High-value target

In United States military terminology, a High-Value Target (HVT) is a target (a person or resource) that an enemy commander requires for completion of a mission. The term has been widely used in the media for Osama Bin Laden and high-ranking officers of Al-Qaeda who are considered essential to the completion of enemy operations.

Soldiers are often asked to do all that is possible to capture a HVT alive but, if that is impossible, they are given clearance to fire. Various tasked Joint Special Operations Task Forces (Task Force 145, Task Force 121, Task Force 11) have been established for the main purposes of killing or capturing these High Value Targets. Forces assigned to these tasked forces include units mainly from the Joint Special Operations Command such as the US Army Delta Force, US Navy SEAL Team Six, US Army 75th Ranger Regiment and elements of the British Army's SAS. The term has also become associated with secret US DoD programs to capture and interrogate terrorist leaders.

HVT language also applies in many other contexts, including the potential targeting of weapons of mass destruction.