High Explosive

High Explosive (HE) is a type of warhead/munition used in a variety of weapons, particularly Autocannons and Artillery. A High Explosive weapon contains a large quantity of military-grade explosive material (TNT, C4, or others) which detonates when triggered.

The term "High Explosive" can technically refer to any munitions that cause an explosion, but is typically used when the intended explosion of the warhead does not have a specific direction nor utilizes special physics. The explosion and shockwave spread out equally in all directions, damaging anything around them. This is in contrast to specialized High Explosive munitions like HEAT or HEDP which direct their explosion in such a way as to puncture armor or cause some different effect.

High Explosive warheads are fired by pretty much every Artillery weapon, from Mortars and upwards. The shells are packed with so much explosive material that they can affect targets within a very wide area around the impact point. High Explosives are also used in the tips of Autocannon rounds to increase their area-of-effect on impact. Finally, high explosive Bombs are carried by players in certain missions, and can be set on a target and detonated remotely (or with a timed detonator) to destroy that target and anything around it.

High Explosives are typically best against Infantry. A larger high explosive shell or charge can easily damage or even destroy buildings and vehicles. However, it lacks the penetrating ability to pierce heavy armor (e.g. Tanks and IFVs), but can disable exposed systems and tracks.

Specifications
High Explosives are some of the oldest weapons still in use today. In physics and chemistry, the term refers to any material that turns into gas extremely rapidly when ignited. This forms a cloud of gas that expands at super-sonic speeds, causing a powerful shockwave that can damage any solid object in its path. The more explosive material is contained within the warhead, the larger and more powerful the explosion.

The strictest military definition of "High Explosive" refers only to weapons which spread their effect (the shockwave) equally in all directions. A High Explosive will therefore damage anything around it, and its effect will only be stopped by very sturdy, solid materials such as packed earth, armor, or reinforced concrete. Nevertheless, a large enough High Explosive can shatter even the strongest materials.

The explosive material can be packed into a variety of delivery mechanisms, the most common being Bombs and Shells. High Explosive Bombs can be placed directly on or near the target and detonated remotely or using a timer; whereas High Explosive Shells can be fired from a greater distance away. Damage to the target is affected by the size of the explosion as well as the distance between the epicenter of the blast from the target, meaning that it is necessary to hit closer to the target to ensure maximum damage.

Sub-Categories
High Explosives were invented many centuries ago. Since then, new explosive materials have been developed that increase the effect relative to weight, the stability of the explosive, and so on - but have not fundamentally changed the effect itself or the types of targets it can be used against.

On the other hand, the past few centuries have seen the development of several other types of warheads that utilize High Explosive materials to create a variety of different effects, particularly increasing the explosion's effectiveness against armor and infantry. While these can also technically be grouped together with High Explosives, these weapons are typically referred to with different names that describe their special effect.


 * High Explosive Fragmentation (HE-Frag): A high explosive weapon encased in a "fragile" casing that will shatter into a large number of shrapnel fragments on explosion. The shrapnel is more likely to kill nearby infantry than the explosion itself.
 * High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT): Uses high explosives to generate a hypersonic jet of metal that can effectively pierce thick armor, although it generates very little area effect. Used primarily to kill Tanks and other armored vehicles.
 * High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP): A mix between HEAT and HE-Frag. These warheads use the HEAT effect to puncture armor, but the explosion also shatters its casing into shrapnel which can kill or maim infantry close to the explosion. Effective against light/medium armor and infantry alike.

Weapons
High Explosives can be delivered to the target in two primary ways: Either as Shells or as a manually-placed Bomb. The effect on the target is similar in all cases (directly proportional to the size of the explosive charge).

Artillery
All forms of Artillery from Mortars upwards have access to High Explosive shells, and will typically fire such shells. Grenade Launchers, a borderline type of hand-held artillery weapon, typically fire HEDP shells instead.

High Explosive Shells fired by Artillery carry a massive amount of high explosive material relative to their size, hence each shell causes a very large explosion. A single Heavy Artillery shell has a destructive radius of a few dozen meters around the impact point. With multiple shells fired in a single barrage, artillery can easily flatten a large area. A single heavy artillery shell can level a small building in a single hit, and the explosion is powerful enough to threaten Tanks by damaging their tracks or externally-mounted equipment. Nevertheless, even a direct impact is unlikely to penetrate armor.

Mortars, while firing smaller shells than heavy artillery, are still exceptionally dangerous. The explosive radius of a High Explosive mortar shell has an explosive radius of around a dozen meters. Infantry caught in the blast are likely to be killed outright or seriously wounded. Mortars are far less likely to cause damage to armored vehicles, but are still capable of leveling buildings given a sufficient number of hits.

Autocannon
Modern automatic cannons (Autocannons) are commonly found on Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Attack Helicopters and some Jets. They fire large-caliber shells, typically 20mm and upwards in diameter. Almost all autocannon shells (especially in ArmA) carry small high-explosive warheads.

The explosive power of these shells is proportionally small, slightly weaker than the average Hand Grenade. Nevertheless, they are fired at an extremely high rate, causing many explosions in the target zone. This makes them extremely effective against softer targets, such as Infantry and light vehicles - up to and including APCs. The explosions make autocannon shells significantly more effective than bullets of the same diameter.

Bomb
A very common form of High Explosive is the Bomb. This is simply a pack of stable high explosive material, attached to a detonator that can set it off whenever required. A Bomb is carried by Infantry, and must be set manually at the target, then detonated using whichever mechanism is available. Since bombs are usually comprised of a large quantity of explosive material, they can cause a lot of damage to the target, and usually have such a massive explosive radius that the infantry must take care to put a lot of distance between themselves and the bomb before it is detonated.

The two primary types of detonators available in ArmA are Clackers and Timers. Clackers are used for manual detonation, allowing the player carrying the clacker to trigger the bomb whenever they want (usu. once they've moved a sufficient distance from the bomb). Timers are much more common, and will tick down from a given amount of time and then explode. If players have access to both types of detonators, they will choose the correct detonator for the given situation as necessary.

Bombs are relatively heavy devices, and players only carry them when the mission requires destroying some target objective. One or two charges may be carried by each Fireteam, along with a sufficient number of detonators. A Bomb will only be placed when authorization to do so has been given by the unit's commanding officer. Players must make sure to notify any friendlies in the area to evacuate immediately.

Aerial Bomb
Not to be confused with an infantry-carried bomb (see above), Aerial Bombs are explosive devices dropped from Jets. Typically lacking any internal guidance device, the bomb detaches from the aircraft and falls in an arc, exploding on contact with the ground or any other solid object. Bombs are typically the heaviest type of weapon carried by any aircraft.

Jets use Aerial Bombs typically to attack large concentrations of infantry, built-up areas or fortifications, or stationary vehicles. Since they lack guidance equipment, they are too imprecise to use against moving targets, but the large explosive radius of an aerial bomb means that it can still be effective against moving light vehicles if they can be caught within the blast (although somewhat wasteful).

Aerial Bombs tend to be the largest available High Explosive weapons, and proportionally the most destructive. They are so powerful that a direct hit on a heavy armored vehicle (e.g. a Tank) actually stands a chance of destroying it, despite the lack of focused penetration ability. The explosion may actually lift the vehicle off the ground and flip it over!