Fire support in the context of "Tank"

Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of all forces involved. CAS may be conducted using aerial bombs, glide bombs, missiles, rockets, autocannons, machine guns, and even directed-energy weapons such as lasers.

The requirement for detailed integration because of proximity, fires or movement is the determining factor. CAS may need to be conducted during shaping operations with special forces if the mission requires detailed integration with the fire and movement of those forces. A closely related subset of air interdiction, battlefield air interdiction, denotes interdiction against units with near-term effects on friendly units, but which does not require integration with friendly troop movements. CAS requires excellent coordination with ground forces, typically handled by specialists such as artillery observers, joint terminal attack controllers, and forward air controllers.

An artillery observer, artillery spotter, or forward observer (FO) is a soldier responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire support onto a target. An artillery observer usually accompanies a tank or infantry unit. Spotters ensure that indirect fire hits targets which those at a fire support base cannot see.

Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement.

Until the early 20th century, field artillery were also known as foot artillery, for while the guns were pulled by beasts of burden (often horses), the gun crews would usually march on foot, thus providing fire support mainly to the infantry. This was in contrast to horse artillery, whose emphasis on speed while supporting cavalry units necessitated lighter guns and crews riding on horseback.

A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition. Historically, mortars were heavy siege artillery. Mortars launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high arching ballistic trajectories.

A German heavy tank battalion (German: "schwere Panzerabteilung", short: "s PzAbt") was a battalion-sized World War II tank unit of the German Army during World War II, equipped with Tiger I, and later Tiger II, heavy tanks. Originally intended to fight on the offensive during breakthrough operations, the German late-war realities required it to be used in a defensive posture by providing heavy fire support and counter-attacking enemy armored breakthroughs, often organised into ad hoc Kampfgruppen (battlegroups).

The German heavy tank battalions destroyed a total of 8,100 enemy tanks for the loss of 1,482 of their own, an overall kill/loss ratio of 5.47 though individual unit ratios ranged from 1.28 to 13. The German losses also include non-combat tank write-offs.

Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of several disciplines encompassed by the term naval fires. Modern naval gunfire support is one of the three main components of amphibious warfare assault operations support, along with aircraft and ship-launched land-attack missiles. Shipborne guns have been used against shore defences since medieval naval warfare.

A United States Air Force Special Tactics Officer (AFSC 19ZXA) is a United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) special warfare officer who manages the training and equipping of U.S. Air Force ground special operations. Special Tactics Officers deploy as team leaders or mission commanders in combat, seizing and controlling airstrips, combat search and rescue, guiding airstrikes and fire support using air assets for special operations and tactical weather observations and forecasting. Special Tactics Officers are not pararescuemen, combat controllers, or special reconnaissance, but they lead the Special Tactics Squadrons and Groups and thoroughly understand how to conduct, manage, and provide these special operations missions to both conventional and joint special operations missions needed within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

Indirect fire is shooting a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, in contrast to the case of direct fire. Aiming of indirect fire is instead performed by predicting a parabolic ballistic trajectory via calculation of the azimuth and inclination, and may include calibrating the aim by observer feedback about the actual point of impact of the preceding shot and thus readjusting to new firing angles for subsequent shots.

Indirect fire is the principal method of long-range artillery fire support, both from land and naval platforms. Due to the projectile's longer flight time (which exposes it more to deflectional factors such as drag and crosswind), curved trajectory, and the far and often obstacled "beyond-visual-range" nature of the targets, indirect fires are inherently harder to aim accurately than direct fires, resulting in a more unpredictable external ballistics and thus a much more scattered shot grouping. This, coupled with the significant blast distance of the explosive ordnance and their shrapnels, translates to a much higher risk of collateral damages and friendly fires, especially when firing danger-close.