Air-to-ground weaponry

Air-to-ground weaponry includes all weapons used by aircraft to destroy or damage ground targets. This class of weapons has, since the first world war, taken a great importance on the conduct of war. It is the main weaponry of ground-attack aircrafts and bombers, and is also used in most modern fighters, UAVs, and others.

A wide variety of weapons exist for this purpose, depending on range, weight, type of technology and their targets.

Machine gun

Further information: Machine gun and Autocannon

Machine guns were one of the first weapons adapted on aircraft, as early as the first world war. They were used to hunt down other aircraft, but also shooting at infantry, vehicles and installations. This weapon is usually mounted on or in the nose, in or under the wings, or on the sides of the hull (in gunships). Those weapons evolved developing different aspects of those weapons : caliber, fire rate, number of machine gun mounted.

During World War II, American planes were mounted with a large number of .50 caliber machine guns, while European nations, particularly the Germans and later the British, developed bigger caliber weapons, creating the first autocannons. Gatling guns at that time were not used.

GAU-17 on a UH-1N Huey. 6 tubes, 3 000 rounds per minute.

Later, the USA developed new weapons for its vehicles, using the gatling design, as for the M61 Vulcan or the GAU-8 Avenger of the A-10 Thunderbolt. They are the main weapon system of American Gunships, as the AC 130.

Grenade launcher

Further information: grenade launcher

Some helicopters are equipped with automatic grenade launchers, like the M75 and the M129, firing 40x53mm grenades.

Bomb

Further information: Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive devices that typically rely on the exothermic chemical reaction of an explosive material to produce an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. The word comes from the Greek word βόμβος (bombos), an onomatopoetic term with approximately the same meaning as "boom" in English. A nuclear weapon employs chemical-based explosives to initiate a much larger nuclear-based explosion.

The term "bomb" is not usually applied to explosive devices used for civilian purposes such as construction or mining, although the people using the devices may sometimes refer to them as bombs. The military use of the term "bomb", or more specifically aerial bomb, typically refers to airdropped, unpowered explosive weapons most commonly used by air forces and naval aviation. Other military explosive weapons not classified as "bombs" include grenades, shells, depth charges (used in water), warheads when in missiles, or land mines. In unconventional warfare, "bomb" can refer to any of a limitless range of explosive devices used as or offensive weapons.

Missile

Further information: Air-to-surface missile

An air-to-surface missile (also, air-to-ground missile, AGM, ASM or ATGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft (bombers, attack aircraft, fighter aircraft or other kinds) and strike ground targets on land, at sea, or both. They are similar to guided glide bombs but to be considered a missile, they usually contain some form of propulsion system. The two most common propulsion systems for air-to-surface missiles are rocket motors and jet engines. These also tend to correspond to the range of the missiles—short and long, respectively. Some Soviet air-to-surface missiles are powered by ramjets, giving them both long range and high speed.