Air Burst

An air burst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target or a delayed armor piercing explosion. Aerial bursts may also arise from the explosion, above the ground, of incoming self-detonating meteoroids as some postulate happened in the Tunguska event.

The principal military advantage of an air burst over a ground burst is that the energy from the explosion (as well as any shell fragments) is distributed more evenly over a wider area; however, the peak energy is lower at ground zero.

Read more about Air Burst:  History, Tactics

Famous quotes containing the words air and/or burst:

    He who wishes to teach us a truth should not tell it to us, but simply suggest it with a brief gesture, a gesture which starts an ideal trajectory in the air along which we glide until we find ourselves at the feet of the new truth.
    José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)

    Chipmunks jump, and
    Greensnakes slither.
    Rather burst than
    Not be with her.
    Donald Hall (b. 1928)