Shoot-and-scoot

Shoot-and-scoot

The term shoot and scoot refers to an artillery tactic of firing at a target and then immediately moving away from the location where the shots were fired. The reason for this is to avoid counter-battery fire - fired by enemy artillery or delivered by attack aircraft and helicopters, in order to suppress or destroy the battery or batteries. The need for such tactics in World War II became obvious from the noticeable smoke signature produced by the use of anti-tank infantry weapons such as the M1 bazooka, Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck, and also by the various models of Nebelwerfer and Wurfrahmen 40 German barrage rocket systems.

Shoot and scoot was originally made possible and used by Soviet Katyusha rocket artillery, whose rudimentary construction of rails on a truck chassis made it comparatively light and mobile, while its quick 7-10 second full salvo, slow reload, and complete lack of protection made switching positions its main tactic and best defense.

Shoot and scoot tactics were first adopted by NATO in the early 1960s by its nuclear artillery units using towed 8-inch Howitzers and truck-mounted MGR-1 Honest John rockets. These operated as single guns or launchers, typically deployed to a hide, came into action when given a nuclear fire mission, fired and immediately came out of action and moved to another hide adjacent to another firing position. These tactics became normal for missile units and were successfully used by Iraqi missile units in the 1991 Gulf War.

Similar tactics were adopted by Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) platoons when it entered service, although in this case the launchers usually went first to a reload site after firing. It may be used by Indian Pinaka MBRL or Russian Grad, Uragan and Smerch, although originally systems like Grad used more traditional tactics.

The tactic has also been adapted and adopted for more general use with self-propelled gun batteries (such as the US M109 Paladin or German PzH2000).

A refined version are gun manoeuvre areas developed by UK for use by AS90 batteries when the counter-battery threat is high. These areas cover several square kilometres and the guns move around in them in pairs. The difficult decision is deciding how long guns can remain in one place before moving. This requires judgement about the enemy's counter-battery responsiveness. In these areas, the battery's command elements remain in one place and there are various options for replenishing the guns' on-board ammunition. The tactic is affected by the rate of fire of the manoeuvring guns and the time it takes them to come out of action. However, it is also very wearing on the gun crews and for sustained use relief crews are essential.

Non-autonomous guns can use the tactic, but it is far less effective because it requires each firing position be surveyed before the guns arrive and external orientation when they arrive, which may mean the guns move in larger groups. These preparations take time and can mean the guns are out of action for longer than they are in-action, although if the enemy's counter-battery capability is limited, the tactic can be effective.

South African Defence Force G6 Howitzers used the technique very effectively in Angola against Cuban forces in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.