Target (military)

In military parlance, there are various target definitions that are used with regard to the type of target and the consequent type of combat.

With reference to the location

Land destination

The term land target only exists in the Navy . It refers exclusively to facilities located on the mainland such as factories or bunkers as well as enemy units (tanks, trucks, parked aircraft, etc.) that are shot at from the sea.

Sea target

Sea targets are all enemy units or facilities at sea, for example warships , oil rigs and so on, regardless of which troop unit they are fighting.

Aerial target

Air targets include all types of aircraft ( combat aircraft , helicopters and so on) - again regardless of the type of attacking weapon .

Air targets also include small flying targets such as missiles (rockets) or artillery projectiles, although they are not an air target in the classic sense. They are now also known as RAM targets designated as an abbreviation for the terms R aketen , A rtilleriegranaten and M örsermunition .

Ground target

Only the Luftwaffe speaks of ground targets , which refers to any kind of non-flying targets. They include both land and sea destinations.

With reference to protection

M41 Walker Bulldog as hard target, Rommel barracks Dornstadt

Hard target

The military calls hard targets shooting targets made of steel, concrete or other hard materials. In the narrower sense, the term is often used exclusively for armored military targets such as tanks, bunkers, combat helicopters and the like. related.

Soft target

In contrast, soft targets are non-armored fire targets such as trucks, transport aircraft, target targets, but also enemy soldiers. When soldiers are called soft targets, it is militarily correct, given the to the shelling of such "soft targets" associated injury or killing of people but this is a euphemism perceived. This perception often goes so far that the term is misunderstood as an exclusive term for living goals. In the fight against terrorism, targets that are unprotected or that cannot be protected under normal circumstances are often cited as “soft targets”. These are mostly places of public life with many people or extensive important infrastructure. Badly protected important information technology systems are also considered soft targets.

Mixed forms

In addition to the target species mentioned above, there are also mixed forms of target species in linguistic usage: For example, lightly armored units are also referred to as semi-hard.

With regard to the distribution

Single target

Single target, also point target, is a single military target z. B. soldier or tank, which is targeted and directly fought.

Area target

Area target, also mass target, is a collection of irregularly distributed individual targets in a certain area, whereby the individual targets can also occur in groups. See also: cluster munitions , area bombing .

See also

• Triangle aiming
• Penetrating power
• Projectile effect
• Man stopping effect
• Military medicine
• Wound ballistics
• Target ballistics

Web links

• Detailed presentation of different hard goals

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German Society for Defense Technology : Wehrtechnik , Wehr und Wissen Verlagsgesellschaft, 1979, p. 125.