Artillery - Modern Operations - Time On Target

Time On Target

A technique called Time on Target was developed by the U.S. Army during World War II. This technique uses a precise determination of the time of flight from each firing battery to the target area. When a Time on Target (TOT) is designated each battery that will join in firing on that target subtracts the time of flight from the TOT to determine the time to fire. Individual firing batteries train to fire their rounds as close to simultaneously as possible. When each firing battery fires their rounds at their individual time to fire every round will reach the target area nearly simultaneously. This is especially effective when combined with techniques that allow fires for effect to be made without preliminary adjusting fires.

A similar effect may be obtained by a single battery firing sequential rounds with different trajectories, with all rounds timed to arrive simultaneously.