Editing Guerrilla warfare (section)

=== Improvised artillery ===
[[File:Improvised-mortars-batey-haosef-1-1.jpg|thumb|Improvised mortars in Batey ha-Osef Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel.]]

Improvised and homemade mortars, howitzers and rocket launchers have been used by [[insurgency|insurgent]] groups to attack fortified military installations or to terrorize civilians. They are usually constructed by in a variety of different ways, for example, from heavy steel piping mounted on a steel frame. These weapons may fire factory-made or improvised rounds, and can contain many different explosive fillers and firing mechanisms. 

"[[Barrack buster]]" is the colloquial name given to several improvised mortars developed in the 1990s by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (PIRA) during [[The Troubles]]. There was several different versions of these mortars constructed by the PIRA, with the most commonly used being the Mark 15 320mm mortar, which fired a projectile constructed of a gas cylinder filled with 196-220 pounds (89-100 kg) of homemade explosives which was remarked as having the effect of a "flying [[car bomb]]", and was used in several different attacks on [[British Army]] and [[Royal Ulster Constabulary|RUC]] bases. It was also used in attacks on a number of British helicopters, two of which were successfully shot down in 1994; a British Army [[Westland Lynx]] multipurpose helicopter, and an [[RAF]] [[Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma]] transport helicopter. Several other types of improvised mortars were created by the PIRA during the Troubles, including the "Mark 16” or "Projected Recoilless Improvised Grenade", which was used more like a rocket launcher and fired a projectile made of a tin can filled with 600g of [[Semtex]], the "Mark 12” or "Improvised Propelled Grenade" which fired a 40 ounce (1.1 kg) warhead horizontally at security forces bases and vehicles, and the "Mark 10”, which fired a 44–220 pound (20–100 kg) warhead, one of which was responsible for the first intentional killing of a British soldier in a mortar attack. Because of the weight of these mortars, they often had to be transported on vehicles such as tractors and vans.

[[Improvised artillery in the Syrian civil war|Improvised artillery]] has been used extensively by various factions of the [[Syrian opposition]] during the [[Syrian civil war]] as a way of making up for deficits in the quantity of military-grade artillery. These "Hell Cannons", as they are known, have been used by various anti-government and Jihadist groups and can fire both improvised and factory-made rounds. The first of these weapons were made in 2012 by the Islamist [[Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade]] in the [[Idlib Governorate]] around the city of [[Binnish]] before the manufacturing was moved to [[Aleppo]] by the [[Free Syrian Army]]'s [[16th Division (Syrian rebel group)|16th Division]] which also appropriated the design. The knowledge spread to other groups in Syria, including the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]]. Variants of these cannons have also been developed by rebel forces, including the "Thunder Cannon" made from the body of a 100mm tank gun round, the "Mortar Cannon" made by the FSA's 16th Division that fires factory-made rounds, a compressed air cannon made by [[Ahrar al-Sham]], the "Hellfire Cannon" and a number of multi-barrelled cannons such as the 4-barrelled "Quad Hell Cannon" and the 7-barrelled "Bureji" which is named after a [[Bureij|Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza]].