Drafted — not technically validated
Record revision 1 · Fuzes, low-drag and retarded bombs, rockets, guided missiles, laser-guided weapons, and the chaff and flares that decoy a threat.
Definitions are quoted or closely paraphrased from the source named with each word. Meanings change between editions and theatres; the brief and the current publications take precedence.
The words of weapons
These are the words of air-delivered weapons: bombs and their fuzes and fins, rockets, guided missiles and the guided bombs that home on a laser spot, and the chaff and flares an aircraft uses to decoy a threat. The Navy’s aviation ordnanceman manual defines the hardware [1], and the Department of Defense dictionary gives the joint definitions that every service shares. [2] The words of delivering them, from the dive angle and mil setting to the pop-up, come from the Navy’s T-45 weapons and operational navigation training instructions. [3] [4]
The individual bombs and rockets, from the Mk 80 series to the Soviet FAB and S-series, have their own encyclopedia entries. Antiradiation missiles and the suppression of enemy air defenses are in the joint terms.
38 terms
- Armament datum line (ADL)
A fixed longitudinal reference line on the aircraft, used to set the sight. In the T-45 it is parallel to the flight path at the 450-knot release airspeed; at other speeds the angle between them, the angle of attack of the ADL, is not the angle of attack the AOA indicator reads.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 30, 67
- Arming time
The time, or the vane revolutions, a fuze needs after a bomb is released before its firing train is aligned and the bomb is fully armed. Also known as safe separation time (SST).
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 1-1
- Attack cone
For a given dive angle, the pattern of all the possible flight paths to a target, forming a cone above it. A practice pattern uses a fixed run-in line, but in combat the attacker intercepts the cone from the most advantageous direction.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 20
- Breakaway cross
A cross on the head-up display showing that an immediate 4 g pull-up is needed for a safe ground clearance of 1,000 ft; it is shown only in dives steeper than 15°.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 11, 67
- CCIP
Continuously computed impact point. A head-up display air-to-ground mode whose aiming reticle shows where the weapon would hit if released at that moment.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 11, 67
- Chaff
Radar confusion reflectors, consisting of thin, narrow metallic strips of various lengths and frequency responses, which are used to reflect echoes for confusion purposes.
Source: [2] JP 1-02, p. 29
- Decoy
An imitation in any sense of a person, object, or phenomenon which is intended to deceive enemy surveillance devices or mislead enemy evaluation.
Source: [2] JP 1-02, p. 61
- Decoy flare
A flare dispensed from a launcher on the aircraft and fired during evasion tactics when the aircraft is threatened by enemy heat-seeking missiles.
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 4-11
- Depressed sight line (DSL)
A head-up display air-to-ground mode with a non-computing aiming reticle, set below the line of flight by a chosen number of mils, for a manual weapons delivery. Also called an iron sight.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 67, 68
- Dive angle
The angle between the aircraft's flight path and the ground.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 30, 67
- Early sight picture
The pipper reaches the final aimpoint before the aircraft reaches release altitude. Released then, the bomb usually hits short.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 68
- FFAR
Folding-fin aircraft rocket. The Navy's 2.75-inch rocket, known as the Mighty Mouse; the 5.0-inch folding-fin rocket is the Zuni.
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 2-1
- Fuze
A device that causes the detonation of an explosive charge at the proper time after certain conditions are met. A bomb fuze is mechanical or electrical, and is classed by what sets it off (impact, mechanical time, proximity, hydrostatic or long delay) and by where it sits in the bomb (nose, tail or side).
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 1-1
- Guided missile
An unmanned vehicle moving above the surface of the Earth whose trajectory or flight path is capable of being altered by an external or internal mechanism.
A guided missile is built of guidance, control, armament (warhead and fuzing) and propulsion sections; the guidance section is the brain of the missile. [1]
- Homing
The technique whereby a mobile station directs itself, or is directed, towards a source of primary or reflected energy, or to a specified point.
For a pilot flying to a radio station, see homing in the navigation terms.
Source: [2] JP 1-02, p. 104
- Late sight picture
The aircraft reaches release altitude before the pipper reaches the final aimpoint. Pressing on to put the pipper on usually gives a long hit, and it eats into the safety margin.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 41, 68
- Laydown
An attack in which weapons are dropped from an aircraft in level flight, the release point usually set by the weapons system. The weapons use high-drag devices so the attacker can avoid their fragmentation pattern.
Source: [4] CNATRA P-1208, p. 5
- LDGP
Low-drag, general-purpose bomb. The bomb used in most bombing operations, with an aerodynamically shaped, relatively light case of which about 45 percent of the weight is explosive. It may take nose and tail fuzes and a conical or a Snakeye fin; the Mk 80 series are LDGP bombs.
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 1-17
- LGW
Laser-guided weapon. A weapon that uses a seeker to detect laser energy reflected from a laser marked/designated target and through signal processing provides guidance commands to a control system, which guides the weapon to the point from which the laser energy is being reflected.
- Loft
An attack in which the weapon is released by computer with the aircraft nose-up, so it is thrown at the target in a ballistic trajectory; it lets the attacker stay farther from the detonation and the target's defenses. Also called toss bombing.
Source: [4] CNATRA P-1208, p. 6
- Mil
An angle of 1/6,400 of a circle, about 0.056°, so there are roughly 17 mils in a degree. A mil subtends about 1 ft at 1,000 ft, measured at right angles to the line of sight. Sight settings are given in mils.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 29, 69
- Minimum release altitude
The lowest altitude at which a weapon may be released, also called Z-min or R-min. In the fleet it depends on the weapon's fragmentation pattern, the time of fall its fuze needs to arm, enemy weapons envelopes and other factors; in training it gives a terrain-clearance safety margin.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 30
- Offset aimpoint
An aimpoint moved from the centre of the target, directly into the wind, to allow for the wind at release altitude. Its distance in feet is 1.7 × time of fall in seconds × wind in knots.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 3, 69
- Pendulum effect
Because the sight line is depressed below the line of flight, with a wing down the pipper moves opposite to the bank, swinging like a pendulum below the aircraft. A bomb released in a bank with the pipper on the target misses.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 32, 69
- PGM
Precision-guided munition. A guided weapon intended to destroy a point target and minimize collateral damage. Also called a smart weapon or smart munition.
Source: [2] JP 1-02, p. 187
- Pickle
The weapons release button, or, as a verb, to release a weapon, usually a bomb.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 69
- Pipper
The sighting dot in the centre of the aiming reticle.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 69
- Pop-up
An attack in which the attacker runs in at low level and pulls up hard at a preplanned point to make a dive delivery. In a roll-ahead pop-up the heading stays the same; in an angle-off pop-up a 30–60° heading change with the climb puts the attacker at a roll-in position like a practice pattern's, displaced vertically and laterally.
Source: [4] CNATRA P-1208, p. 6
- Proximity fuze (VT)
A fuze that detonates before impact when any substantial object is detected at a predetermined distance from it.
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 1-1
- Retarded delivery
A bomb delivery in which a retarding fin, such as the Snakeye, opens to give a high-drag configuration, used in low-level bombing. Unretarded, the same bomb falls free in a low-drag configuration; with the in-flight selected mode the pilot chooses either.
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, pp. 1-24, 1-33
- Rocket
A weapon propelled by the sustained reaction of a discharging jet of gas against the container of gas. Rockets answered the need for a large weapon that could be fired from an aircraft without recoil.
Source: [1] NAVEDTRA 14313, p. 2-1
- Roll-in
The maneuver from level flight into a dive at a sharp angle to the original flight path.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 70
- Run-in line
The aircraft's ground track, or planned ground track, in a dive; on a practice range, an established run-in track.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, p. 70
- Sight depression angle
How far the line of sight through the pipper is set below the armament datum line, in mils; also called the sight angle or mil setting. It equals the bomb's trajectory drop plus the angle of attack of the ADL, plus a few mils of parallax.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 30, 31, 70
- Slant range
The straight-line distance from the aircraft to the target, or from the release point to the impact point.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 30, 70
- Target fixation
Looking only at the target and ignoring the flight instruments and the ground. Pilots have flown into the ground this way.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 50, 70
- Time of fall
The time a weapon spends in the air from release to impact, during which gravity bends its path below the aircraft's line of flight. Also called time of flight.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 30, 70
- Trajectory drop
The angle between the aircraft's line of flight at release and the line to the weapon's impact. The longer the time of fall, the larger it is.
Source: [3] CNATRA P-1219, pp. 30, 31
Sources
- NAVEDTRA 14313, Aviation Ordnanceman. US Navy, Naval Education and Training Professional Development and Technology Center (copy hosted by Integrated Publishing). https://navyaviation.tpub.com/14313/ (accessed 2026-10-26). Chapter 1 (fuze terms p. 1-1; general-purpose bombs p. 1-17; retarding fins pp. 1-24 and 1-33), chapter 2 (rocket terms p. 2-1), chapter 3 (missile sections p. 3-4) and chapter 4 (decoy flares p. 4-11), by printed page.
- JP 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 8 November 2010, as amended through 15 January 2016. https://schoolresources.militaryfamilies.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/department_of_defense_dictionary_of_military_and_associated_terms.pdf (accessed 2026-10-26). Copy hosted by Penn State's Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness. Terms by printed page.
- CNATRA P-1219, Flight Training Instruction, Weapons, T-45. US Navy, Chief of Naval Air Training (copy hosted by Integrated Publishing), (4-03) Original. https://navyflightmanuals.tpub.com/P-1219/ (accessed 2026-10-27). By printed page: preparation pp. 3-4, HUD and CCIP p. 11, patterns pp. 20-25, delivery principles pp. 29-34, tracking and errors pp. 35-44, pop-up pattern pp. 45-46, safety pp. 49-50, glossary pp. 67-71.
- CNATRA P-1208, Flight Training Instruction, Operational Navigation, T-45. US Navy, Chief of Naval Air Training (copy hosted by Integrated Publishing), (4-03) Original. https://navyflightmanuals.tpub.com/P-1208/ (accessed 2026-10-27). Types of attack pp. 5-6, by printed page.