• absentbird@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Maybe there’s some military specifics I don’t understand, but ballistic basically means unguided, and a missile is either a self propelled projectile or a forcibly propelled projectile. Wouldn’t that include artillery? Like an arrow can be called a missile, that’s where the term comes from.

      • absentbird@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It can historically refer to any weapon which is shot or propelled towards a target; slings, arrows, magic missile, etc. but I guess that would be confusing with all the modern ordinance in use.