Indirect fire

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Indirect fire is a military term for battlefield weapons fired without a direct line of sight on their target. This allows them to fire over obstacles, and also to engage targets at greater range than can direct fire weapons. The most common indirect fire weapons are mortars, howitzers, and multiple rocket launchers.

While some types of weapons, such as mortars and howitzers, are most commonly used in an indirect fire role, indirect fire is a technique as well as a type of weapon. Howitzers, for example, can be depressed to a horizontal position and fired "over open sights", typically in final defense of the howitzer position.

The most common mortar in current use has a caliber of 155mm, although there are some Soviet-designed medium howitzers of 122, 130, or 152mm. 105mm howitzers are still used, especially by light forces delivered by helicopter or parachute. They have rifled barrels, a recoil mechanism, and can have their vertical (elevation) and horizontal (azimuth) aim points changed without moving the entire weapon.

Howitzers are frequently self-propelled, on a tracked chassis similar to that of a tank. Again, when air or ampbibious transportation requirements make light weight a requirement, the piece may be towed. Some light howitzers are being mounted in wheeled vehicles lighter than a tracked chassis.