Targeting is the process used to select objects or installations to be attacked, taken, or destroyed in warfare.

Technologically advanced countries can generally select their targets in such a way as to minimize collateral damage

Collateral damage

Collateral damage is damage to people or property that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome. The phrase is prevalently used as an euphemism for civilian casualties of a military action.-Etymology:...

 and civilian casualties. This can fall by the wayside, however, during unrestricted warfare. It can also refer to the targeting of the actual objective to be destroyed by military personnel, such as "painting" a target with a laser

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...

 for laser guided munitions, estimating range for artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

, etc.