A flare is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a short- or long-duration brilliant light without an explosion. Flares are sometimes launched into the air with a rocket or dropped from an aircraft and then suspended from a small parachute to slow its descent, providing a temporary source of light for a large area of land. Otherwise artillery pieces fire parachute-flares over battlefield targets when ground forces need light for attacks. Clusters of coloured flares were dropped from lead planes, or special pathfinders, in WWII to mark targets for bombers in an attempt to improve accuracy of the bomb aimers.

Some flares were small and easy to drop in streams. They were used to illuminate targets, such as submarines, at low level. Nowdays flares are launched from anti-submarine aircraft from a fixed, multi-barrel, ejector on the sides of the fuselage.

There are versions of flares designed for use on the ground as a signal, for example a distress signal. Flares generally produce their light through the combustion of magnesium metal, sometimes colored by the inclusion of other metals. Calcium flares are used underwater for illumination.

A special variety of flare is used in military aircraft to defend against heat-seeking missiles, such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder or the AA-2 Atoll. These flares are usually discharged individually or in salvoes by the pilot or automatically by tail-warning devices, and are accompanied by high-g evasive action. Naturally, these flares produce a great deal of heat and relatively little light.

See also:

• Very flare (WWI)

A gas flare is a tall chimney used by oil wells and refineries to vent waste natural gas and other flammable gases that are not economical to retain. The flammable gases are burned as they exit the chimney producing a weak to a bright flame depending upon the gas being exhausted. The same flare chimney is a safety device in an emergency, by allowing instant stoppage of the flow of volatile, production, liquids and for them to be vented to the flare-stack instead of damaging the plant by hammer forces.

Also known as bell-bottoms, flares are a style of pants in which the bottom ends of the legs broaden out into wide bell-like shapes. Popular in the 1970s.

A solar flare is an eruption of plasma from the surface of the sun. Solar flares result in a surge in the density and velocity of the solar wind that can cause radiation-damage to equipment located outside the protection of Earth's, or another planet's, magnetosphere.

A flare is also an aircraft landing manoeuvre. The pilot arrests the steady descent of the aircraft, near the runway, by raising the nose of the aircraft, relatively sharply, and uses lift to overcome descent-inertia and arrest the speed of descent. The increasing ground-effect on wing-lift helps smooth the landing as foreward speed decreases quickly with the increased drag from the higher angle of attack.

Flare is a Canadian fashion and style magazine.

See also Flare Technology