To fully understand how modern armed forces classify and refer to artillery, one must examine its historical roots, its contemporary taxonomic subdivisions, and the specialized operational terminology used by the personnel—frequently nicknamed "Redlegs" or gunners—who manage the battlefield's most devastating indirect fire systems.
Part I: Defining the core terminology and linguistic origins
Etymologically, the word artillery traces its lineage back to the Old French term artillerie, which broadly referred to any set of military equipment, armor, or engineered weaponry. During medieval and early modern periods, this included everything from crossbows and siege engines like trebuchets and ballistas to the earliest iterations of gunpowder cannons. As military technology evolved through the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, the definition narrowed significantly. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the term shed its association with hand-weapons and armor, becoming exclusively tied to crew-served projectile weapons too heavy for individual infantry transport.
In official military parlance across English-speaking armed forces, there is no single, universal generic word that encompasses every variation of a gun, howitzer, and mortar. Instead, different militaries adopt specific umbrella terms:
Ordnance: A broad military term encompassing weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and associated maintenance equipment. While artillery falls squarely under the umbrella of ordnance, ordnance itself also includes small arms, grenades, and guided missiles.
Artillery Piece: Widely utilized in United States military documentation, this term serves as the formal singular descriptor for an individual weapon system, whether towed or self-propelled, distinguishing it from the broader organizational unit.
Heavy Weapons: A tactical grouping that historically included heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, and mortars, though modern doctrine typically separates light infantry support weapons from true artillery pieces.
When modern militaries speak of artillery in an organizational sense, they refer to it as a combat arm (or branch of service). Just as infantry and armor constitute distinct branches, the artillery branch represents the structural command, training pipeline, and tactical doctrine dedicated to massed fire support.
Part II: Taxonomic breakdown of barrel and Rocket Artillery
To appreciate the linguistic and technical precision of military terminology, one must look at how modern armed forces categorize the hardware itself. Contemporary artillery is broadly split into two primary technological families: barrel artillery (comprising cannon artillery, howitzers, and mortars) and rocket artillery. Each subclass carries distinct operational definitions that dictate its battlefield role.
1. Field Guns (Cannons)
A field gun is characterized by a relatively long barrel, high muzzle velocity, and a flat, high-speed trajectory. Designed primarily for direct or long-range direct-support fire, field guns excel at punch-through capability, counter-battery operations (firing back at enemy artillery locations), and engaging visible armored or fortified targets. Because of their high velocity and flat trajectory, they experience intense barrel wear and require robust mechanical engineering to withstand extreme chamber pressures.
2. Howitzers
Bridging the gap between the flat trajectory of a gun and the high-arcing drop of a mortar, the howitzer is the workhorse of modern land armies. A howitzer features a shorter barrel relative to its caliber and utilizes variable propellant charges. This allows it to fire shells at high elevations, executing plunging fire that can clear intervening terrain features like mountains, ridgelines, or urban blocks to strike targets on the reverse slopes. Most modern towed and self-propelled artillery systems (such as the US M777 or the tracked M109 series) are technically howitzers due to their dual capability to perform both direct and indirect fire missions.
3. Mortars
While infantry units frequently employ mortars at the tactical level, military classification places them within the wider family of high-angle artillery. A mortar is a smoothbore or rifled muzzle-loading weapon characterized by a short barrel and a very high-arcing, low-velocity trajectory. Because they fire at steep angles, mortars are exceptional for dropping high-explosive shells directly into trenches, urban courvards, and entrenched enemy positions that are shielded from flat-trajectory field guns.
4. Rocket Artillery
Moving away from traditional barrel-and-powder mechanics, rocket artillery utilizes self-propelled, unguided or guided rockets launched from multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) systems. Systems like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) or tracked multiple-launch rocket systems represent the evolution of artillery into long-range, high-volume saturation weapons capable of blanketing large target areas or executing precision strikes tens of kilometers behind enemy lines.
Part III: The mechanics of Fire Support and tactical terminology
The terminology of artillery extends far beyond the physical hardware; it encompasses a complex language of coordination, ballistic mathematics, and tactical execution known collectively as fire support. In combat operations, artillery is rarely used in isolation. Instead, it operates through a synchronized network of forward observers, fire direction centers (FDCs), and gun lines.
When an infantry unit encounters resistance, they do not simply call for "shooting"; they initiate a formal fire mission. A fire mission is a specific order or request for artillery fire directed to a fire direction center. The language used during these transmissions follows strict protocols designed to eliminate ambiguity under extreme pressure:
Indirect Fire: The core operational method of modern field artillery, where weapons fire at targets that cannot be seen directly by the gun crew, relying instead on forward observers or radar to relay target coordinates and ballistic corrections.
Fire for Effect (FFE): A critical command indicating that adjustments have been completed and the artillery battery is now firing destructive rounds at the target to neutralize or destroy it, as opposed to preliminary sighting or registration shots.
Counter-Battery Fire: Artillery fire specifically targeted against the enemy's artillery assets to silence or destroy them, preventing them from returning fire.
Barrage and Creeping Barrage: Historical and tactical terms describing a pre-planned, massed wall of continuous artillery fire moving forward incrementally to shield advancing infantry.
The institutional culture of the artillery branch has also generated a mix of internal vernacular. For instance, artillery personnel in various English-speaking armies are traditionally referred to as gunners (whereas infantrymen operate rifles and armored crewmen operate tanks). In the United States Army, field artillerymen proudly embrace the moniker "Redlegs," a historical nod to the scarlet piping and trim that decorated 19th-century artillery uniforms. Heavy, concentrated bombardments are often informally termed "steel rain" by troops on the receiving end, while the systems themselves have historically earned monumental praise, famously dubbed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during World War II as the "gods of war" due to their unparalleled capacity to dictate the outcome of major ground engagements.
The evolution of Fire Support and modern Artillery doctrine
While casual observers and popular media frequently default to generic labels like "big guns" or "cannons," modern military doctrine relies on a precise lexicon to define artillery. To fully understand what military professionals call artillery, one must examine how these systems are categorized functionally, structurally, and tactically within modern armed forces.
Field Artillery versus Air Defense and Coastal Artillery
Within ground combat forces, artillery is formally divided into distinct branches based on its target set and operational environment. The overarching umbrella term used across many Western militaries is Combat Arms, but specific designations separate these capabilities:
Field Artillery (FA): This is the primary term for ground-based systems designed to engage targets on the land surface using indirect fire. Field artillery units utilize howitzers, mortars, and rocket launchers to suppress, neutralize, or destroy enemy forces, fortifications, and assets well beyond the visual line of sight.
Air Defense Artillery (ADA): Historically grouped under the broad heading of artillery, air defense systems are treated as an entirely separate branch in many contemporary doctrines. They specialize in countering airborne threats, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
Coastal Artillery: Though largely evolved into specialized anti-ship missile batteries or integrated coastal defense commands, this historical subset refers to heavy fixed or mobile guns positioned to protect shorelines and deny naval access to strategic waterways.
The terminology of delivery: Guns, howitzers, and mortars
When military logists and tactical commanders discuss the physical hardware of artillery, they rarely use a single catch-all term outside of the generic "artillery piece". Instead, the nomenclature specifies the exact mechanical characteristics of the weapon:
Guns: In strict military parlance, a "gun" is a specific type of artillery piece characterized by a long barrel, high muzzle velocity, and relatively flat trajectory. They are traditionally used for direct fire or high-velocity anti-armor and counter-battery roles.
Howitzers: Representing the backbone of modern field artillery, howitzers feature shorter barrels relative to their caliber and are designed primarily for high-angle, curved trajectories. This allows shells to clear intervening terrain, such as mountains or urban infrastructure, to plunge down onto targets.
Mortars: Generally categorized separately at lower tactical echelons (company and battalion), smoothbore or rifled mortars are muzzle-loaded, high-angle weapons prized for their portability and rapid response times in close combat support.
Rocket Artillery: Encompassing systems like the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), this category replaces traditional steel barrels with launch pods capable of delivering saturation rocket fire or precision-guided tactical missiles over extended ranges.
The machinery of command: Fires, FDCs, and FISTs
Artillery is much more than the physical launcher; it is an integrated system of coordination and data management. In operational staff work, artillery is universally referred to under the functional heading of "Fires" or "Fire Support".
Within a command staff, the principal officer overseeing these assets is often called the Fire Support Coordinator (FSCOORD). Tactical execution relies on a tightly integrated network:
The Forward Observer (FO): Operating embedded with front-line infantry or armor platoons, the FO acts as the "eyes" of the artillery, spotting enemy positions and transmitting calls for fire.
The Fire Direction Center (FDC): Acting as the "brain" of the battery or battalion, the FDC receives target data, computes ballistic solutions, and translates them into precise firing commands for the gun line.
The Fire Support Team (FIST): A dedicated cell attached to maneuver companies to plan, synchronize, and request all available supporting arms, including artillery, mortars, naval gunfire, and close air support.
Cultural monikers: The "King of Battle" and "Redlegs"
Beyond dry technical manuals and operational acronyms, military culture has preserved traditional nicknames for artillery personnel and the discipline itself. Across many Western armies, field artillery is proudly styled as the "King of Battle", proof of its historical capacity to inflict the highest volume of casualties and shape the decisive outcome of engagements.
Artillery soldiers are frequently nicknamed "Redlegs," a moniker derived from the historical scarlet piping and stripes that decorated 19th-century artillery uniforms. Whether referred to formally as field artillery, functionally as fires, or culturally as the king of battle, the terminology underscores a vital truth: modern warfare relies utterly on the mathematical precision, devastating power, and seamless integration of artillery to achieve dominance on the battlefield.