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Historically, artillery refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. The term also describes ground-based troops with the primary function of manning such weapons.

The word as used in the current context originated in the Middle Ages. It comes from the Old French atellier meaning "to arrange", and attillement meaning "equipment". From the 13th century an artillier referred to a builder of any war equipment, and for the next 250 years the sense of the word "artillery" covered all forms of military weapons.

"Artillery" is a general term covering several varieties of large- calibre weapons; currently these fire an explosive shell or rocket and are of such a size and weight as to require a specialized mount for firing and transport. Weapons covered by this term in the modern era include "tube" artillery such as the howitzer, cannon, mortar, and field gunA field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller cannons that could be carried into combat by a moving field army, and moved about the field of battle. This was as opposed to siege cannon or mortars which were too large to be mov and "rocket" artillery. Older engines like the catapultCatapults are siege engines using an arm to hurl a projectile a great distance. Any machine that hurls an object can be considered a catapult, but the term is generally understood to mean medieval siege weapons. Catapults were usually assembled at the sit, onagerThe onager was a post-classical Roman siege engine, which derived its name from the kicking action of the machine, similar to that of an onager (wild ass). The onager consisted of a frame placed on the ground to which a vertical frame of solid timber was, trebuchetFrance A trebuchet (also sometimes called a trebucket is a weapon, a medieval siege engine, employed either to batter masonry or to throw projectiles over walls. The name engine was derived from the Latin word ingenium meaning ingenious device. The word t and ballistaThe ballista ( Latin, from Greek ballistes from ballein "to throw") is a powerful weapon conceived as a giant crossbow, to eject heavy darts singly or in groups. It is also sometimes referred to as a bolt thrower''. Roman ballista fired large stones, rath are also artillery but generally fired a solid shot.

1 Types

The types of tube artillery are generally distinguished by their ballistic trajectory . Cannons (such as infantry support gunInfantry support guns are artillery designed for direct-fire against infantry targets. They are typically low velocity with short barrels, allowing them to be moved around more easily. Very few support guns are still in military use, their roles have beens or the guns on a naval ship) are typically low-angle weapons designed for a direct-fire role. Mortars are high-angle weapons originally used to drop shells behind the walls of a city. Howitzers are capable of both high- and low-angle fire. They are most often employed in an indirect-fire role.

Types of artillery:

• field artillery - mobile weapons used to support armies in the field. Subcategories include:
  • infantry support guns - directly support infantry units (mostly obsolete)
  • mountain guns - lightweight weapons that can be moved through difficult terrain
  • howitzers - capable of high angle fire.
  • gun howitzers - capable of high or low angle fire with a long barrel
  • mortars - lightweight weapons that fire projectiles at an angle of over 45 degrees to the horizontal
• self-propelled artillery - typically guns, mortarts or gun howitzers mounted on
• naval artillery - cannons mounted on warships and used either against other ships or in support of ground forces.
• coastal artillery - Fixed-position weapons dedicated to defense of a particular location, usually a coast (e.g. the Atlantic Wall in WW 2) or harbor. Not needing to be mobile, coastal artillery can be much larger than equivalent field artillery pieces, giving them longer range and more destructive power. Since World War II, however, modern weapons and tactics have made them largely obsolete.
• anti-aircraft artillery - weapons, usually mobile, dedicated to attacking aircraft from the ground.

All forms of artillery require a propellant to fire the projectile at the target. A number of different configurations have been developed, each with varying characteristics. They include:

• Tube fired - utilise the pressure of burnt propellant inside a barrel to force a projectile out of the mouth of the barrel.
  • Spin stabilised - Use helical grooves or ridges on the inside of the barrel to impart a rotation to the projectile as it is travelling in the barrel.
  • Fin stabilised - Use fins at the rear of the projectile in the airflow to maintain correct orientation.
  • Inverted tube - Some weapons have been built with the tube built into the projectile and fitted onto a rod fitted to the carriage.
• Recoilless - A tube fired weapon with a breech designed to perforate a bursting disk at firing, and permit a mass of burnt propellant gases with momentum equal to the projectile to exit from the rear of the barrel, to prevent recoil from affecting the weapon.
• Rocket propelled - Tube or rail launched - A reaction propulsion system mounted to the projectile provides continuous thrust for an initial period of the flight.
• Rocket assist - A combination of tube fired and rocket propelled - uses a rocket motor in the base of the projectile to extend the range by about 30%.
• Base bleed - Similar to a rocket assist projectile, uses a small pyrotechnic charge at the base of the projectile. The charge introduces sufficient combustion products into the low-pressure region behind the base of the projectile responsible for a large proportion of the drag to substantially (> 30%) increase range. Like a rocket assist projectile, trajectory is changed to non-ballistic, which may complicate counter-battery location.

The term "artillery" has traditionally not been used for projectiles with internal guidance systems, even though some artillery units employ surface-to-surface missiles. Recent advances in terminal guidance systems for small munitions has allowed large calibre shells to be fitted with precision guidance fuses, blurring this distinction.