Strafing is the military tactic used in modern warfare to attack ground forces, such as infantry, artillery, or armor units from low-flying fighters or light bombers using machine guns and small-caliber cannons. "Strafing" derives from the verb "to strafe", which in turn derives from the German verb "strafen", which means to punish. Using their biplane or triplane fighters, the German "Fliegertruppen" was the first air force to use this air tactic to attack enemy infantry troops that charged across No Man´s Land during World War I in their attempt to take the German trenches.
In the 1930s and during World War II new aircraft were specifically designed for ground attacks. The Germans used the Junkers Ju 87 Stukas, the Messerschmitt Bf 110, and the Messerschmitt Me 210 as ground attack dive bomber and fighters respectively. Strafing enemy troops with these aircraft was an integral part of the German Blitzkrieg. In the last three years of that war, the Americans had at their disposal the P-51 Mustang, a fighter/interceptor aircraft which was also used for strafing German armored units with rockets and anti-tank bombs. The last time strafing was used was during the Iraqi war when the US Air Force used the A-10 Warthog for strafing Iraqi tanks with 30mm-caliber gatling cannon that shot depleted-uranium amunition which pierced the Soviet-made Iraqi tanks steel armor.
