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Combat Aircraft

2023-06-20T10:37:15Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:80E5:8718:82F6:2A4A: /* Bombers */

{{Topquote|Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.|French General Ferdinand Foch just before World War I, demonstrating that men of vision aren't always right.}}

'''Combat Aircraft''' are dedicated military aircraft used in warfare. The vast majority includes fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft, though there are some that are neither (such as Zepplins), alternating (such as Tiltrotors) or both (Compound helicopters).

Much like with [[Tank]]s, as soon as people figured out powered flight, various nations attempted to weaponize them. Both got their big break during WWI, as mechanized warfare began to emerge. By WWII, aircraft designed for dedicated combat roles began to emerge, developing into the types used today.

==History==
During WWI, biplanes armed with machineguns were deployed to attack or defend observation balloons, which were used as spotters for ground artillery. Being made of wood and unable to fly fast or high up, these early aircraft were also vulnerable to ground weapons. They were also used to defend against Zeppelins, which were among the first strategic bombers, though before incendiary bullets were invented it wasn't easy to bring down a rigid [[airship]] simply by poking it full of holes. That said during and before world war one there was actually a fair bit of skepticism from generals that airplanes were going to be any good. See the top quote for example. Looking back some of these quotes are unintentionally hilarious given how powerful air power is nowadays, but looking forward with only the example of the canvas and wood planes of the time, it's not hard to see how they might think that.

By WWII, airplanes took a leading role in combat operations, both in major combat operations such as the [[wikipedia:Battle of Britain|Battle of Britain]], as well as providing combat support for intelligence and deep strike operations. More advanced defenses had to be developed for faster and higher-flying aircraft; thus radar was invented to track the position of aircraft long before they came into visual range.

During the Cold War, aircraft development continued to be refined; while most ground-support operations were now relegated to the newly developed helicopter, airplanes took on a strategic role in nuclear deterrence strategies - at least until ICBMs made them effectively moot. Nonetheless, they still had value in intelligence and rapid response roles. As missile technology improved, it was believed that dogfighting was no longer a viable strategy given that aircraft could be taken out beyond visual range, and thus for a period of time fighters lacked any guns, as seen on the [[wikipedia:F-4 Phantom|F-4 Phantom]]. They were brought back, however, as they realized that this was a problem if the aircraft in question needed to be identified first, and that getting within visual range was too close for missiles. This also lead to the development of holographic and computer-aided gunsights, as well as other advanced displays to the cockpit.

Military aircraft frequently spur many advanced new technologies that push the limit of what powered flight is capable of. Aircraft intended for use with aircraft carriers often have special requirements, such as a hook for catching the arresting wire and a minimum distance for takeoff. This lead to the development of VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) technology as early as the 1960s, as seen on the [[AV-8 Harrier]] and [[wikipedia:F-35 Lightning II|F-35 Lightning II]], where an aircraft can redirect its thrust downward to takeoff and land vertically, albeit this limits the aircraft's flight time quite a bit as it consumes a lot of fuel. Stealth aircraft, meanwhile, started taking off a decade later when it was discovered that certain airframe shapes could be used to reduce and aircraft's radar profile, thus making it harder to detect. The [[wikipedia:F-117 Nighthawk|F-117 Nighthawk]] attempted to accomplish this with the wonkiest airframe shape imaginable, but more recent aircraft are able to accomplish the same feats with a more conventional layout such as the [[wikipedia:F-22 Raptor|F-22 Raptor]], or the more radical "flying wing" design used by the [[wikipedia:B-2 Spirit|B-2 Spirit]].

==Weaponry==
*'''Handguns''': Though machine guns later became standard midway through World War 1, the first dogfight ever, during the Mexican Civil War in 1913, was undertaken by two mercenary pilots with handguns. No one was hurt, but the idea of plinking away at your target with a pistol while flying your plane with your other hand lasted through the early years of World War 1. Incredibly, there is also the story of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_J._Baggett Lt. Baggett] who, while parachuting after being shot down, took down a Ki-43 in the Pacific War with a 1911, probably in a strike of karma getting a lucky head shot on the pilot who was trying to strafe survivors.
*'''Bricks''': In the early months of World War 1, ammunition could be scarce and pilots were limited by the strict size limits of their planes to whatever they could fit in their hands. Hence the brick. Inaccurate and short-ranged, but more than heavy enough to put a hole in the wing of an early fighter.
*'''Flechette''': Basically a big metal dart dropped out of a plane. The dart gains speed as it drops until it hits the ground with enough force to pulp anything it hits.
*'''Machineguns''': The first effective weapons attached to aircraft were basic machineguns. Originally they were manned by a secondary gunner on a swivel mount that couldn’t shoot forward, due to the propeller being in the way. Later, the pilot became the gunner, and any aircraft that had a nose propeller had to be outfitted with a synchronization gear, which adjusted the machine gun’s rate of fire so that it couldn’t shoot out the plane’s own propellers (at least in theory, for such early systems were... temperamental). Machine gun pods were frequently used on larger aircraft for defense against enemy fighters, mainly on bombers. Machine guns were eventually phased out as even the heavy-duty ones like the M2/DSHK are simply too short-ranged for modern dogfighting. Now they are used as utility, cargo or light recon helicopter door guns.
*'''Cannons''': Experimented with briefly during the First World War to little effect, the cannon came into its own during World War 2. Twenty-millimeter autocannons became a popular replacement for machine guns, in response to a new generation of sturdier all-metal fighters. Larger aircraft in particular could survive many bullet impacts so long as nothing critical was struck, whereas explosive munitions could do a lot more damage. Bombers could be reliably eliminated with a few cannon shots. However, slow-firing cannons were less useful in a dogfight, so some aircraft would mount both cannons and guns. During the 1950s, and before the invention of air-to-air missiles, cannons proliferated - the idea was that aiming is less important if you're shooting out a whole lot of [[dakka]].
*'''Rotary Cannons''': Because the new jet fighters flew too fast to be reliably hit with machine guns, the solution was to use equally fast rotary guns such as the venerable M61 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon. These have become the standard secondary armament on fighters, as missiles do most of the work now.
*'''Missiles''': A wide variety of missiles are used for a multiplicity of roles, such as fast and light heat-seeking missiles for bringing down aircraft, or slower and heavier but more powerful anti-tank missiles for ground warfare. These saw their first baby steps at the very end of World War 2, but didn't come into their own until the development of effective computer technology in the 1960s. Missiles are the primary air to air warfare tool in the Post-Cold War Paradigm of air warfare and have specialist roles in ground attack backing up unguided and guided bomb strikes.
** '''Infrared Heatseekers''': Primarily short range used against IR emitting usually physically hot targets.
** '''Radar Guided Missiles''': Generally uses two variants, Semi-Active Homing which uses Radar on the shooting fighter or assisting other radar to guide and Active Homing which has an on board targeting radar on the missile itself.
** '''Anti-Radiation Missiles''': Target radiation sources, namely mostly radars, to suppress enemy air defense.
*'''Rockets''': During the Second World War, unguided rockets were the classic tank-busting weapon. Cheap, accurate and hard-hitting, they were ideal for short-range dive bombing. In the 50s, they supplemented cannon as yet another 'maximum dakka' weapon because of their fast rate of fire. Nowadays, such munitions are mostly used as an area-of-effect weapon by Attack helicopters, which can carry about a dozen or so 70mm rockets for anti-infantry and light anti-armor combat.
*'''Bombs''': The first ground-attack weapons carried on planes, early bombs were literally hand-thrown by World War 1 bomber crews, though later they would be mounted in racks on the underside of planes. Bombs come in a very large variety of sizes and munitions, but traditionally they were carried either as a single munition on smaller dive-bombers to attack a specific target, or in large quantities on large bombers for attacking areas of strategic value. Both strategies are meant to overcome the inherent inaccuracy of dropping bombs from high altitudes. However, new JDAM bombs are capable of self-correcting in flight, making them far more accurate. Previously, the primary tactic of avoiding bombs was "duck and cover because they are likely to miss". After guidance became a thing, things started to rapidly suck whatever poor bastard who is being targeted.
*'''Torpedoes''': instead of unguided bombs light bombers were equipped with torpedoes for naval warfare, as the self-propelling nature of the weapon dramatically increased the chances of a hit. Problem was, torpedo bombing was a highly risky business: In the best of cases, it involved flying towards a heavily-armed target while carrying an incredibly heavy payload that limited your airplane's manoeuvrability, low to the surface of the water and slowing down right before the drop (drop speed was limited to ~170 knots for the biggest part of the war, go faster and the torpedo would deviate or simply shatter on impact with the water). On top of that, said heavily defended target had lots of AA guns, was rarely alone and more often than not had a CAP of fighters defending them; all things that would in turn take heavy tolls on the attacking torpedo-bombers. Still, it was efficient enough that the British perfected it early on in the Second World War, and it was quickly adopted by, among others, the Japanese and (in a more limited way) the American Navy. In modern times, fighter jets don't use them (as they simply go too fast to use torpedoes), but some helicopters and bombers carry them alongside seamines for aerial deployment to ruin any Navy's day. Additionally more modern naval mines are effectively torpedo turrets waiting for some punk to come along with the wrong IFF and serve 'em some fireworks.

==Propulsion==
*'''Propellers''': The first means of powered flight, propellers were used up until after WWII for all aircraft; by then Jet engine technology had been developed, which became the dominant means of propulsion due to being faster and having a higher flight ceiling. However, propellers are still used on certain kinds of heavy aircraft that do not require to travel at higher speed, as they have better efficency. Drones are also usually equipped with propellers as jet drones are unnecessary overkill against most drone targets (those being countries with shitty old AA equipment and insurgents). Most propellers engines today are actually a hybrid of traditional propeller engines and jet engines, wherein they operate in the same principle as turbofans but use the generated thrust to spin propeller blades instead of pushing air out at high speed. There are two big classes of propeller aircraft:
** '''Tractor aircraft''': the propeller(s) face forward and pull the airplane through the air. Most commonly seen configuration with the motor either in the nose (if single) or on the wings (if multiple). Simple, proven, efficient, has worked for over a century now. No need to reinvent the wheel, unless really necessary.
**'''Pusher aircraft''': Yang to the tractor's Yin, the propeller faces backward and pushes the airplane forward. One can go into the (dis-)advantages of both for entire books, but pusher is nowadays mostly used in two cases: very small aircraft/ultralights that would otherwise be simply unbalanced, or airplanes/drones that need a clean nose for visibility (and weaponry).
***'''Push-pull configuration''': the red-haired stepchildren of aviation, a few designs had both one (or more) tractor and pusher engine(s) installed. Most well-known (so to speak) is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_O-2_Skymaster Cessna O-2 Skymaster].
*'''Jets''': the main engines used on most aircraft today: civilian ones tend to favor fuel economy and engines with high bypass ratios (put simply, only a fraction of the air passes through the combustion chambers proper and gets overheated, but the mass of the mix at the back provides a decent amount of thrust for less fuel), where military ones often have a post-combustion system for when you really need that extra burst of thrust (at the cost of being fuel guzzlers, but hey...) A few specialized variants exist:
:**'''Ramjets''': designed specifically for use at high speed by using the speed of the aircraft itself to suck in air, instead of having to use its own power to suck air in with turbofans. These are used on some models of interceptors and recon craft.
:**'''VTOL''': Verticals Takeoff and Landing. Jets with VTOL can redirect thrust downward so that they don’t need to use as much runway space, allowing them to deploy from smaller aircraft carriers and other non traditional runways. VTOL consumes a lot of extra fuel, so it’s only present on very specific aircraft and only engaged when necessary.
*'''Rotors''': Essentially a propeller turned upwards. While not as fast as fixed-wing craft, their ability to hover allows them to takeoff and land from any flat ground as small as the aircraft itself, as well as provide continuous fire support to ground forces. A traditional helicopter requires an additional tail rotor to prevent the helicopter from spinning out of control, but other systems include a secondary lift rotor spinning in the opposite direction.
:**'''Tiltrotor''': a hybrid rotorcraft that can transition from hover to propeller modes by rotating the engines, as used on the [[wikipedia:V-22 Osprey|V-22 Osprey]], though this has proven to be quite tricky to implement for a number of aerodynamic and structural reasons, though it seems to have paid off. Also tough on rookie pilots due to essentially being both a prop plane and a helicopter at the same time.
:**'''Ornithopter''':While no maned military Ornithopter has taken flight, it shows up enough in fantasy to be worth a quick mention. While a helicopter works by spinning the wing, (that's what "''helico''" means), an Ornithopter works via flapping. While unworkable for manned craft as a whole, smaller unmanned designs do have potential.
:**'''Compound Helicopter''': The Tiltrotor isn’t the only hybrid helicopter system out there; the Conpound helicopter combines the top rotor of the traditional helicopter, with a propeller in the rear for forward thrust, as well as small wingtips for added lift. This allows the helicopter to fly forward more quickly and reduces the load on the top rotor. So far this has only been used on experimental aircraft.
*'''Rockets''': Only one rocket-powered fighter exists, the [[Wikipedia:Me 163 Komet|Me 163 Komet]], which proved very difficult to control and had to glide down to land after its fuel was spent. However, it was extremely fast and had a very high flight ceiling. Rockets are mostly used nowadays as disposable takeoff assistance called RATO or JATO, usually for heavy aircraft on short runways.
*'''Balloon''': airships were only used in combat during WWI, when air defense were still quite primitive. The infamous Zeppelins in particular carried out bombing raids in Britain, making them quite a terrifying sight to behold. Even bulletholes did little to stop them, as rigid airships have the same internal pressure as atmosphere, causing them to leak hydrogen too slowly to matter. However, as the [[wikipedia:Hindenburg Disaster|Hindenburg disaster]] quite definitively showed, hydrogen airships have a nasty tendency of exploding if even a small amount of static discharge is present, causing them to disappear from warfare altogether, with the exception of the "Barrage balloon", which is more like a flying landmine since the cables it carries can cause damage to low flying aircraft (ground attackers), which could be pretty nasty at night (at least one German bomber was quite literally sliced in half during the Battle of Britain). Even after replacing the hydrogen with helium, airships proved too slow and vulnerable to be of much use compared to newer and more advanced aircraft. They saw some use as submarine chasers and to provide RADAR to Coast Guard units in WW2, and experimentally as "airborne aircraft carriers". The latter of which mostly did nothing but demonstrate how stupidly difficult the entire concept was to implement.

==Combat Roles==

===Fighters===
Fighters are the predominant aircraft type in most air forces; they mainly engage other aircraft, though depending on their design, they may have some flexibility in their combat capabilities:

*'''Air Superiority''': These fighters are dedicated solely to fight enemy aircraft. As such, they have enhanced aerodynamic performance and will outmanuever other types of aircraft. This comes at the cost of a lack of ground-attack capability. Because they are more expensive to produce, and are used solely for taking airspace, most air forces use a limited number of these.
*'''Interceptor''': Also called point-defense fighter. They were a key defensive component of nuclear deterence back when long-range bombers where the only nuclear weapons platform. While they had limited range, they were extremely fast, and thus could intercept any aircraft that threatened their airspace. With the introduction of ICBMs, they were reduced to keeping out enemy spy aircraft, until ground-based SAMs made them obsolete entirely, the role having been folded into Air Superiority fighters when they don't carry Air-to-Ground ordnance, which is pretty much all the time.
*'''Multi-Role''': Most fighters today fall under this category. They are general all-rounders and can take both airborne and ground-based weaponry, depending on the mission profile. As technology improves, the once new Air Superiority fighters will eventually be upgraded for service as Multi-Role fighters (i.e. [[wikipedia:F-15 Strike Eagle|F-15 Strike Eagle]] & F-22 Raptor) to get more use out of the old generation.
*'''Strike Fighter''': A type of multi-role fighter that puts more emphasis on ground-attack strikes, probably not a dedicated platform but upgraded from last generation dedicated Multiroles to again get more use out of expensive gear.
*'''Fighter-Bomber''': A fighter that has been converted into dropping bombs, usually dropping ordnance at nearest available target of opportunity before returning to fighter mode. These have since been phased out as dedicated ground attack aircraft emerged.
*'''Heavy Fighter''': Usually twin engine frames used to carry loads of heavy machine guns or cannons to hunt down bombers and also carried bombs and rockets for ground attack. The design mostly ended up being used for long range missions like the P-38, as recon planes or as nights fighters equipped with radar in World War 2. Became obsolete after Korea like the Fighter-Bomber.
*'''UCAVs''': While still a few years off, Turkey's MIUS program has gotten production greenlight as the "Red Apple" and it seems to be the next big thing in air-to-air warfare.

===Ground-Attack===
Ground attack airplanes are used for supporting ground operations by providing close-air support to friendly infantry. Most such aircraft are helicopters, as their ability to hover and stay close to the ground makes them better suited for this role. However, some fixed-wing aircraft do exist as well.

*'''Fixed-Wing Attack Aircraft''': Originally used to harass and demoralize enemy ground forces, as technology improved, attack aircraft became more accurate and survivable to enemy fire. They started to vanish during the Cold War as helicopters and strike fighters took over their role, but a small number managed to find their niche as they could be deployed more rapidly than helicopters, while taking more damage and being able to loiter longer than strike fighters (which oftentimes are moving too fast to get more than one hit onto a target area). The [[A-10 Warthog]] is considered the standard for modern fixed-wing attack aircraft, possessing a tank-busting Gatling gun that goes BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT and a heavily protected cockpit that is often called an "armored bathtub." They are also one of the most effective counters to Attack Helicopters and carry less risk compared to Man-portable air-defense systems and anti air guns. Something that other fixed wing aircraft just suck at. Remote controlled or even autonomous drones are likely going to be next step of evolution for this archetype.
*'''Wild Weasel''': A ground attack support craft, a Wild Weasel's job is to be a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]], get targeted by enemy radar and ground to air weapons, then either follow the targeting beam back to the source or direct an ally to do the same. Famously the motto for American Wild Weasels units is "''YGBSM''" or ''"You gotta be shitting me"'' based on what somebody who was told his job was to be a designated target said in response. The equipment for the job includes additional detectors, lots of countermeasures, and very fast special purpose missiles.
** A role that has developed in Late August-Early September 2022 is that the mere presence of a Wild Weasel with Anti-Radiation Missiles in an area forces enemy AA to choose between radar coverage and risking an ARM strike or turning off their radars and allowing drones to come out hunting.
*'''Attack Helicopters''': <s>[[meme|Something that people may sexually identify as]]</s> During the Vietnam war, some army generals figured out that if sticking a few machineguns onto a [[UH-1 Huey]] turned it into a flying troop transport, adding some armor and sticking some rockets and autocannons onto a helicopter would turn it into a flying tank. This lead to the development of the [[AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter]], which the majority of modern attack helicopters take after design-wise; narrow profile, pilot behind gunner position, chin-mounted gun and weapon pods mounted on wingtips, etc. A helicopter can also avoid enemy radar more easily by hovering closer to the ground, though they can still be vulnerable to small arms fire; particularly if the tail gets shot out. A non-stationary helicopter is still hard to hit though with anything other than rapid-fire cannons or guided missiles.
*'''Transport Helicopter''': Much like land-based Armored Personnel Carriers, transport helicopters can ferry soldiers to distant battlefields with relative speed. While they are generally not frontline combat aircraft, they are often armed enough with doorguns and sometimes rockets to clear out and secure landing zones to provide infantry the space they need to infiltrate and exfiltrate as needed. Some heavy-lifting helicopters may even be able to tow along armored vehicles for additional support.
*'''Gunship''': Whereas "gunship" will often refer to a heavily-armed helicopter, fixed-wing gunships are quite rare, but also awe-inspiring. Basically, a gunship mounts multiple guns on its side and strafes enemy ground targets by soaking them in fire. Only a handful of such aircraft have existed, all of which from converted aircraft; the G and H variants of the WWII [[wikipedia:B-25|B-25 medium bomber]] had been converted to mount at least a ''dozen'' .50 cal machineguns and a 75mm cannon for anti-ship warfare, while the [[wikipedia:AC-47|AC-47]] mounted three miniguns on its side. The latest one is the [[wikipedia:AC-130|AC-130]], which mounts a 105mm cannon and various autocannons or rotary guns for total annihilation. The downside though is that such aircraft are quite vulnerable to enemy aircraft and AA weapons, making them only useful if friendly forces have already taken control of the airspace which makes them perfect for the 21st century chronic low intensity insurgency fighting.
*'''UCAVs''': Drones have proven capable in peer-to-peer warfare with the TB-2 mauling Russian convoys and air defense units in Ukraine, to the point of getting a song written in it's name. They are definitely here to stay for ground attack in some way. The thing to remember about drones is that they can straddle the line between plane and missile. So the TB-2 is a plane, but a loitering munition is a smart missile that just orbits looking for a target until give the command to do it's best Kamikaze impression.

===Bombers===
Bombers, quite simply, drop bombs. Two types exist: strategic bombers (of which a mission will be built around destroying a specific target), and tactical bombers (where a bomber will attack targets as part of an overall mission, such as supporting ground forces). In the beginning, they had terrible accuracy, so they had to try and saturate targets with as many bombs as they could carry in the hopes that one of them would hit the right target. Or, if they were dive-bombers, approach the target at a steep angle before releasing and pulling away as quickly as possible.

In WWII (and to a lesser extent in World War I), Bombers could be divided into light, medium, and heavy bombers. Light bombers were more tactically-oriented and resembled the fighter-bombers listed above. Medium and Heavy bombers were bigger and slower, but could carry more payloads. They oftentimes had defensive machinegun pods and fighter escorts as well, given that they were massively important targets.

During the Cold War, emphasis was put on making them fly higher and farther to avoid enemy defenses and deliver nuclear payloads, though this capability has since declined due to the invention of ICBMs. In warfare they generally carry conventional bombs, though they can also carry cruise missiles for taking out distant targets where an overhead flyby would be too risky. Nowadays they are either Tactical Bombers or Strategic Bombers.

The current era of asymmetrical warfare has created proposals to reintroduce the propeller powered bomber as "light-attack aircraft". Modern bombers are really, really expensive not only to build but to operate, and jihadis (or other terrorists) virtually never have anti-air ability beyond some DShKs manned by people with no anti-aircraft training, rendering most of the expensive defenses on the bombers overkill. Thus the idea comes of making a cheap aircraft dedicated to bombing such targets cheaply. The biggest obstacles in their adoptions is the massive ones of securing congressional funding, then passing military design/appropriations programs, and the optics of sending soldiers out to fight in WW2 looking relics.

===Electronic Warfare===
These specialist craft have one primary purpose: to degrade the effectiveness of the radar and guidance systems of enemy aircraft. These can be converted fighters or utility craft, usually by sticking a radar-jammer onto it. They can still carry conventional weapons (especially converted old fighters), but will oftentimes be supported by other fighters for engaging enemy craft.

===Mothership===
While normally associated with Science Fiction, motherships did have a practical, although limited use in history. The earliest airborne motherships were airships, having internal hangars to carry biplane fighters, such as the American Akron class airships. In WWII, the Russians re-purposed the obsolete TB-3 Heavy bomber into carrying 2-5 light fighters, thereby extending their operational range and allowing them to carry heavier payloads. Nowadays, the mothership concept is only used for experimental aircraft or for carrying unmanned drones; Aircraft carriers are much more practical for launching fighters away from one's home base.

===Airborne Early Warning and Control/AWACS and Command Planes===
AWACS planes are used to direct allied squadrons to their proper targets and make sense of the gajillions of people screaming into the radio at any one point of the battle. Usually have dedicated high power radar that you can't fit in a fighter. Command planes are just that, serving as a mobile command center for some high ranking REMF (rear echelon motherfucker) to micromanage their troops, or at least give said REMF eyes and ears on the field and also as VIP planes such as the famous Air Force One. One rather brutal application of the AWACS is guiding missiles fired from fighters from tens of kilometers away to enemy targets, the shooter not turning on radar and the poor bastard getting blown out of the air without even realizing that the standard wide area AWACS scan is actually getting his ass marked for death. A 45km example was given when a Turkish F-16 shot down a Syrian L-39 with an AMRAAM guided by AWACS radar.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Vehicles]]

Combat Aircraft

2023-06-20T10:36:05Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:80E5:8718:82F6:2A4A: /* Ground-Attack */

{{Topquote|Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.|French General Ferdinand Foch just before World War I, demonstrating that men of vision aren't always right.}}

'''Combat Aircraft''' are dedicated military aircraft used in warfare. The vast majority includes fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft, though there are some that are neither (such as Zepplins), alternating (such as Tiltrotors) or both (Compound helicopters).

Much like with [[Tank]]s, as soon as people figured out powered flight, various nations attempted to weaponize them. Both got their big break during WWI, as mechanized warfare began to emerge. By WWII, aircraft designed for dedicated combat roles began to emerge, developing into the types used today.

==History==
During WWI, biplanes armed with machineguns were deployed to attack or defend observation balloons, which were used as spotters for ground artillery. Being made of wood and unable to fly fast or high up, these early aircraft were also vulnerable to ground weapons. They were also used to defend against Zeppelins, which were among the first strategic bombers, though before incendiary bullets were invented it wasn't easy to bring down a rigid [[airship]] simply by poking it full of holes. That said during and before world war one there was actually a fair bit of skepticism from generals that airplanes were going to be any good. See the top quote for example. Looking back some of these quotes are unintentionally hilarious given how powerful air power is nowadays, but looking forward with only the example of the canvas and wood planes of the time, it's not hard to see how they might think that.

By WWII, airplanes took a leading role in combat operations, both in major combat operations such as the [[wikipedia:Battle of Britain|Battle of Britain]], as well as providing combat support for intelligence and deep strike operations. More advanced defenses had to be developed for faster and higher-flying aircraft; thus radar was invented to track the position of aircraft long before they came into visual range.

During the Cold War, aircraft development continued to be refined; while most ground-support operations were now relegated to the newly developed helicopter, airplanes took on a strategic role in nuclear deterrence strategies - at least until ICBMs made them effectively moot. Nonetheless, they still had value in intelligence and rapid response roles. As missile technology improved, it was believed that dogfighting was no longer a viable strategy given that aircraft could be taken out beyond visual range, and thus for a period of time fighters lacked any guns, as seen on the [[wikipedia:F-4 Phantom|F-4 Phantom]]. They were brought back, however, as they realized that this was a problem if the aircraft in question needed to be identified first, and that getting within visual range was too close for missiles. This also lead to the development of holographic and computer-aided gunsights, as well as other advanced displays to the cockpit.

Military aircraft frequently spur many advanced new technologies that push the limit of what powered flight is capable of. Aircraft intended for use with aircraft carriers often have special requirements, such as a hook for catching the arresting wire and a minimum distance for takeoff. This lead to the development of VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) technology as early as the 1960s, as seen on the [[AV-8 Harrier]] and [[wikipedia:F-35 Lightning II|F-35 Lightning II]], where an aircraft can redirect its thrust downward to takeoff and land vertically, albeit this limits the aircraft's flight time quite a bit as it consumes a lot of fuel. Stealth aircraft, meanwhile, started taking off a decade later when it was discovered that certain airframe shapes could be used to reduce and aircraft's radar profile, thus making it harder to detect. The [[wikipedia:F-117 Nighthawk|F-117 Nighthawk]] attempted to accomplish this with the wonkiest airframe shape imaginable, but more recent aircraft are able to accomplish the same feats with a more conventional layout such as the [[wikipedia:F-22 Raptor|F-22 Raptor]], or the more radical "flying wing" design used by the [[wikipedia:B-2 Spirit|B-2 Spirit]].

==Weaponry==
*'''Handguns''': Though machine guns later became standard midway through World War 1, the first dogfight ever, during the Mexican Civil War in 1913, was undertaken by two mercenary pilots with handguns. No one was hurt, but the idea of plinking away at your target with a pistol while flying your plane with your other hand lasted through the early years of World War 1. Incredibly, there is also the story of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_J._Baggett Lt. Baggett] who, while parachuting after being shot down, took down a Ki-43 in the Pacific War with a 1911, probably in a strike of karma getting a lucky head shot on the pilot who was trying to strafe survivors.
*'''Bricks''': In the early months of World War 1, ammunition could be scarce and pilots were limited by the strict size limits of their planes to whatever they could fit in their hands. Hence the brick. Inaccurate and short-ranged, but more than heavy enough to put a hole in the wing of an early fighter.
*'''Flechette''': Basically a big metal dart dropped out of a plane. The dart gains speed as it drops until it hits the ground with enough force to pulp anything it hits.
*'''Machineguns''': The first effective weapons attached to aircraft were basic machineguns. Originally they were manned by a secondary gunner on a swivel mount that couldn’t shoot forward, due to the propeller being in the way. Later, the pilot became the gunner, and any aircraft that had a nose propeller had to be outfitted with a synchronization gear, which adjusted the machine gun’s rate of fire so that it couldn’t shoot out the plane’s own propellers (at least in theory, for such early systems were... temperamental). Machine gun pods were frequently used on larger aircraft for defense against enemy fighters, mainly on bombers. Machine guns were eventually phased out as even the heavy-duty ones like the M2/DSHK are simply too short-ranged for modern dogfighting. Now they are used as utility, cargo or light recon helicopter door guns.
*'''Cannons''': Experimented with briefly during the First World War to little effect, the cannon came into its own during World War 2. Twenty-millimeter autocannons became a popular replacement for machine guns, in response to a new generation of sturdier all-metal fighters. Larger aircraft in particular could survive many bullet impacts so long as nothing critical was struck, whereas explosive munitions could do a lot more damage. Bombers could be reliably eliminated with a few cannon shots. However, slow-firing cannons were less useful in a dogfight, so some aircraft would mount both cannons and guns. During the 1950s, and before the invention of air-to-air missiles, cannons proliferated - the idea was that aiming is less important if you're shooting out a whole lot of [[dakka]].
*'''Rotary Cannons''': Because the new jet fighters flew too fast to be reliably hit with machine guns, the solution was to use equally fast rotary guns such as the venerable M61 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon. These have become the standard secondary armament on fighters, as missiles do most of the work now.
*'''Missiles''': A wide variety of missiles are used for a multiplicity of roles, such as fast and light heat-seeking missiles for bringing down aircraft, or slower and heavier but more powerful anti-tank missiles for ground warfare. These saw their first baby steps at the very end of World War 2, but didn't come into their own until the development of effective computer technology in the 1960s. Missiles are the primary air to air warfare tool in the Post-Cold War Paradigm of air warfare and have specialist roles in ground attack backing up unguided and guided bomb strikes.
** '''Infrared Heatseekers''': Primarily short range used against IR emitting usually physically hot targets.
** '''Radar Guided Missiles''': Generally uses two variants, Semi-Active Homing which uses Radar on the shooting fighter or assisting other radar to guide and Active Homing which has an on board targeting radar on the missile itself.
** '''Anti-Radiation Missiles''': Target radiation sources, namely mostly radars, to suppress enemy air defense.
*'''Rockets''': During the Second World War, unguided rockets were the classic tank-busting weapon. Cheap, accurate and hard-hitting, they were ideal for short-range dive bombing. In the 50s, they supplemented cannon as yet another 'maximum dakka' weapon because of their fast rate of fire. Nowadays, such munitions are mostly used as an area-of-effect weapon by Attack helicopters, which can carry about a dozen or so 70mm rockets for anti-infantry and light anti-armor combat.
*'''Bombs''': The first ground-attack weapons carried on planes, early bombs were literally hand-thrown by World War 1 bomber crews, though later they would be mounted in racks on the underside of planes. Bombs come in a very large variety of sizes and munitions, but traditionally they were carried either as a single munition on smaller dive-bombers to attack a specific target, or in large quantities on large bombers for attacking areas of strategic value. Both strategies are meant to overcome the inherent inaccuracy of dropping bombs from high altitudes. However, new JDAM bombs are capable of self-correcting in flight, making them far more accurate. Previously, the primary tactic of avoiding bombs was "duck and cover because they are likely to miss". After guidance became a thing, things started to rapidly suck whatever poor bastard who is being targeted.
*'''Torpedoes''': instead of unguided bombs light bombers were equipped with torpedoes for naval warfare, as the self-propelling nature of the weapon dramatically increased the chances of a hit. Problem was, torpedo bombing was a highly risky business: In the best of cases, it involved flying towards a heavily-armed target while carrying an incredibly heavy payload that limited your airplane's manoeuvrability, low to the surface of the water and slowing down right before the drop (drop speed was limited to ~170 knots for the biggest part of the war, go faster and the torpedo would deviate or simply shatter on impact with the water). On top of that, said heavily defended target had lots of AA guns, was rarely alone and more often than not had a CAP of fighters defending them; all things that would in turn take heavy tolls on the attacking torpedo-bombers. Still, it was efficient enough that the British perfected it early on in the Second World War, and it was quickly adopted by, among others, the Japanese and (in a more limited way) the American Navy. In modern times, fighter jets don't use them (as they simply go too fast to use torpedoes), but some helicopters and bombers carry them alongside seamines for aerial deployment to ruin any Navy's day. Additionally more modern naval mines are effectively torpedo turrets waiting for some punk to come along with the wrong IFF and serve 'em some fireworks.

==Propulsion==
*'''Propellers''': The first means of powered flight, propellers were used up until after WWII for all aircraft; by then Jet engine technology had been developed, which became the dominant means of propulsion due to being faster and having a higher flight ceiling. However, propellers are still used on certain kinds of heavy aircraft that do not require to travel at higher speed, as they have better efficency. Drones are also usually equipped with propellers as jet drones are unnecessary overkill against most drone targets (those being countries with shitty old AA equipment and insurgents). Most propellers engines today are actually a hybrid of traditional propeller engines and jet engines, wherein they operate in the same principle as turbofans but use the generated thrust to spin propeller blades instead of pushing air out at high speed. There are two big classes of propeller aircraft:
** '''Tractor aircraft''': the propeller(s) face forward and pull the airplane through the air. Most commonly seen configuration with the motor either in the nose (if single) or on the wings (if multiple). Simple, proven, efficient, has worked for over a century now. No need to reinvent the wheel, unless really necessary.
**'''Pusher aircraft''': Yang to the tractor's Yin, the propeller faces backward and pushes the airplane forward. One can go into the (dis-)advantages of both for entire books, but pusher is nowadays mostly used in two cases: very small aircraft/ultralights that would otherwise be simply unbalanced, or airplanes/drones that need a clean nose for visibility (and weaponry).
***'''Push-pull configuration''': the red-haired stepchildren of aviation, a few designs had both one (or more) tractor and pusher engine(s) installed. Most well-known (so to speak) is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_O-2_Skymaster Cessna O-2 Skymaster].
*'''Jets''': the main engines used on most aircraft today: civilian ones tend to favor fuel economy and engines with high bypass ratios (put simply, only a fraction of the air passes through the combustion chambers proper and gets overheated, but the mass of the mix at the back provides a decent amount of thrust for less fuel), where military ones often have a post-combustion system for when you really need that extra burst of thrust (at the cost of being fuel guzzlers, but hey...) A few specialized variants exist:
:**'''Ramjets''': designed specifically for use at high speed by using the speed of the aircraft itself to suck in air, instead of having to use its own power to suck air in with turbofans. These are used on some models of interceptors and recon craft.
:**'''VTOL''': Verticals Takeoff and Landing. Jets with VTOL can redirect thrust downward so that they don’t need to use as much runway space, allowing them to deploy from smaller aircraft carriers and other non traditional runways. VTOL consumes a lot of extra fuel, so it’s only present on very specific aircraft and only engaged when necessary.
*'''Rotors''': Essentially a propeller turned upwards. While not as fast as fixed-wing craft, their ability to hover allows them to takeoff and land from any flat ground as small as the aircraft itself, as well as provide continuous fire support to ground forces. A traditional helicopter requires an additional tail rotor to prevent the helicopter from spinning out of control, but other systems include a secondary lift rotor spinning in the opposite direction.
:**'''Tiltrotor''': a hybrid rotorcraft that can transition from hover to propeller modes by rotating the engines, as used on the [[wikipedia:V-22 Osprey|V-22 Osprey]], though this has proven to be quite tricky to implement for a number of aerodynamic and structural reasons, though it seems to have paid off. Also tough on rookie pilots due to essentially being both a prop plane and a helicopter at the same time.
:**'''Ornithopter''':While no maned military Ornithopter has taken flight, it shows up enough in fantasy to be worth a quick mention. While a helicopter works by spinning the wing, (that's what "''helico''" means), an Ornithopter works via flapping. While unworkable for manned craft as a whole, smaller unmanned designs do have potential.
:**'''Compound Helicopter''': The Tiltrotor isn’t the only hybrid helicopter system out there; the Conpound helicopter combines the top rotor of the traditional helicopter, with a propeller in the rear for forward thrust, as well as small wingtips for added lift. This allows the helicopter to fly forward more quickly and reduces the load on the top rotor. So far this has only been used on experimental aircraft.
*'''Rockets''': Only one rocket-powered fighter exists, the [[Wikipedia:Me 163 Komet|Me 163 Komet]], which proved very difficult to control and had to glide down to land after its fuel was spent. However, it was extremely fast and had a very high flight ceiling. Rockets are mostly used nowadays as disposable takeoff assistance called RATO or JATO, usually for heavy aircraft on short runways.
*'''Balloon''': airships were only used in combat during WWI, when air defense were still quite primitive. The infamous Zeppelins in particular carried out bombing raids in Britain, making them quite a terrifying sight to behold. Even bulletholes did little to stop them, as rigid airships have the same internal pressure as atmosphere, causing them to leak hydrogen too slowly to matter. However, as the [[wikipedia:Hindenburg Disaster|Hindenburg disaster]] quite definitively showed, hydrogen airships have a nasty tendency of exploding if even a small amount of static discharge is present, causing them to disappear from warfare altogether, with the exception of the "Barrage balloon", which is more like a flying landmine since the cables it carries can cause damage to low flying aircraft (ground attackers), which could be pretty nasty at night (at least one German bomber was quite literally sliced in half during the Battle of Britain). Even after replacing the hydrogen with helium, airships proved too slow and vulnerable to be of much use compared to newer and more advanced aircraft. They saw some use as submarine chasers and to provide RADAR to Coast Guard units in WW2, and experimentally as "airborne aircraft carriers". The latter of which mostly did nothing but demonstrate how stupidly difficult the entire concept was to implement.

==Combat Roles==

===Fighters===
Fighters are the predominant aircraft type in most air forces; they mainly engage other aircraft, though depending on their design, they may have some flexibility in their combat capabilities:

*'''Air Superiority''': These fighters are dedicated solely to fight enemy aircraft. As such, they have enhanced aerodynamic performance and will outmanuever other types of aircraft. This comes at the cost of a lack of ground-attack capability. Because they are more expensive to produce, and are used solely for taking airspace, most air forces use a limited number of these.
*'''Interceptor''': Also called point-defense fighter. They were a key defensive component of nuclear deterence back when long-range bombers where the only nuclear weapons platform. While they had limited range, they were extremely fast, and thus could intercept any aircraft that threatened their airspace. With the introduction of ICBMs, they were reduced to keeping out enemy spy aircraft, until ground-based SAMs made them obsolete entirely, the role having been folded into Air Superiority fighters when they don't carry Air-to-Ground ordnance, which is pretty much all the time.
*'''Multi-Role''': Most fighters today fall under this category. They are general all-rounders and can take both airborne and ground-based weaponry, depending on the mission profile. As technology improves, the once new Air Superiority fighters will eventually be upgraded for service as Multi-Role fighters (i.e. [[wikipedia:F-15 Strike Eagle|F-15 Strike Eagle]] & F-22 Raptor) to get more use out of the old generation.
*'''Strike Fighter''': A type of multi-role fighter that puts more emphasis on ground-attack strikes, probably not a dedicated platform but upgraded from last generation dedicated Multiroles to again get more use out of expensive gear.
*'''Fighter-Bomber''': A fighter that has been converted into dropping bombs, usually dropping ordnance at nearest available target of opportunity before returning to fighter mode. These have since been phased out as dedicated ground attack aircraft emerged.
*'''Heavy Fighter''': Usually twin engine frames used to carry loads of heavy machine guns or cannons to hunt down bombers and also carried bombs and rockets for ground attack. The design mostly ended up being used for long range missions like the P-38, as recon planes or as nights fighters equipped with radar in World War 2. Became obsolete after Korea like the Fighter-Bomber.
*'''UCAVs''': While still a few years off, Turkey's MIUS program has gotten production greenlight as the "Red Apple" and it seems to be the next big thing in air-to-air warfare.

===Ground-Attack===
Ground attack airplanes are used for supporting ground operations by providing close-air support to friendly infantry. Most such aircraft are helicopters, as their ability to hover and stay close to the ground makes them better suited for this role. However, some fixed-wing aircraft do exist as well.

*'''Fixed-Wing Attack Aircraft''': Originally used to harass and demoralize enemy ground forces, as technology improved, attack aircraft became more accurate and survivable to enemy fire. They started to vanish during the Cold War as helicopters and strike fighters took over their role, but a small number managed to find their niche as they could be deployed more rapidly than helicopters, while taking more damage and being able to loiter longer than strike fighters (which oftentimes are moving too fast to get more than one hit onto a target area). The [[A-10 Warthog]] is considered the standard for modern fixed-wing attack aircraft, possessing a tank-busting Gatling gun that goes BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT and a heavily protected cockpit that is often called an "armored bathtub." They are also one of the most effective counters to Attack Helicopters and carry less risk compared to Man-portable air-defense systems and anti air guns. Something that other fixed wing aircraft just suck at. Remote controlled or even autonomous drones are likely going to be next step of evolution for this archetype.
*'''Wild Weasel''': A ground attack support craft, a Wild Weasel's job is to be a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]], get targeted by enemy radar and ground to air weapons, then either follow the targeting beam back to the source or direct an ally to do the same. Famously the motto for American Wild Weasels units is "''YGBSM''" or ''"You gotta be shitting me"'' based on what somebody who was told his job was to be a designated target said in response. The equipment for the job includes additional detectors, lots of countermeasures, and very fast special purpose missiles.
** A role that has developed in Late August-Early September 2022 is that the mere presence of a Wild Weasel with Anti-Radiation Missiles in an area forces enemy AA to choose between radar coverage and risking an ARM strike or turning off their radars and allowing drones to come out hunting.
*'''Attack Helicopters''': <s>[[meme|Something that people may sexually identify as]]</s> During the Vietnam war, some army generals figured out that if sticking a few machineguns onto a [[UH-1 Huey]] turned it into a flying troop transport, adding some armor and sticking some rockets and autocannons onto a helicopter would turn it into a flying tank. This lead to the development of the [[AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter]], which the majority of modern attack helicopters take after design-wise; narrow profile, pilot behind gunner position, chin-mounted gun and weapon pods mounted on wingtips, etc. A helicopter can also avoid enemy radar more easily by hovering closer to the ground, though they can still be vulnerable to small arms fire; particularly if the tail gets shot out. A non-stationary helicopter is still hard to hit though with anything other than rapid-fire cannons or guided missiles.
*'''Transport Helicopter''': Much like land-based Armored Personnel Carriers, transport helicopters can ferry soldiers to distant battlefields with relative speed. While they are generally not frontline combat aircraft, they are often armed enough with doorguns and sometimes rockets to clear out and secure landing zones to provide infantry the space they need to infiltrate and exfiltrate as needed. Some heavy-lifting helicopters may even be able to tow along armored vehicles for additional support.
*'''Gunship''': Whereas "gunship" will often refer to a heavily-armed helicopter, fixed-wing gunships are quite rare, but also awe-inspiring. Basically, a gunship mounts multiple guns on its side and strafes enemy ground targets by soaking them in fire. Only a handful of such aircraft have existed, all of which from converted aircraft; the G and H variants of the WWII [[wikipedia:B-25|B-25 medium bomber]] had been converted to mount at least a ''dozen'' .50 cal machineguns and a 75mm cannon for anti-ship warfare, while the [[wikipedia:AC-47|AC-47]] mounted three miniguns on its side. The latest one is the [[wikipedia:AC-130|AC-130]], which mounts a 105mm cannon and various autocannons or rotary guns for total annihilation. The downside though is that such aircraft are quite vulnerable to enemy aircraft and AA weapons, making them only useful if friendly forces have already taken control of the airspace which makes them perfect for the 21st century chronic low intensity insurgency fighting.
*'''UCAVs''': Drones have proven capable in peer-to-peer warfare with the TB-2 mauling Russian convoys and air defense units in Ukraine, to the point of getting a song written in it's name. They are definitely here to stay for ground attack in some way. The thing to remember about drones is that they can straddle the line between plane and missile. So the TB-2 is a plane, but a loitering munition is a smart missile that just orbits looking for a target until give the command to do it's best Kamikaze impression.

===Bombers===
Bombers, quite simply, drop bombs. Two types exist: strategic bombers (of which a mission will be built around destroying a specific target), and tactical bombers (where a bomber will attack targets as part of an overall mission, such as supporting ground forces). In the beginning, they had terrible accuracy, so they had to try and saturate targets with as many bombs as they could carry in the hopes that one of them would hit the right target. Or, if they were dive-bombers, approach the target at a steep angle before releasing and pulling away as quickly as possible.

In WWII (and to a lesser extent in World War I), Bombers could be divided into light, medium, and heavy bombers. Light bombers were more tactically-oriented and resembled the fighter-bombers listed above. Medium and Heavy bombers were bigger and slower, but could carry more payloads. They oftentimes had defensive machinegun pods and fighter escorts as well, given that they were massively important targets.

During the Cold War, emphasis was put on making them fly higher and farther to avoid enemy defenses and deliver nuclear payloads, though this capability has since declined due to the invention of ICBMs. In warfare they generally carry conventional bombs, though they can also carry cruise missiles for taking out distant targets where an overhead flyby would be too risky. Nowadays they are either Tactical Bombers or Strategic Bombers.

The current era of asymmetrical warfare has created proposals to reintroduce the propeller powered bomber as "light-attack aircraft". Modern bombers are really, really expensive not only to build but to operate, and jihadis (or other terrorists) virtually never have anti-air ability beyond some DShKs manned by people with no anti-aircraft training, rendering most of the expensive defenses on the bombers overkill. Thus the idea comes of making a cheap aircraft dedicated to bombing such targets cheaply. The biggest obstacles in their adoptions is the massive ones of securing congressional funding and then passing military design/appropriations programs.

===Electronic Warfare===
These specialist craft have one primary purpose: to degrade the effectiveness of the radar and guidance systems of enemy aircraft. These can be converted fighters or utility craft, usually by sticking a radar-jammer onto it. They can still carry conventional weapons (especially converted old fighters), but will oftentimes be supported by other fighters for engaging enemy craft.

===Mothership===
While normally associated with Science Fiction, motherships did have a practical, although limited use in history. The earliest airborne motherships were airships, having internal hangars to carry biplane fighters, such as the American Akron class airships. In WWII, the Russians re-purposed the obsolete TB-3 Heavy bomber into carrying 2-5 light fighters, thereby extending their operational range and allowing them to carry heavier payloads. Nowadays, the mothership concept is only used for experimental aircraft or for carrying unmanned drones; Aircraft carriers are much more practical for launching fighters away from one's home base.

===Airborne Early Warning and Control/AWACS and Command Planes===
AWACS planes are used to direct allied squadrons to their proper targets and make sense of the gajillions of people screaming into the radio at any one point of the battle. Usually have dedicated high power radar that you can't fit in a fighter. Command planes are just that, serving as a mobile command center for some high ranking REMF (rear echelon motherfucker) to micromanage their troops, or at least give said REMF eyes and ears on the field and also as VIP planes such as the famous Air Force One. One rather brutal application of the AWACS is guiding missiles fired from fighters from tens of kilometers away to enemy targets, the shooter not turning on radar and the poor bastard getting blown out of the air without even realizing that the standard wide area AWACS scan is actually getting his ass marked for death. A 45km example was given when a Turkish F-16 shot down a Syrian L-39 with an AMRAAM guided by AWACS radar.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

[[Category:History]] [[Category:Vehicles]]

Armor

2023-06-20T09:13:58Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:80E5:8718:82F6:2A4A: /* Modern Body Armor */

'''''Armor''''' (also spelled Armour) is a protective layer of material used to protect something from damage. Some types of armor includes armor for buildings, armor for vehicles and armor for personnel (generally referred to as body armor). Putting armor on people or putting them in [[Rhino|metal boxes]] to keep them safe is important because we can be [[Rip and Tear|killed]] by sharp rocks or branches or basically anything else at all except grass and leaves. In fact not [[Wikipedia:Bamboo#Weapons|even]] [[Wikipedia:Toxicodendron_radicans|those]]. This is because because our skin is not armor and it [[FAIL|sucks]]. This article will focus mostly on body armor.

[[File:ERA man.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Here you see a highly advanced tactical soldier well equipped for battle with the latest in ERA technology]]

== Types of Body Armor ==
Numerous forms of body armor have been developed over the millennia by civilizations with various levels of technology and resources on hand. Every single one of these died out in Europe by the 18th century, not, contrary to popular belief, because they were useless - forged iron or steel plate armour was still very effective at deflecting bullets, as shown by the armour European Cuirassiers wore well into the 19th century; in fact they were proof marked by a single dimp in the plate itself, made by firing a flintlock pistol at point blank at them - but equipping the increasing numbers of soldiers of the standing armies that became the norm after the Thirty Year War and the reforms undertaken during the long reign of Louis XIV. of France was simply too costly; the levied and mercenary forces prior to and during this war bought their equipment out of their own pockets. Efforts to make personal armor for the lowly Infantryman cheap and efficient enough never really stopped, but were almost met with failure, either because the results proved to be too heavy, too unreliable or too expensive, most of the times all three. Modern body armor works different insofar as they dissipate the force of a bullet hitting them like a big pillow, (spreading the kinetic energy over a relatively large area instead of outright making the bullet bounce off, also causing the bullet to get stuck in vest instead of going -plink!-) but some of the force will still get through and, as many military and policemen (and women) can attest, the sensation of getting hit while wearing a Kevlar vest is not very pleasant, to put it mildly; the remaining force is still sufficient to break bones or cause internal damage if you're unlucky. Still, a treatable, if painful, wound is of course still preferrable over a lethal one.

*'''Leather armor''' - not just any leather would do; soft leather offers no protection against blades. You need specially treated leather to be effective. Another name for this is "cuir bouilli" or "cuirbouille". The exact method of creating is unclear, as simply boiling leather in water (as the French name implies) will result in leather that’s hard but highly brittle (like diamond) to the point it can be snapped with one's bare hands. The best guesses are that animal glue and/or oil were involved. The high biodegradability (and, to many vermin, tastiness) of leather, especially with period natural treatment, has created a near total lack of historical examples surviving though we do see some possible examples in period art. Whatever it is, what is for certain is that this was the result was not flexible like a modern leather jacket, but would have a fairly solid shape (one possible method of creating it resulted in leather sturdy enough it could actually be used to ''chop wood''). The general consensus is that it had less presence in Europe (though there are surviving inventory accounts that confirm it existed). Meanwhile, in the East (both middle and far) it did exist (with inventories and accounts confirming Chu and Zhou armories using rhino or water buffalo hide), it wasn't that much widespread either and disappeared once other materials were obtainable. These circumstances became more prevalent as metalworking became more accessible. On the Central Asian steppes or in areas with large amounts of livestock, the leather was more widespread as lamellar or scale armor. This was likely a matter of resource availability as the nomadic tribes had little access to metal outside of trading and would prioritize using it for tools, swords, speartips, and arrowheads instead. Regarding the tribes in the Americas (some examples include the Tlingit, Chukchi, and Yupik or the Plain Indian's hair-pipe breastplates) as well as the Polynesian and Austronesian islands, where metalworking was noticeably diminished or not present, leather armor was relatively common while bone, shell, and coins were used as external reinforcing elements. Some examples include the Baju/Baru tribal war garb (made from hide, turtle shell, &/or crocodile skin) in the Nusantara Archipelago in Austronesia. On the other hand, all these regions gradually phased out leather once they gained reliable supplies of crafted metal or firearms via trading or learning metalsmithing. While phased out as as a primary form of protection, Buff coats were still made of leather and retained to act as cushioning underneath metal breastplates. It also served as slashing protection for exposed joints or in cases where wearing metal armor was inconvenient.
** Real-life note: while sometimes seen on TV and in video games, there is no such thing as studded leather armor as mentioned below in Brigandine's section. Think about it. How does adding a metal studs cause a significant increase to the armor's effectiveness? You will see this mistake in many RPGs. This idea probably came from people misunderstanding some of the other kinds of armor that use cloth as a binding agent on the outside.
*'''Padded cloth armor''' - Cloth bundled in sufficient thickness was one of the first forms of armor, since bronze armors tended to be too expensive or too heavy to be widely used. Cloth continued to be used mostly as padding underneath metal armor, to help absorb blows and all through the middle ages continued to be the go to protection for men-at-arms in lieu of expensive metal plate or mail. Despite what you might think it (obviously) provided one of the best protection against percussive strikes, second only to full plate (which have padded cloth integrated into it), surprisingly high level of protection against slashes and swings, unless the blade is razor sharp (most historical blades weren't that sharp) and while it barely ever provides full protection against piercing weapon heavier than a shortbow arrow, it does lower the depth of penetration, often turning instantly lethal wounds from glancing stabs or slashes to survivable if debilitating, or even surface damage, with an added bonus of often catching enemy weapon (although given in most times where blades get stuck in padded cloth after stabbing through, they pierce deep enough to kill so it's more to the benefit of your companions than yours). Sometimes confused with Brigandine armor (which externally appeared to be made of cloth with metal studs but also contained overlapping metal pieces). Besides the Gambeson and some Austronesian Baju/Baru war jackets woven from hardy fibrous plants, some other historical examples include:
** The distinctive ancient Greek armor called "Linothorax" (literally meaning linen torso): believed to be made out of quilted linen with glue laminate and is presumed to fall under this category, though historians can't be entirely sure as no full examples survived the centuries. Lighter versions known as "Spola" were worn by the Greeks and Macedonians.
** A gambeson is unlike most “soft” armor in that we actually have a fairly good understanding of its construction due to some 15th century writing detailing how to make it (deer skin with a ~30 layers of linen).
*** Aketon is roughly equivilent to a gamebeson, being made of raw cotton (which is not the soft, smooth, fluffy stuff the clothes you're wearing are made out of) rather than linen. Generally assumed to be a corruption of the arabic word for cotton.
** A hard, quilted, and 2 inch-thick form of cotton armor was used by the Mesoamericans such as the Aztecs, Toltecs, and the Tlaxcalans. Called ”Ichcahuipilli” in the Nahuatl, it was often hardened with resin-like substances like brine salt. In combat, it was effective against obsidian-edged Macuahuitl/Macana sword-clubs and arrows. They were also effective enough that Spanish Conquistadors sometimes adopted them for use in the summer to avoid being baked alive in their steel cuirasses. Other related armor include decorated sets called "Tlahuiztli." Similar thickly padded cotton tunics were worn by Incan nobles and Muisca warriors in South America (with the former using small wooden planks to reinforce the back).
** An early bulletproof form of cotton armor worn by the 19th century Joseon Koreans called “Myeonje baegab.” It was invented when they confronting Western armies at the same time the Western powers began probing expeditions into Qing China and Tokugawa Japan (pre-Meiji Reformation). While effective against low velocity bullets from black powder firearms, it was prone to being burned from incendiary hazards like explosions or red-hot shrapnel.
** Various early forms of pistol-proof armor were documented that were made from layers of silk but were usually expensive and restricted to wealthy politicians or nobles (for example, [[The World Wars|Franz Ferdinand]] ironically was believed to have owned one but wasn't wearing it on his fateful final day, though as he was shot in the neck it wouldn't have made a difference).
*'''Paper armor''' - this one sounds crazy, but apparently it was actually a thing in 10th Century China. The Mythbusters tested it out and it might have been actually effective... at least, so long as it does not get wet, a bit of of an issue considering human beings tend to sweat when under the stress of matters of life-and-death. Indeed citizen, this is testable by you! Obtain a notebook and ensure it is tightly closed. Then, stab it with a knife as hard as possible. Apparently, it was also used by some ethnic tribes in China as late at the 19th century while interlayered with cotton and was good against smoothbore muskets and bayonets but not breech-loading rifles.
*'''Wooden armor''' - either based on wooden planks held together or overlapped with fibre in a manner similar to mirror armor, brigandine, and lamellar, or alternatively composed of woody rods interwoven like a thick basket (similar to rattan shields in Asia) into the form of cuirasses and shields called rod-and-slat armor, these types of armor were known to be used in pre-colonial natives in Austronesia (such as the Kiribati) and the Americas (such as among the Inca, Haida, Iroqouis, & Tlingit tribes). Like leather armor or cotton armor, there are very few preserved copies due to wood’s tendency to rot away when exposed to wet climates with most accounts coming from written records by colonial explorers. While effective against the wood, bone, and stone based weaponry used indigenously in the region, it inevitably disappeared once metal weapons or firearms were introduced by Western explorers.
**”Bamboo armor” - basically wooden armor, but with the advantage in that you can shape bamboo more easily. Bamboo is also notable in the sense that it has a high strength weight ratio. It also is rather weather resistant.
*'''Scale armor''' - An early form of armour, sporting overlapping metal (cuirbouille and lacquered leather were also used) plates arranged in a similar fashion to roofing tiles, which were riveted/sewn onto a backing cloth or leather and oftentimes loosely laced together in rows. One of the earliest examples of armour, used predominantly in Eastern cultures most distinctly used to deck out their early heavy cavalrymen and horses both in this. These "Cataphracts" were said to be able [[Awesome|to get showered in arrows without getting hit]]. Used by Rome as the lorica squamata, apparently simultaneously with mail. The art of ''Grandes Chroniques de France'' shows (at least) helmets with such an appearance existed in Europe as lower class armor in or before 1270.
*'''Mirror armor''' - an early form of plate, this was a small round bronze plate attached to the torso. Besides physical protection, it was also believed to ward off the supernatural. The plate itself was frequently a supplement over a suit of mail, but plenty of poor warriors throughout ancient history made due with hoping that no one would hit them around the single non-encompassing plate they strapped to their chest (beats having no armor).
*'''[[Mail]]''' - the iconic armor made of interlocking rings. One of the most common and effective type of armor from the ancient world to the middle ages. Flexible and easy (though time-consuming) to make, it was widely used by many cultures. It was also significantly easier to repair, as a break could easily be mended by replacing a few rings, whereas a hole in plate armor might require a complete replacement. While fairly effective against foot soldiers, the crossbow and the lance charge required knights to wear extra armor over mail for additional protection. In the modern era, they are used for non-combative roles, such as shark suits, butcher's gloves, animal control, and dealing with high-power electrical wiring (because electrons "slide" along the mesh rather than penetrate", admittedly the mesh must be very tightly made). Some nations still use mail armor to supplement riot gear. Note that it MUST be backed with leather or something stiff, otherwise knives will drive it into the body. Just for the love of god: don't get shot. The British tested this in WW1 and the bullets ends up dragging the links into the body with it. They did wind up using it to protect crew inside a tank from spalling that was reliably created from even non-penetrating hits against its armor (early tank armor just wasn't very thick, and the issue lessened by the time of World War II's technological advances in tanks).
*'''Plated Mail''' - Also known as Mail and Plate armor or splinted mail, this is not what some sourcebooks refer to as platemail, which is basically just plate armor worn over a mail hauberk. Plated mail integrates metal plates into the rest of the mail pattern, ranging from large rectangular plates on areas like the chest, to small plates arranged like fish scales on areas that require more dexterity, such as near the shoulders and back. A form of transitional armor in Europe alongside brigandine as knights gradually shifted from full mail to plate armor, it was popular with medieval Slavs, Eastern Europeans, Persians, Indians, and other Asian kingdoms.
*'''Laminar armor''' - armor made from overlapping bands of metal. A predecessor to full-body plate armor, most famous example is the ancient Roman [[wikipedia:Lorica_segmentata|Lorica Segmentata]], though it was less prevalent among the Romans than is usually portrayed and mail remained in use among the Romans' frontline infantry, even in the Segmentata's heyday. Other examples existed such as the Dendra armour from Mycenaean Greece, some Warring State Period samurai armor once muskets were in use, or Renaissance Polish Hussars but the latter was held together by sliding rivets rather than leather strips and laces used in Greek and Roman versions of the armor.
*'''Lamellar armor''' - <s>Essentially scale armor sewn together</s> Not exactly. It's an armour made from overlapping pieces of leather, ivory/bone, or metal, each piece being laced side-by-side to create semi-rigid rows, which then are laced together to form a complete suit of armour. This form differs from other "overlapping plates" types of armour in that it is self-contained and does not rely on backing material to keep the all the pieces together (unlike Scale or Brigandine). Again it is one of the oldest types of armour (being found in places as widespread as Mesopotamia, Europe, the Central Asian Steppes, Pre-Columbian North America, and even the Arctic Circle) and was still in use as recently as 1930s.
*'''[[Samurai]] armor''' - depending on the period, it could be lamellar, laminar, or even western plate (but not wood. That has no basis in history). The helmet (kabuto) had a distinct shape that often featured ornaments and even a removable facemask (Darth Vader's helmet is said to be a hybrid of a kabuto and a German stahlhelm). Also notable for featuring one or two large [[pauldrons]] (called ''sode'') on the heavier models that protected the entire upper arm, and were used as small shields to absorb impacts while leaving both hands free for weapon handling. ([[Power Armour|Sounds familiar, huh?]])
**'''Ashigaru armor''' - Worn by conscripts, it featured the same kinds of breastplates, a lesser helmet (which was sometimes made of wood) and some minor stuff but was overall less complete than samurai armor. Eventually became a standardized, mass-produced design used by everyone after [[firearms]] made their entrée, relegating the heavier samurai armors to symbols of status.
*'''Brigandine''' - a.k.a "Corazzina,” “Coat-of-plates,” and “Jack of Plate” armor. Brigandine is a "poor man's plate" and was quite popular in medieval Europe as part of "transitional" armor alongside plated mail (when knights began transitioning from full mail to plate armor), when worn in combination with mail and metal splints covering the limbs. While it may not provide as sturdy protection compared to full plate, it was very easy to make and repair. Also, while not as flexible as mail, it had more rigid protection against blunt force trauma. In essence, it was a compromise between the two while also being cheaper. Even after nobles and knights began using full plate armor, it was still kept as a form of armor for all rank-and-file men-at-arms; even seeing use in the New World by colonists against the natives’ arrows. It was also widespread across all of Eurasia with evidence of its existence seen as far out as as Turkey, India, Russia, China, and even Japan. Often confused with "studded leather armour" or the padded cloth gambeson. In modern day warfare, ballistic vests with trauma plate inserts made from metal or ceramic on the front, back, and sides of the body are spiritual successors to this form of armor. <s>Construction-wise, it’s essentially an inverted suit of scale armor with the backing cloth on the outside</s> Not quite. Underneath the cloth and over the padding, a "brig" is built from overlapping plates of various sizes and shapes, riveted onto a leather or cloth "jacket", but it differs from other "overlapping plates" armours in that:
** A) the plates are *usually* bigger and shaped according to where they go on the armour (scale and lamellar mostly use same-sized, same-shape plates),
** B) they are riveted (or sewn in the Jack-of-Plate’s case) inside the leather/cloth and not on the outside and
** C) the plates are '''not''' linked together in any fashion and fully rely on their fastening to the backing to keep them where they're supposed to be.
*'''[[Plate armor]]''' - armor made from single, solid pieces of metal. Bronze plate armor had been used in ancient times, but was limited to helmets and sometimes breastplates due to the weight of the armor. Full suits of plate armor were not possible until improvements in smithing allowed for large bars of steel to be hammered out into single pieces. A popular misconception about full plate is that it's very hard to move in, to a point it's exclusive to cavalry. While this is true for a '''tourney plate''' specifically designed for maximum protection in jousting tournaments, an actual battle plate was designed with maximum mobility in mind, and it was not uncommon for a knight (or later an officer) to do a somersault or dance with his lady while testing his new plate armor. During and after the Renaissance, mass produced '''munitions plate''' armor appeared; this was usually a partial suit of armor that protected the chest, shoulders, and upper leg; it was partially effective against harquebus fire and early grenades but fell out of use as muskets proliferated.
*'''Jack Chains''' - if you were too poor to afford proper plate armor, you could at least add some metal reinforcements to your gambeson called Jack Chains. These were essentially gauntlets, elbow plates, and shoulder guards linked together by chains and attached to the arms so that one could, at bare minimum, block slashes to their sides without getting cut, or use it as a improv shield against incoming sword attacks.
*'''Makeshift Armor''' - Not really a set of armor in the traditional sense, generally makeshift armor is what ever one could scrounge up to make a protective wear. In the modern day, this is a protestor (think 2014 Ukraine Revolution) go to for long term engagement. Generally, motorcycle and safety helmets alongside heavy thick jackets, protective sports gear, or motorcycle gear would be the go to, as well as whatever one can strap to themselves. Don't be wearing something that might shatter easily though if you expect to be shot at, because that might manage to injure you even worse with the flying bits.
*'''Flak Jackets''' - The first standard-issue modern body armor to be developed, Flak Jackets were developed in WWII out of high-strength nylon to protect aircrews from fragments fired from flak cannons in conjuncture with manganese steel plates. While good against shrapnel and pistol rounds, it was still ineffective against rifle bullets. Before the invention of Kevlar and ballistic vests, this was the only kind of body armor available to modern soldiers expected to walk.
*'''Early 20th century armor''' - in WW1 and 2 many nations began experimenting with various forms of body armor to deal with shrapnel. This included steel breastplates, lamellar and steel plates in canvas carriers. This was more experimental than anything else. The biggest users of body armor in WW2 were the soviets who issued "steel bibs" to their soldiers. These could stop shrapnel fire and pistol bullets (a big deal given that Sub Machine Guns were a common infantry arm for urban combat) but were on the heavy side and were restricted to urban warfare or motorized infantry.
*'''Ceramic armor''' - Originally descended from the ceramic “Chicken plate” armor worn by helicopter gunship crews, it is typically, high-strength ceramic plates (typically made from boron carbide) are used as an energy-absorbing component in some ballistic vests (otherwise the wearer would suffer blunt trauma and internal bleeding from a bullet impacting the vest). A common myth is that Ceramic trauma plates shatter after only 1-2 hits. This somewhat of an exaggeration, although generally plates are certified to take one well aimed steel-cored 7.62x63/53 mm rifle round (in layman's terms, a armor piercing sniper bullet) straight in and anything more you get out of it is pushing your luck. These are some of the best plates for infantry.
*'''Ballistic vests''' - "bulletproof" armor vests able to stop bullets of varying sizes and speeds. For "soft" armor, the use of high-strength fibers that "catch" the projectile, thereby slowing them down enough to prevent them from penetrating, are used, typically for security guards, low-intensity combat areas jobs, and cops. For "hard" armor, ceramic/metal/ultra-high-strength plastic/combination-of-the-previous may be used in the form of solid plates. Body armor may come in as either a standalone vest (i.e. "soft" kevlar vest) or a carrier (which can further more simply be a holder for a solid plate or a combination of "soft" and "hard" armor). Options of groin, neck, and shoulder protection may be included with the vests but aren't used unless you're in a SWAT team or fighting in close quarters in a building.
**'''Ballistic Visor''' - A visor of transparent, bulletproof, plastic. Despite its weight, bulk and making it impossible to use a standard rifle properly, it's only really suitable against low powered handgun rounds and thus it sees little use outside of European SWAT counterparts.
*'''Blast suits''' - full-body armors capable of absorbing the heat and shrapnel of a bomb blast. The only part that isn't protected are the hands, since wearing thick gloves is detrimental to manual dexterity. So if a bomb goes off, you may be maimed and lose parts of your hands - but at least you're not dead or torn to ribbons by shrapnel! May also include a closed air supply in the case of biological or chemical bombs. Commonly worn by EOD technicians. Often used in TV shows, movies and video games to allow its user to shrug off gunfire. This is obviously false as the suit is designed to stop kinetic energy and shrapnel NOT bullets. Attempting to mimic media like that is a good way to end up like Swiss cheese.
*'''[[Power Armor]]''' - As of current, we already have prototype exoskeletons, but they're one of the many inventions that isn't in common use purely because of current limits on battery power (all current examples are plugged into a power source). There isn't as much a need for such strength in direct combat like in fiction, as it's designed more for load-bearing in mind, allowing for bigger, heavier guns and/or more ammo. However, that could include allowing the user to wear heavier armor as well. Generally speaking, the servos and external components are rather exposed. Think STALKER's exoskeleton for modern military exoskeleton prototypes. Frankly, you're more likely to find these systems being used by workers in a factory or maintenance depot than on the battlefield, and that will likely remain the case until the power situation is figured out. A rare case of mundane utility winning out over combat potential for first time deployment.

== Modern Body Armor ==
With modern technology and all it's amenities, a large choices of body armor exists on the market (the NIJ level approved list for body armor products consumes 212 pages on a PDF file, and that's just stuff the manufacturer has paid the considerable expense to have tested by the NIJ instead of in-house). That said it is good to know what levels of protection for both ballistic and melee threats are. The advent of modern style body armour came at the beginning of the Cold War, when military equipment became ever more complicated to handle and expensive to make. These two factors put an incentive in place for the military leaders of the world to invest more resources into the training of its Soldiers, but also to protect this training and money invested into it (as of writing this passage, the cost of the training alone is estimated by the Pentagon to range between 20-40.000 US-Dollars ''per soldier for just basic training''), as well as the outrageously expensive equipment they are carrying. Compare this to previous wars like World War 2, where 90 days were deemed sufficient enough to teach some basic tactics and the workings of an M1 Garand and whatever specialty gear the individual soldier was issued. Point being: The advancements in weapon lethality also made Soldiers much less expendable (ironically enough) than their previous incarnations.

[[image:NIJ Ballistic Protection Rating.JPG|thumb|250px|right|NIJ Ballistic Standard]]
[[image:UL 752 Bullet Resistance Chart.PNG|thumb|250px|right|UL 752 Ballistic Standard]]

*'''Ballistic threats''' Aka bullets most of the time. Soft body armor (aka Kevlar, UHMW Polyethylene, Dyneema, etc) that is rather flexible, but also vulnerable to high velocity threats. Thus most body armor of that class is relegated between II to IIIA. From there on out, it's hard body armor, which usually consists of some sort of metallic (usually steel, but titanium and high-strength aluminum are options too), ceramics, and composites. NIJ Standard III to IV stop those threats. Technically, though only rated up to 30-06 AP rounds (IV), some plates of body armor offer higher than IV. Some have even shown to stop a .50 BMG round, though the likelihood of one surviving such a shot from the sheer force of it hitting them even without going into them is still in question. Particularly when that burst of energy can still rupture organs or shatter bones. Standard helmets only go up to level III.
** Since some common threats are ''just'' above certain ratings, like 55 grain 5.56 from a 20 inch barrel penetrating level III or 5.7 pistols beating most soft armor, the NIJ system is currently undergoing an overhaul. While most western countries use NIJ rating standards, at least as a secondary, Russia has its own, completely unconnected, system for rating armor.

*'''Stab threats''' Protects against low speed, high mass stabbing objects (aka knives and maybe some small swords). Stab and piercing vest should not be trusted for higher level threats such a two handed weapons such as an pickaxe, sledgehammer, axe, spear, and even affixed bayonets. Even a knife in the hands of someone who can put an unusually high amount of force into stabbing can defeat a stab vest. However it is still great for stuff people would likely to conceal where rapid quick jabbing is likely to occur. Of course there is probably protective gear such as riot gear that could be more withstanding of heavier two handed threats, but it's likely best to not take a pickaxe to the chest in the first place.

Overlap between the two categories is minimal. Metal ballistic plates will stop knifes, though said plate covers minimal body area and is typically heavy. Soft armor is one or the other, though one could be worn over the other at the cost of bulk.

[[image:NIJ Stab level.PNG|thumb|200px|right|NIJ Stab standard]]

== Modern Materials ==
For soft armor vests, the original materials used to make the dozens of layers that catch bullets and absorb their energy were either silk, cotton, or nylon. Ultimately, they were replaced with high strength synthetic polymer fibers with Kevlar being the first invented in the the 1970's and replaced ballistic nylon. It's been competing ever since with over a dozen rival polymer formulas.
The standard hard armor trifecta of UHMWPE (essentially dense polymers ratched up to 11), Steel/titanium, and Ceramic usually places Ceramic at the top with the latter being first used on helicopter crews in the 1970's as well. As ceramic is not vulnerable to steel-core or fast-moving threats, it does not fold to M855 and M193 at the NIJ III level like UHMWPE and Steel do, respectively. What makes metals and UHMWPE appealing for plate inserts over ceramic is cost reduction and (assuming the plates haven't been penetrated yet) reusability. On the other hand, metal plate inserts need to be coated with high strength resins and polymer covers to prevent metal fragments from ricochets and spalling from hitting soldiers in the face or limbs.

== Yurop and Russia ==
Outside of the US, there are standards like VPAM and GOST, HOSDB and SK. Of these, the HOSDB is the only one not designed for military and civil use, while the rest are comprehensives intended for both military and civil protection.

Apparently as a result of corruption almost all of them were stolen and sold on the black market, since almost none of putin's troops have worn armor during his illegal invasion of Ukraine

==Anatomy of armor==
[[File:HenryVIIIArmor.jpg|right|thumb|300px|You thought we were joking about the dick armor?]]
Basic terminology of the different parts of armor. Unless you were very wealthy, such as a knight, not everyone had every part of their body covered in armor.

*[[Helmet]] - protects the head, one of the most common pieces of armor.
*Gambeson - padded cloth armor suit worn underneath metal armor to absorb blunt force and protect the wearer from the armor itself (metal and boiled leather aren't nice to unprotected humans skin, especially under extreme temperatures). Later variants often reinforced with sown-in mail in places actual metal armor above it have gaps and joints.
*Cuirass - protects the torso. If its made from a single piece of metal, it is a breastplate. Most breastplate are associated with full-body steel plate armor, but ancient Greeks had a bronze version called the "heroic Cuirass", or the Roman "Lorica Musculata", often molded with fake muscles and various decorations.
:*Plackart - lower torso reinforcement that would overlap with a breastplate for extra protection, and connected to the faulds. The reason for this reinforcement is to act as a cushion for blows to the chest, as there is enough space between the plackart and curiass that it acts as additional padding to prevent soft tissue damage underneath. Also enabled wearers to bend their torso sideways due the breastplate and backplate resting on the shoulders and around the ribcage while enveloped by the plackart around the midriff like a Russian matryoshka doll. Meanwhile the plackart and faulds being fastened around the hips enabled wearers to bend forwards, sideways, and backwards.
:*Faulds - a metal skirt attached to the breastplate, allowing some leg protection while offering mobility. Alternately, if the Faulds are in two pieces (one for each leg), they're known as Tassets. If a separate piece protects the ass, it's called a culet.
:*Lance Rest - the lone offensive feature of armor (aside from the rare spikes), enables holding using a lance with less energy wasted on sliding around. Makes the energy transfer so efficent that lances can actually break when used.
*Gorget - protects the neck and nape. With certain helmets, such as the Sallet, the gorget protected the lower head where the helmet did not.
**Bevor - a related piece of neck armor. Unlike the Gorget, these did not surround the entire neck but covered the front of the neck at the throat and chin. If segmented by folding laminate plates, it was called a Falling Buffe.
**Aventail - a mail curtain that hangs from the helmet to protect the neck, could be used in place of mail coife. It was itself replaced by the gorget.
*[[Pauldrons]] - protects the shoulders. The real life versions are nowhere near as big as those on space marines.
**Spaulder - Armor used to protect the upper arm between the vambrace and the pauldron. Later replaced by the simpler Rebrace (also called an Upper Cannon).
**Besagew - A circular plate that hangs from the spaulder to protect the armpit; because there aren't many good ways to protect places like the groin or armpits without limiting mobility, it might be flimsy but its better than nothing.
*Gauntlets - protects the hands.
*Bracers (also call vambraces or braces) - protects the forearms and wrists.
**Manica - Armor that covers an arm, used primarily by the Romans. Typically used to protect the sword arm when it leaves the safety of a shield, but gladiators are known to have worn just it and the attached pauldron.
**Couter (also called Cowter or Elbow Cop) - essentially a metal elbow guard.
*Greaves - similar to modern shin guards, they protects the legs.
**Poleyn (alternatively called Genouillere) - basically a metal knee guard.
*Sabatons - protects the feet (you don't want some smartass spearman stabbing at your unarmored feet now, would you?)
*Codpiece - Yes, believe it or not, you could get dick armor too. Ordinarily this was just to armor the [[Slaanesh|groin area]] like an athletic cup, but some people like King Henry VIII made [[Kaldor Draigo|massive codpieces]] to show off how well-endowed they were.
*Tabard - Technically not armor, but was the decorative sleeveless coat that would drape over the armor of knights. Besides being used as an identifier through the knight's [[Imperial Knight|heraldry]], it also shielded armor from the desert sun so that the knight wouldn't boil in their own armor. Another related piece of clothing was the Surcoat/Jupon.
**Sashimono - Japanese equivalent. Essentially a way for armor to hold a small flag. Associated more with ashigaru armor than samurai, but samurai did wear them as well.

== Warhammer 40k ==
*[[Flak Armor]]: This is actually a ballistic vest, not Flak armor. Think an ESAPI (or the new XSAPI) plate modeled off of a cuirass. It can withstand stubber fire all across, up to rifle caliber, so consider most modern rifle ammo utterly pointless and it can take a modest beating from lasguns. The problem is, it starts getting shaky at the 12.7mm level, which... Unfortunately for the Imperial Guard, a ''lot'' of stuff can be considered "higher" than said level.
*[[Carapace Armor]]: Better flak armor (the 40K kind which is a ballistic vest) but with much more coverage and better quality materials. Basically the equivalent to full-plated armor made of ceramite and plasteel, it's generally [[Neckbeard|heavier and cumbersome]], but only issued really to those more capable of making the most use out of it.
*[[Power Armour|Powered armor]]: Space marine general issue, as well as several powerful Imperial organizations. Comes with both long term and short term necessities, with high-grade ceramite and admantium for protection, stabilizing and targeting gear to assist, and general life support if the being inside doesn't already have some. Very fancy. Honestly, it has its own article for a reason and this list section would do it no justice.

== Armor in Fiction ==

Armors and material personal defense surprisingly does not deviate too much from the real world, i.e you have your pick of materials which are more or less exotic which may then be additionally augmented with magic, psyonics and other esoteric forces. One notable exception to the above is the so-called ''chitin'' armor which is basically armor made out of bug shells and parts, which depending on the hardiness of the buggo may offer a decent amount of protection, usually between chainmail and plate. Another even more esoteric variant is magical or energy armor - such as Dune's body-shields or conjured pieces of armor, both of these often feature hardiness that is more or less correlated to the amount of power that is needed to activate and maintain them.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Musclecuirass.JPG| Greek bronze Muscle Cuirass
Image:Linothorax.jpg| Greek Linothorax, a bronze-reinforced linen armor
Image:Roman Soldier mail.jpg|Roman Mail
Image:LoricaSegmentata.jpg|Roman Lorica Segmentata, a type of Laminar
Image:MirrorArmor.JPG|Mirror armor over a mail shirt
Image:ScaleArmor.JPG|Indian Scale armor
Image:Plated mail.jpg|Indian Plated Mail
Image:Bechter.jpg|Close-up of Eastern-European plated-mail pattern
Image:Koryak.jpg|Koryak warriors wearing traditional lamellar armour
Image:Lamellar.JPG|Japanese Lamellar
Image:Samurai armor.jpg|Japanese Laminar
Image:Gambeson.jpg| European Gambeson, a padded cloth armor used by both commoners and knights
Image:Brigandine.jpg|European Brigandine
Image:visby.jpg|Inside view of some DIYfag's homemade "Visby-pattern" brigandine
Image:Armor_evolution_middle-rennaisance_ages.jpg|A rough progression of European armor evolution ffrom the start of the High Middle Ages till the 17th century.
Image:Plate armor.jpg|European Plate
Image:FlakJacket.png| Flak Jacket
Image:BallisticVest.JPG|Ballistic Vest
Image:Bombsuit.jpg|Bombsuit
Image:IOTV_(OCP_variant).jpg|Improved Outer Tactical Vest
Image:SPS_(Soldier_Protection_System).jpg|Soldier Protection System, set to replace the IOTV in 2019. Designed with both mobility and protection in mind.
</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Fantasy Armor]] for one of the usual flame wars involved in "armor".
* [[Armor Save]]

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}