 This leaves the projectile traveling at high velocity with a smaller cross-sectional area and reduced aerodynamic drag during the flight to the target (see external ballistics and terminal ballistics).Germany developed modern sabots under the name ""treibspiegel"" ("thrust mirror") to give extra altitude to its anti-aircraft guns during the Second World War.Before this, primitive wooden sabots had been used for centuries in the form of a wooden plug attached to or breech loaded before cannonballs in the barrel, placed between the propellant charge and the projectile.