Meteorology in field artillery ballistic calculations

Abstract

The most important meteorological data are:ambient temperature, precipitation quantity, air humidity, amount and type of clouds, atmospheric pressure, wind direction and speed, visibility, weather phenomena. These coefficients impact the effectiveness of various combat activities, especially those conducted in an open space. Knowledge of future weather conditions is essential for planning the location, calculating times, choice of means, and other aspects relevant to the upcoming operations. Taking weather conditions into account is vital, specifically when it comes to planning combat operations, where the accuracy in cooperation is of paramount importance. Rocket forces and artillery is a particular type of armed forces where weather conditions are critical. The effectiveness of artillery depends on ballistic calculation precision, and so knowledge of atmospheric conditions is fundamental. Atmospheric data are collected from sounding using a single probe attached to a balloon. It is generally known that particular meteorological parameters change in a smooth spatial manner depending on various coefficients. Information about the atmosphere collected by a single probe may be insufficient, due to the possibility of a balloon drifting away from the area of interest, and the calculations are based on data received from its probe. In this paper, I will suggest a method for preparing artillery use meteorologically, which takes into account the distribution of particular meteorological coefficients over a given area.