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An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over a ground burst is that the energy from the explosion, including any shell fragments, is distributed more evenly over a wider area; however, the peak energy is lower at ground zero.
Air bursts were used in the First World War to shower enemy positions and men with shrapnel balls to kill the largest possible number with a single burst. When infantry moved into deep trenches, shrapnel shells were rendered useless, and high-explosive shells were used to attack field fortifications. The time fuses for the shells could be set to function on contact or in the air, or at a certain time after contact.
Early anti-aircraft warfare used time fuses to function when they reached the estimated altitude of the target. During World War II a "proximity fuze" was developed for antiaircraft use, controlled by a Doppler radar device within the shell that caused it to explode when near the target. The idea was later adapted for use against ground targets.
During the Vietnam War, air bursting shells were used to great effect to defend bases. This tactic was known as "Killer Junior" when referring to or shells, and "Killer Senior" when employed with larger .Major General David Ewing Ott. FIELD ARTILLERY, 1954–1973. Department of the Army. Washington, D.C., 1975.
Some anti-personnel such as Germany's World War II "S-mine" fire a grenade into the air, which detonates at waist level, increasing the blast radius and harm inflicted by detonation, shock wave, and flying splinters.
A relatively recent example of airburst munitions is the VOG-25P "jumping" caseless grenade, which contains a secondary charge to launch it up to above its point of impact before the main charge detonates. Another recent development is a computer programmable air burst grenade with fire control system. using this technology include the XM29, XM307, PAPOP, Mk 47 Striker, XM25, Barrett XM109, K11, QTS-11, Norinco LG5 / QLU-11, and Multi Caliber Individual Weapon System.
Orbital ATK developed air burst rounds for .
Some nuclear weapons have a contact preclusion fuzing feature to prevent the backup contact fuze from detonating the weapon if the air burst fuzing fails.
In nuclear warfare, air bursts are used against soft targets (i.e. lacking the hardened construction required to survive overpressure from a nuclear explosion) such as cities in countervalue targeting, or airfields, radar systems and mobile ICBMs in counterforce targeting.
The term Killer Junior was applied to this technique when used with or howitzers, and the term Killer Senior applied to its use with the M115 howitzer. The term "Killer" came from the call-sign of the battery which developed the technique. The technique was later perfected by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Dean, commander of the 1st Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, of the 25th Infantry Division Artillery.
Killers Junior and Senior were developed as alternatives to the Beehive flechette rounds previously used against nearby enemy troops. The advantage of the Killer techniques over Beehive is that the airburst projects fragments in all directions, and is able to wound enemies crawling or lying in defilade, whereas the flechettes of a Beehive round would simply fly harmlessly over a low target.
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