Yeah, as far as I know, the real origin of the term is for shooting targets (or people), so you are literally double tapping the trigger. That way, if the first round doesn’t hit (or doesn’t kill), the second will.

The uncertainty piece is key, though. If they fired a missile and werent sure if it hit by the time they launched the second, they could accurately call that a double-tap. That’s what hegseth seems to be trying to push, especially with his reference to “fog of war”.

The moment you know the first shot destroyed the target, it ceases to be a double-tap.

I just don’t like how they are trying to absolve themselves through language they know will be misinterpreted, and then the media just parrots it with no issue.

P.s., to be clear, whether it is a double tap doesn’t change much to me because the first missile was already a war crime.

Even articles condemning this attack refer to it as a “double-tap” strike, which is really misleading because that insinuates quick succession. An attack followed by a separate attack an hour later is not a double-tap