Aircraft ordnance or ordnance (in the context of military aviation ) is any expendable weaponry (e.g. bombs , missiles , rockets and gun ammunition ) used by military aircraft . The term is often used when describing the payload of air-to-ground weaponry that can be carried by the aircraft or the weight that has been dropped in combat. Aircraft ordnance also includes air-to-air , anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons.
3-405: Air-to-ground weaponry is aircraft ordnance used by combat aircraft to attack ground targets. The weapons include bombs , machine guns , autocannons , air-to-surface missiles , rockets , air-launched cruise missiles and grenade launchers . This aircraft-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Aircraft ordnance Some aircraft types can carry
6-546: A wide variety of ordnance – for example, the Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker could use forward-firing gun pods , 500 and 250 pound bombs, napalm units, cluster bomb units, flares, rockets, smoke grenades and propaganda leaflet dispensers . Ordnance can be carried in a bomb bay or hung from a hardpoint . For many weapons there is a limit to the length of time they can be flown (e.g. because of vibration damage); after this their safety or effectiveness
9-538: Is not guaranteed. This can be a problem if weapons designed for high intensity conflict are carried on multiple missions in a long counter-insurgency campaign. Ordnance can be divided into guided and unguided categories based on their targeting capabilities. Guided ordnance , such as Precision-guided munitions (PGMs) , use advanced technologies like GPS , infared , radar or laser tracking to precisely hit designated targets. Unguided ordnance , commonly known as "dumb bombs," lack guidance systems and rely on
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