什麼是高射炮

從地面或甲板上射擊的抵禦空襲的火炮（artillery）。第一次世界大戰中首次使用，將野戰炮改裝成用於防空的炮，但是瞄準手段不夠好。1920年代和1930年代，測距儀（range finder）、探照燈、定時引信和瞄準機構都有了巨大的發展。第二次世界大戰中，出現了速射自動高射炮，雷達用於跟蹤目標，小型無線電近炸引信在彈頭接近目標時使之起爆。英、美軍隊廣泛使用瑞典博福斯公司最先生產的40公釐高射炮來對付俯衝轟炸機和低空攻擊機，它能將炮彈以120發／分的射速射至2哩（3.2公里）高。對付高空飛行的轟炸機的重型高炮的口徑達到120公釐。高射炮中效果最好的是德國88公釐的高射炮（Fliegerabwehrkanone），它的縮略語flak成爲防空火力的通用語。隨着1950年代和1960年代間裝備地對空導彈（guided missile），諸如此類的重型高炮便退役了，不過口徑爲20～40公釐的雷達制導的自動高炮仍然能有效地防禦低空飛行的飛機和直升機。

antiaircraft gun

Artillery piece fired from the ground or shipboard in defense against aerial attack. They were first used in combat in World War I, when field artillery were converted to antiaircraft use by mountings that enabled them to fire nearly vertically. Range finders and searchlights, developed in the 1920s and '30s, increased their effectiveness. Advances in World War II included rapid-firing and automatic weapons, radar for target tracking, and radio-operated fuses. British and U.S. forces used a 40-mm gun that fired ammunition to a height of 2 mi (3.2 km). Heavier guns, up to 120 mm, were used against high-flying bombers. For most of the war, the most effective was the German 88-mm Fliegerabwehrkanone; its abbreviated name, flak, became a universal term for antiaircraft fire. With the introduction of guided missiles in the 1950s and '60s, heavy antiaircraft guns were phased out, though lighter radar-guided automatic guns remained effective against low-flying aircraft and helicopters.