Toss bombing

Toss bombing (sometimes known as loft bombing, and by the U.S. Air Force as the Low Altitude Bombing System, or LABS) is a method of bombing where the attacking aircraft pulls upward when releasing its bomb load to compensate for the weapons’ gravity drop in flight. Starting the payload’s ballistic path with an upward vector buys additional time.

The purpose of toss bombing is to allow an aircraft to bomb a target without flying directly over it. The technique both avoids overflying a heavily defended target and distances the attacking aircraft from the blast effects of either conventional or nuclear weapons.