Counts output IP datagrams with no delivery problem that were nonetheless discarded, for example due to lack of buffer space, and the DESCRIPTION notes it would include any forwarded packets that met this discretionary criterion. On a busy gateway this counter rising alongside ipForwDatagrams growth is a sign the outbound path is buffer-starved under load, a subtler capacity problem than an interface error since the packets were otherwise fine to send. Example: ipOutDiscards ticking up only during peak business hours, in step with ipForwDatagrams, points to transient output-buffer exhaustion under peak load rather than a persistent hardware fault.