridgehead.
* MEDEVAC: the tactical medical evacuation of wounded from the field of battle by air, bringing them to a higher level of medical care and treatment, e.g. from a forward field location or a forward aid station to a combat support hospital, forward surgical team or other treatment facility able to provide significant stabilizing care or definitive treatment to the injured.
* Melee or ''Mêlée''
*
Mess
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
: A place where troops gather for their meals
* Mikes: Minutes. When used in normal vernacular speaker will say will be ready in X-Mikes where X represents number of minutes.
* Mobile columns, or movable columns (French: or ) — in contrast to stationary troops ''troupes sédentaire''. This may be used as a bureaucratic description to describe the function for which troops are raised for example the regiments of the Highland Fencible Corps were raised for garrison duties while Scottish line regiments in the British Army were raised to fight anywhere; or it may be an operational description.
* No quarter given: all enemy troops are to be killed, even those who surrender. Also referred to as "take no prisoners".
*
Overwatch
''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fe ...
: tactical technique in which one unit is positioned in a vantage position to provide perimeter surveillance and immediate fire support for another friendly unit.
* Patrolling
* Parthian shot
* Phalanx
* Pickets (or ''picquet''s): sentries or advance troops specifically tasked with early warning of contact with the enemy. A soldier who has this job is on "picket duty", and may also be referred to as a "lookout." (see also Vedette, a mounted sentry or outpost)
* Pincer maneuver
* Pitched battle
* Pocket: see "salient".
*
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.
The phrase originates from a quote from ...
: a victory paid for so dearly that it potentially could lead to a later defeat ("a battle won, a war lost").
* Raid
* Rank: a single line of soldiers.
*
Reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...
* Retreat: withdrawal of troops from a battlefield (can be either orderly or unorderly; fighting or by rout).
*
Rout
A rout is a panicked, disorderly and undisciplined retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale (''esprit de corps'').
History
Historically, lightly-e ...
: disorderly withdrawal of troops from a battlefield following a defeat, either real or perceived.
* Sack: the destruction and looting of a city, usually after an assault.
* Safe-guard: individual soldiers or detachments placed to prevent resources (often farms full of crops and livestock) from being looted or plundered
* Salients: a pocket or "bulge" in a fortified or battle line. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a "re-entrant".
*
Scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...
: the deliberate destruction of resources in order to deny their use to the enemy.
*
Scuttlebutt
Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water (or, later, a water fountain).Scuttling: the deliberate destruction of a ship to prevent its capture and use by an enemy. Commonly used as a '' coup de grâce'', but has also been a protest (as after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
).
* Shield wall: the massed use of interconnected shields to form a wall in battle.
*
Shield wall (fortification)
A shield wall, also shield-wall or , refers to the highest and strongest curtain wall, or tower of a castle that defends the only practicable line of approach to a castle built on a mountain, hill or headland. German sources may refer to a sh ...
: the highest and thickest wall of a castle protecting the main assault approach.
*
Shoot and scoot
Shoot-and-scoot (alternatively, fire-and-displace or fire-and-move) is an artillery tactic of firing at a target and then immediately moving away from the location from where the shots were fired to avoid counter-battery fire (e.g. from enemy ar ...
: a type of fire-and-movement tactic used by artillery to avoid counter-battery fire.
*
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...
: a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition, often accompanied by an assault in the later phase.
**Siege ''en régle'': A siege where a city or fortress is invested but no bombardment or assault takes place. Instead, the besieger attempts to persuade the defenders to surrender through negotiation, inducement, or through privations such as starvation. This may be done because the fortress is too strong for the attackers to capture through bombardment and assault, or because if the fortification when captured is undamaged it immediately becomes a functional strong point for the former besiegers.
** Circumvallation: a line of fortifications built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards it.
** Contravallation: a second line of fortifications behind the circumvallation facing away from the enemy fort to protect the besiegers from attacks by allies of the besieged.
** Escalade: the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders, a prominent feature of siege warfare in medieval times.
** '' Chevaux de frise'': sword blades chained together to incapacitate people trying to charge into a breach in the walls.
**
Investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
: surrounding an enemy fort (or town) with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.
** Military mining, undermining of defence positions either fortifications or enemy front line trenches (see also
camouflet
A camouflet, in military science, is an artificial cavern created by an explosion. If the explosion reaches the surface then it is called a crater.
The term was originally defined as a countermine dug by defenders to prevent the undermining of a ...
).
**
Parallel
Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Computing
* Parallel algorithm
* Parallel computing
* Parallel metaheuristic
* Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel
* Parallel Sysplex, a cluster o ...
trenches
** Sapping: digging approach trench towards enemy fortifications within range of the besieged guns.
** Siege engines: specialised weapons used to overcome fortifications of a besieged fort or town; in modern times, the task has fallen to large artillery pieces.
**
Siege train
A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while other ...
: specialised siege artillery moved in a column by road or by rail.
** Siege tower: a wooden tower on wheels constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification.
* Sortie (also "to sally (forth)"): a sudden attack against a besieging enemy from within a besieged fort or town.
* Surrender at discretion: unconditional surrender instead of surrendering with terms.
* Skirmish
* Switch position: A defensive position oblique to, and connecting, successive defensive positions paralleling the front.
* thunder run: quick surprise penetration attack deep into enemy territory, designed to confuse and potentially break enemy lines and take a city.
* Vedette, a mounted sentry or outpost, who has the function of bringing information, giving signals or warnings of danger, etc.
*
Withdrawal (military)
A tactical withdrawal or retreating defensive action is a type of military operation, generally meaning that retreating forces draw back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to ...
: retreat (i.e., pulling back) of troops from a battlefield (can be either orderly or unorderly; fighting or by rout)
Ordnance
These terms concern identification of means of combat to inflict damage on the opponent.
Edged
Weapons that inflict damage through cutting or stabbing.
*
Bayonet
A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
Halberd
A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...
*
Hands
A hand is a prehensile, multi- fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on eac ...
*
Knife
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evid ...
or
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use def ...
Pole weapon
A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantl ...
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a very long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages and most of the Early Modern Period, and were wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bay ...
Sabre
A sabre (French: sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as t ...
*
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
*
Sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
Projectile munitions
Munitions are weapons and ordnance that inflict damage through impact.
=Individual
=
*
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles ( arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was com ...
*
Crossbow
A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar ...
*
Sling (weapon)
A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone, clay, or lead " sling-bullet". It is also known as the shepherd's sling or slingshot (in British English). Someone who specializes in using slings ...
and
slingshot
A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the pro ...
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...
Pistol
A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, a ...
*
Revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that has at least one gun barrel, barrel and uses a revolving cylinder (firearms), cylinder containing multiple chamber (firearms), chambers (each holding a single ...
*
Rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
*
Shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- pr ...
*
Submachine gun
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
Catapult
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stor ...
Cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
**
Autocannon
An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bul ...
**
Basilisk
In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk ( or ) is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes death to those who look into its eyes. According to the '' Naturalis Historia'' of Pliny the Elder, the basilisk of Cyre ...
Carronade
A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main funct ...
Demi-culverin
The demi-culverin was a medium cannon similar to but slightly larger than a saker and smaller than a regular culverin developed in the late 16th century. Barrels of demi-culverins were typically about long, had a calibre of and could weigh up to ...
Field gun
A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artill ...
Explosive ordnance causes damage through release of chemical energy.
*
Artillery shell
A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage so ...
Camouflet
A camouflet, in military science, is an artificial cavern created by an explosion. If the explosion reaches the surface then it is called a crater.
The term was originally defined as a countermine dug by defenders to prevent the undermining of a ...
*
Grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...
**
Hand grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ...
Land mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
**
Anti-tank mine
An anti-tank mine (abbreviated to "AT mine") is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive c ...
Incendiary ordnance causes damage through release of heat.
* Flamethrower
*
Greek fire
Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman Empire beginning . Used to set fire to enemy ships, it consisted of a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon. Some historians believe it could be ignited on contact w ...
*
Napalm
Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated alu ...
Chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&n ...
Tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...
:''See also List of fortifications''
* Abatis: a defensive obstacle consisting of an obstacle formed (in the modern era) of the branches of trees laid in a row.
*
Banquette
A banquette is a small footpath or elevated step along the inside of a rampart or parapet of a fortification. Musketeers atop it were able to view the counterscarp, or fire on enemies in the moat. A typical size is a foot and a half (approxima ...
Bartizan
A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from th ...
: a cylindrical turret or sentry post projecting beyond the parapet of a fort or castle
* Bastion
* Bastion fortress: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as ''star fort'' or ''Trace italienne'').
*
Battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
: an artillery position, which may be fortified.
* Berm
* Blast wall: a barrier for protection from
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...
blast.
*
Blockhouse
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
: a) Medieval and Renaissance - a small artillery tower, b) 18th and 19th centuries - a small colonial wooden fort, c) 20th century - a large concrete defensive structure.
* Breastwork
*
Bulwark
Bulwark primarily refers to:
* Bulwark (nautical), a nautical term for the extension of a ship's side above the level of a weather deck
* Bastion, a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification
The Bulwark primarily refer ...
* Bunker: a heavily fortified, mainly underground, facility used as a defensive position; also commonly used as command centres for high-level officers.
*
Caponier
A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...
: a defensive firing position either projecting into, or traversing the ditch of a fort.
* Carnot wall: a wall pierced with loopholes, sited above the scarp of a ditch but below the rampart.
*
Casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" me ...
: a vaulted chamber for protected storage, accommodation or if provided with an embrasure, for artillery
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Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
Barbican
A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.
Europe
In the Middle A ...
Concentric castle
A concentric castle is a castle with two or more concentric curtain walls, such that the outer wall is lower than the inner and can be defended from it. The layout was square (at Belvoir and Beaumaris) where the terrain permitted, or an irreg ...
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Drawbridge
A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of movea ...
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Gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...
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Keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
Citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
* Counterscarp: the opposing side of a ditch in front of a fortification, i.e., the side facing it.
* Counterscarp gallery: a firing position built into the counterscarp wall of the ditch.
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Counter mine
Tunnel warfare involves war being conducted in tunnel and other underground cavities. It often includes the construction of underground facilities (mining or undermining) in order to attack or defend, and the use of existing natural caves and ...
: anti-siege tunnel dug by a fortification's defenders below an attacker's mine with the intent of destroying it before the attackers are able to damage (the foundations of) the fortification's walls.
* Coupure
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Covertway
In military architecture, a covertway or covered way (french: chemin couvert it, strada coperta) is a path on top of the counterscarp of a fortification. It is protected by an embankment which is made up by the crest of the glacis. It is able to ...
rifle pit
A defensive fighting position (DFP) is a type of Earthworks (engineering)#Military use, earthwork constructed in a military context, generally large enough to accommodate anything from one soldier to a fire team (or similar sized unit).
Termin ...
, sangar or fox hole.
* Demi-lune
* Ditch: a dry moat.
* Dragon's teeth: Triangular obstacles acting as roadblocks for armoured vehicles.
* Dutch Water Line: a series of water-based defensive measures designed to flood large areas in case of attack.
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Earthworks
Earthworks may refer to:
Construction
*Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour
*Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil
*Earthworks (military), mi ...
* Embrasure: an opening in a parapet or casemate, for a gun to fire through.
* Fascine is a bundle of sticks or similar, were used in military defences for revetting (shoring up) trenches or ramparts, especially around artillery batteries, or filling in ditches and trenches during an attack.
* Flèche: an arrow shaped outwork, smaller than a ravelin or a
lunette
A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc taken ...
gorge
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...
Fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...
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Fortress
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
* Gabion: a large basket filled with earth, used to form a temporary parapet for artillery
* Glacis: a bank of earth sloping away from the fort, to protect it from direct artillery fire
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Gorge
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...
: opening at the rear of an outwork for access by defending troops from the main defensive position
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Hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
Lunette
A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc taken ...
: an outwork consisting of a salient angle with two flanks and an open gorge.
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Magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
: a protected place within a fort, where ammunition is stored and prepared for use.
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Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...
: a siege method used since antiquity against a walled city, fortress or castle, where tunnels are dug to undermine the foundations of the walls; also see counter-mine.
* Outwork: a minor defence, built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached.
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Parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
: a wall at the edge of the rampart to protect the defenders.
* Pillbox: a small concrete guard post.
* Polygonal fort: a later type of fort without bastions.
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Rampart
Rampart may refer to:
* Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement
Rampart may also refer to:
* "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from " The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...
: The main defensive wall of a fortification.
* Ravelin: a triangular fortification in front of bastion as a detached outwork.
* Redan: a V-shaped salient angle toward an expected attack, made from earthworks or other material.
* Redoubt: a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, which can be constructed of earthworks, stone or brick.
* Reduit: an enclosed defensive emplacement inside a larger fort; provides protection during a persistent attack.
* Sangar: a small temporary fortified position with a breastwork originally of stone, but built of sandbags and similar materials in modern times.
* Sally port
* Sapping
*
Scarp
Scarp may refer to:
Landforms and geology
* Cliff, a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure
* Escarpment, a steep slope or long rock that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevatio ...
: the side of a ditch in front of a fortification facing away from it.
* Sconce: a small protective fortification, such as an earthwork, often placed on a mound as a defensive work for artillery.
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Sea fort
300px, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, an example of an Early Modern coastal defense
Coastal defence (or defense) and coastal fortification are measures taken to provide protection against military attack at or ...
: a coastal fort entirely surrounded by the sea, either built on a rock or directly onto the sea bed.
* Slighting: the deliberate destruction of an (abandoned) fortification without opposition from its (former) occupants and/or defenders.
* Sortie
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Star fort
A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, literally meaning ''Italian outline'') is a fortification in a style that evolved during the early modern period of gunpowder when the cannon came to domin ...
: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as ''Bastion fortress'' or ''Trace italienne'').
* Tenaille (archaic Tenalia): an advanced pincer-shaped defensive work in front of the main defences of a fortress.
* Terreplein: the fighting platform on top of a rampart, behind the parapet.
* '' Tête-de-pont'': a temporary defensive work defending a bridge at the end closest to the enemy.
* '' Trace italienne'': a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as ''Bastion fortress'' or ''star fort'').
* Trench
Geographic
* Defile: a geographic term for a narrow pass or gorge between mountains. It has its origins as a military description of a pass through which troops can march only in a narrow column or with a narrow front.
* Debouch:
**To emerge from a defile or similar into open country;
**A fortification at the end of a defile;
**Water that flows out of a defile into a wider place such as a lake.
Naval
Arms and services
These terms concern combat arms and supporting services of armed forces used in naval warfare.
Doctrinal
These terms concern the type of use of naval armed forces.
* Blockade
* '' Coup de grâce'': a final shot intended to finish off a sinking (enemy) ship (which should be distinguished from scuttling).
* Crossing the Tee
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Vanguard
The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
History
The vanguard derives f ...
line of battle
The line of battle is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for dates ranging from 1502 to 1652. Line-of-battle tacti ...
Weather gage
The weather gage (sometimes spelled weather gauge) is the advantageous position of a fighting sailing vessel relative to another. It is also known as "nautical gauge" as it is related to the sea shore. The concept is from the Age of Sail and is no ...
Operational
* Adrift: Loose and out of control. Typically applied to a ship or vessel that has lost power and is unable to control its movement.
* Aft: Any part of the ship closer to the stern than you currently are.
* All Hands: The entire ship's crew to include all officers and enlisted.
* Aye, Aye: Response acknowledging and understanding a command.
* Bow: Front of the ship.
* Below: Any deck beneath the one you are currently on.
* Carry on: An order given to continue work or duties.
* Cast off: To throw off, to let go, to unfurl.
*
Colours
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...
: Raising and lowering of the National Ensign, the National flag, and organization flags.
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Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. ...
: Unit of measurement generally used for depth from sea level to sea floor.
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General Quarters
General quarters, battle stations, or action stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal that all hands (everyone available) aboard a ship must go to battle stations (the positions they are to assume when the vessel is ...
: Battle stations. Generally set when the ship is about to engage in battle or hostile activities.
* Jettison: To throw or dispose of something over the side of the ship.
* Ladder: Also known as a ladder well. Much like civilian stairs, however much steeper.
* Leave: Vacation time nearly completely free unless an emergency recall occurs.
* Shore leave or Liberty (US): Permission to leave the ship/base to enjoy non-work activities.
* Mid-watch: Tends to be the midnight to 0400 watch. Also known as "balls to four" due to military time equivalent 0000-0400.
* Port Side: Left hand side of the ship.
* Quarters: Generally the morning assembly of all hands for muster and accountability.
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Starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which ar ...
: Right hand side of the ship.
* Stern: Rear of the ship.
* Taps: Lights out, time to sleep.
* Turn to: Start working.
* Working Aloft: Working above the highest deck, generally performing maintenance on the ship's mast or antennas.
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
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Turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* M ...
Escort carrier
The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...
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Fleet carrier
A fleet carrier is an aircraft carrier designed to operate with the main fleet of a nation's navy. The term was developed during World War II, to distinguish it from the escort carrier and other less capable types. In addition to many medium-si ...
Fighter catapult ship
Fighter catapult ships also known as Catapult Armed Ships were an attempt by the Royal Navy to provide air cover at sea. Five ships were acquired and commissioned as Naval vessels early in the Second World War, and these were used to accompany con ...
Merchant aircraft carrier
A merchant aircraft carrier (also known as a MAC ship, the Admiralty's official 'short name') was a limited-purpose aircraft carrier operated under British and Dutch civilian registry during World War II. MAC ships were adapted by adding a flig ...
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
Frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...
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Corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
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Hovercraft
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, ...
Submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
Midget submarine
A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...
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Cruiser submarine
A cruiser submarine was a very large submarine designed to remain at sea for extended periods in areas distant from base facilities. Their role was analogous to surface cruisers, cruising distant waters, commerce raiding, and scouting for the batt ...
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Hunter-killer submarine
An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "mul ...
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Ballistic missile submarine
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN ...
Submarine chaser
A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War I ...
Amphibious command ship
An amphibious command ship (LCC) of the United States Navy is a large, special-purpose ship, originally designed to command large amphibious invasions. However, as amphibious invasions have become unlikely, they are now used as general comma ...
Amphibious transport dock
An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operat ...
Barracks ship
A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...
Research vessel
A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicate ...
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Survey ship
A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the pur ...
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Dry dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
Guard ship
A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea.
Royal Navy
In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usua ...
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Cable layer
A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, military, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding c ...
Vehicle cargo ship
Vehicle cargo ship is a model of United States Navy ship used for the prepositioning of Army vehicles. An example of this is the USNS ''Bob Hope'' (T-AKR-300), the lead ship of her class.
Auxiliary ships of the United States Navy
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Dry cargo ship
A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...
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Replenishment oiler
A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers.
Th ...
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Oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined ...
Container ship
A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...
Fleet ocean tug
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
High-speed transport
High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, t ...
Medium endurance cutter
The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter mainly consisting of the Famous- and ''Reliance''-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). These cut ...
Fast response cutter
The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as Fast Response Cutter due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At it is similar to, but larger than the lengthened 1980s-era s that it replaces. Up to 58 ves ...
Inland construction tender
Inland may refer to:
Places Sweden
* Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden
* Inland Northern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden
* Inland Southern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden
* Inland Torpe Hundred, a hundred ...
Coastal buoy tender
The United States Coast Guard commissioned a new Keeper class of coastal buoy tenders in the 1990s that are 175 feet (53 m) in length and named after lighthouse keepers.
Keeper-class cutters serve the Coast Guard in a variety of missions and a ...
Monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West ...
Technical research ship
Technical research ships were used by the United States Navy during the 1960s to gather intelligence by monitoring, recording and analyzing wireless electronic communications of nations in various parts of the world. At the time these ships were a ...
Fast sea frame
''Sea Fighter'' (FSF-1) is an experimental littoral combat ship in service with the United States Navy. Its hull is of a small-waterplane-area twin-hull (SWATH) design, provides exceptional stability, even on rough seas. The ship can operate ...
Aviation logistics support ship
SS ''Wright'' (T-AVB-3) is one of two Aviation Logistics Support (Roll-on/Roll-off) Container Ships converted for the United States Navy in 1986, along with sister ship SS Curtiss (T-AVB-4). The ship honors aviation pioneers the Wright brother ...
Naval trawler
Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built ...
Engineering
Air
Arms and services
These terms concern combat arms and supporting services of armed forces used in air warfare.
air force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
s to indicate an aircraft mission count (''flew seven sorties'') or in the sense of a departure (''the aircraft sortied'').
Doctrinal
These terms concern the type of use of aviation armed forces.
Tactics
* Bombing: specifically area bombing, carpet bombing and pattern bombing.
* Sortie: a mission flown by an aircraft
Missile
In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...
Aircraft
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Airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
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Bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
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Dirigible
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
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balloon
A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or lig ...
Glossary of military abbreviations
List of abbreviations, acronyms and initials related to military subjects such as modern armour, artillery, infantry, and weapons, along with their definitions.
A
* AA – anti-aircraft
* AA – AEGIS Ashore
* AAA – anti-aircraft artillery "Tr ...
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
,
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...