Indirect Fire

[boggo2300]

there is a reason that Snipers are not FO's and FO's are not snipers now, they are needed in different places doing different things

 

[Condottiere]

That depends on what you expect, and train, them to do.

 

[phavoc]

You could target a location (fortification, elementary school crossing, etc.) but if you wanted to hit something not fixed on a map, then you'd need a smart round or some sort of guidance once you reached line of sight.

So if you want to blow up a bridge, no problem.

If you want to hit the tank that crossed the bridge 3 minutes ago, then you're guessing where it would be and aiming for a set of coordinates with the hope that your guess is accurate.

Depends on the type of round you are using, and timing. If, for example, you see an armored column coming your way and you can roughly determine the timing of when they will reach X area, AND you know your arty team is prepped with a laser-guided round or two in the tubes, you can call in your fire and lase your target when the round is inbound and let it ride your beam down to impact. But you need to know your stuff to make all that happen in a very short timeframe (that and you already need to have the coordinates to the area around you).

On a modern battlefield your lasing time is limited as detectors can back-track your beam to it's origin and fire on it (or you), hoping to disrupt or destroy the laser. I would suspect in such a case small drones or remote-controlled lasers operated via cable (so as not to give off emissions) would be best. It would be easy enough to set up targetting lasers with cameras connected by fiber optics from a nice deep hole somewhere nearby so you don't expose yourself to enemy fire.

Similar tactics were proposed with early guided missiles - fire at possible locations where the gunners were to make them flinch or duck, thereby decreasing the accuracy of the missile. With the longer range, guidance and speed of missiles today it's not as much of a thing.

 

[Sigtrygg]

there is a reason that Snipers are not FO's and FO's are not snipers now, they are needed in different places doing different things

That is dependent on the Army you are talking about.
The fieldcraft skills taught to snipers and forward observers have considerable overlap, often they are on the same courses.