(military, also attributively and figurative) A noun "sortie" represents an attack made by troops from a besieged position or an operational flight carried out by a single military aircraft.

(by extension) An act of venturing out to do a task, attempting to enter a new field of activity, a spacecraft's operational flight involving a return to earth, an entry to a fortification, or a series of aerial photographs taken during an aircraft's flight.

(intransitive) To carry out a sortie; to sally.