Anti-aircraft warfare , or air defence , is any method of engaging hostile military aircraft in defence of ground objectives, ground or naval forces or denial of passage through a specific airspace region, area or anti-aircraft combat zone. The anti-aircraft combat zone is defined by the technical capabilities of the available defensive weapons to engage the targets. It is also used in denying entry into national air space to unauthorized aircraft.
From the initial introduction of aircraft into combat during the First World War the means to achieve air defense included infantry firearms, light anti-aircraft weapons, cannons and anti-aircraft artillery as well as barrage balloons and interceptor aircraft, with all aided by radar installations, growing in power and accuracy over the course of the 20th century, particularly with the introduction of the surface-to-air missile to self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons.
Origin of the term
Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA , AAA or triple-A , an abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery , ack-ack (from the World War I phonetic alphabet for AA), archie (a WWI British term probably coined by Amyas Borton and believed to derive via the Royal Flying Corps from the music-hall comedian George Robey's line "Archibald, certainly not!"), and flak (from the German Fl ieger a bwehr k anone , aircraft defence cannon). An anti-aircraft missile is another name for a surface-to-air missile, abbreviated and pronounced "SAM".
The United States Navy uses the term anti-air warfare (AAW); most groups of ships have a designated AAW commander among them, while the United States Army has an Air Defense Artillery branch. The Soviet Anti-Air Defense was a separate armed service, but in Russia it has been subordinated to the Air Force. The United States Army has generally been able to count on air superiority to reduce the threat from air attack on its ground units, and settles for a two-tier structure: the man-portable Stinger missile (fired by troops or from vehicles) and the anti-aircraft/anti-missile Patriot system. Depending upon the threat perception of the country or to increase the reliability of ground defence a country can opt for extra tiers of defence. Russia, for example, has a system consisting of battalion-level Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADS), regimental Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) (typically autocannon and IR/SACLOS SAMs), divisional SHORAD (typically short-ranged radar guided SAMs), medium range Army level (SA-11) and long range Front level (SA-12) systems.
AA warfare systems
Although the firearms used by the infantry can be used to engage air targets, on occasion with notable success, they are in general not effective against modern jet aircraft, or aircraft designed for the ground attack role. Adaptations of the standard autocannon, originally intended for air-to-ground use, and heavier artillery systems were commonly used for most anti-aircraft gunnery, starting with standard pieces on new mountings, and evolving to specially designed guns with much higher performance prior to World War II. The ammunition and shells fired by these weapons are usually fitted with different types of fuses (barometric, time-delay, or proximity) to send exploding metal fragments into the area of the airborne target. For shorter-range work, a lighter weapon with a higher rate of fire is required, to increase a hit probability on a fast airborne target. Weapons between 20 mm and 40 mm caliber have been widely used in this role. Smaller weapons, typically .50 caliber or even 8 mm rifle caliber guns have been used in the smallest mounts.
Unlike the heavier guns, these smaller weapons are in widespread use due to their low cost and ability to quickly follow the target. Classic examples of autocannons and large caliber guns are the 40 mm autocannon and the 8,8 cm FlaK 18, 36 gun, both designed by Bofors of Sweden. Artillery weapons of this sort have for the most part been superseded by the effective surface-to-air missile systems that were introduced in the 1950s, although still retained by many nations. The development of surface-to-air missiles began in Nazi Germany during the late World War II with missiles such as the Wasserfall though no working system was deployed before the war's end, and represented new attempts to increase effectiveness of the anti-aircraft systems faced with growing threat from the bombers. Land-based SAMs can be deployed from fixed installations or mobile launchers, either wheeled or tracked. The tracked vehicles are usually armoured vehicles specifically designed to carry SAMs.
Larger SAMs may be deployed in fixed launchers, but can be towed/re-deployed at will. The SAMs launched by individuals are known in the United States as the M an- P ortable A ir D efence S ystems (MANPADS). MANPADS of the former Soviet Union have been exported around the World, and can be found in use by many armed forces. Targets for non-ManPAD SAMs will usually be acquired by air-search radar, then tracked before/while a SAM is "locked-on" and then fired. Potential targets, if they are military aircraft, will be identified as friend or foe before being engaged. The developments in the latest and relatively cheap short-range missiles have begun to replace autocannons in this role.
The interceptor aircraft (or simply interceptor) is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, particularly bombers, usually relying on high speed and altitude capabilities. A number of jet interceptors such as the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-106 Delta Dart, and the MiG-25 were built in the period starting after the end of World War II and ending in the late 1960s, when they became less important due to the shifting of the strategic bombing role to ICBMs. Invariably the type is differentiated from other fighter aircraft designs by higher speeds and shorter operating ranges, as well as much reduced ordnance payloads.
The radar systems use electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of aircraft and weather formations to provide tactical and operational warning and direction, primarily during defensive operations. In their functional roles they provide target search, threat, guidance, reconnaissance, navigation, instrumentation, and weather reporting support to combat operations.
History
Earliest use
The use of balloons by the Union Army during the American Civil War compelled the Confederates to develop methods of combating them. These included the use of artillery, small arms, and saboteurs. They were unsuccessful, but internal politics led the Union's Balloon Corps to be disbanded in midwar. For further information, see Confederate Responses to Union Balloon Operations during the American Civil War, in the Spring 2007 issue of the American Association of Aviation Historians Journal.
The earliest known use of weapons specifically made for the anti-aircraft role occurred during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the disaster at Sedan, Paris was besieged and French troops outside the city started an attempt at resupply via balloon. Gustav Krupp mounted a modified 1-pounder gun (~32 mm) on top of a horse-drawn carriage for the purpose of shooting down these balloons, the ballonkanone .
World War I
Given this early history, it is perhaps not surprising that it was only in Germany that development of anti-aircraft guns continued. In 1909, a number of Krupp's designs were shown, including adaptations of their 65 mm 9-pounder, a 75 mm 12-pounder, and even a 105 mm gun. By the start of World War I, the 75 mm had become the standard German weapon, and came mounted on a large traverse that could be easily picked up on a wagon for movement.
Other countries seem to have largely ignored the possibility of aircraft being an important part of hostilities, but this soon changed when German spotter aircraft started calling down increasingly accurate artillery fire. All armies soon deployed a number of guns based on their smaller field pieces, notably the French 75 mm and Russian 76.2 mm, typically simply propped up on some sort of embankment to get the muzzle pointed skyward. The British Army decided on an entirely new weapon, and deployed a 3-inch (76 mm) gun, the QF 3 inch 20 cwt, that was perhaps the best of all the designs at that time. The German Army also adapted a revolving-cannon that came to be known to Allied fliers as the "flaming onion" from the shells in flight. This gun had five barrels that quickly launched a series of 37 mm ar
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