Which term describes the incidental effect on objects that would not be lawful military targets?

• A. Collateral damage estimation (CDE)
• B. Collateral effect (CE)
• C. CID
• D. PID

Answer: (B)

Collateral effect describes the incidental impact on objects that would not be lawful military targets. When you strike a legitimate target, it’s possible for nearby, unintended objects to suffer damage as a side consequence. This term specifically names that incidental, non-target harm. In planning, there’s also collateral damage estimation, which is the process of predicting those effects to assess whether they’re proportional and can be mitigated. The other terms don’t refer to the incidental effect itself in this context, so they don’t fit as neatly.