Low/High-Tech Military Air Guns

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Exactly what distinction are you making between direct and indirect fire?

Direct fire is aimed at a target by the firing element. Indirect fire is aimed at an area by the FO (or at a pre-designated area or whatever). When I was a mortarman we could use the weapons in "Direct Lay" against visible targets. The gunsight is then aimed directly at the target rather than an aiming stake, and there is no FO/FDC needed. This doesn't make the weapon any less of a high-angle-of-fire weapon. It's totally analogous to arcing fire from archers or how siege weapons were generally used.

Battlefield archery targets an area rather than an individual, and if you had high tech comms you could perfectly well use it with a spotter and archers who were unable to see their target. Kinetic artillery is relatively inefficient because the minimum effective size for a gravity-powered dart is much higher than the minimum effective size for an explosive-powered chunk of shrapnel, but it's still artillery.

I never said it was useless. I said it was less useful. In my old job, within 25m was considered on target; with purely kinetic munitions that's not going to work.