Sortie
Sortie is a term for deployment of one military
aircraft or a
ship for the purposes of a specific mission, whether alone, or with other aircraft or vessels. In
military aviation, it is used to indicate the total usages of individual machines, so that (for example) a group of six planes flying six missions each would amount to 36
sorties.
The term originated in
naval usage but was carried over to aircraft. In
French,
sortie literally means "exit." It has evolved to mean a short period of conflict, as in the time when the vehicles and vessels are away from their carrier or local berth.
In
siege warfare, a
sortie, or sudden issuing of troops against the enemy from a defensive position, can be launched against the besiegers by the defenders, often through a
sally port.
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