METHOD FOR SETTING AN AUTOMATIC WEAPON FOR COMBATING VEHICLES

Defence weapons which are triggered automatically by a vehicle are already used for combating vehicles, especially tanks. Weapons of this type are used to defend a strip of land which generally corresponds to their range. The weapon should be aligned in such a way that the land between it and the furthest possible target or combat point is as flat as possible. However, rather than being flat, the land between the furthest possible combat point and the defence weapon usually deviates downwards by a greater or lesser degree in relation to the firing axis with this point. This results in a vertical sighting error in relation to different target distances, caused by the land. A fixed weapon with unguided projectiles does not take into account the different excessive heights of the ballistic trajectories for the different distances. The probability of a hit is therefore reduced as a result of topographical differences. The aim of the invention is to reduce this problem. According to the inventive method, the topography of the land within the range of action of the weapon in relation to the location of the launching device is determined and stored in a memory for controlling the device for adjusting the weapon. The information is then used to align the weapon with the target and set the launching angle respectively.