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Artillery weapon systems are sometimes referred to as the kings of the battlefield by many military commanders. Artillery power occupies the army section of the military that employs these weapons. Today, artillery weapon systems are employed by ground forces using tracked vehicles, air forces using warplanes, and naval forces using warships. There are four main artillery types: large guns, mortars, howitzers, and rocket launchers.
Artillery guns are cannons that fires projectiles from long tubes at high velocity in a low and flat trajectory. The projectiles carry charges that explode when they hit their targets. The barrel of an artillery gun may have spiraled grooves inside; the process of adding these grooves is called rifling. Rifling improves the distance and stability of projectiles in flight, making their trajectory more accurate. Some artillery guns use armor piercing ammunition. Artillery guns are often used on warships and armored combat tracked vehicles.
The first artillery guns fired non-exploding projectiles. Later artillery guns fired shrapnel ammunition, which released metal shards in the air. These early guns were loaded from the barrel’s front or muzzle. Today, many artillery guns are loaded from the side because this increases the loader’s ease and speed for firing the weapon.