Anti-aircraft warfare

“Flak” redirects here. For other uses, see Flak (disam-biguation).“Anti-aircraft” redirects here. For the arcade game, seeAnti-Aircraft (arcade game).Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is de-

American troops mount a Swedish Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gunnear the Algerian coastline in 1943

fined by NATO as “all measures designed to nullify orreduce the effectiveness of hostile air action.”[1] They in-clude ground-and air-based weapon systems, associatedsensor systems, command and control arrangements andpassive measures (e.g. barrage balloons). It may be usedto protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location.However, for most countries the main effort has tendedto be 'homeland defence'. NATO refers to airborne airdefence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of airdefence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the taskof intercepting any projectile in flight.In some countries, such as Britain and Germany duringthe Second World War, the Soviet Union and NATO’sAllied Command Europe, ground based air defence andair defence aircraft have been under integrated commandand control. However, while overall air defence may befor homeland defence including military facilities, forcesin the field, wherever they are, invariably deploy their ownair defence capability if there is an air threat. A surface-based air defence capability can also be deployed offen-sively to deny the use of airspace to an opponent.Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions rangingfrom 20 mm to 150 mm were the standard weapon;guided missiles then became dominant, except at the veryshortest ranges (as with close-in weapon systems, which

use rotary autocannons).

1 Terminology

The term air defence was probably first used by Britainwhen Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) was createdas a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, ar-rangements in the UK were also called 'anti-aircraft', ab-breviated as AA, a term that remained in general use intothe 1950s. After the First World War it was sometimesprefixed by 'Light' or 'Heavy' (LAA or HAA) to clas-sify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraftguns include AA, AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation ofanti-aircraft artillery; "ack-ack" (from the spelling al-phabet used by the British for voice transmission of“AA”);[2] and archie (a World War I British term proba-bly coined by Amyas Borton and believed to derive viathe Royal Flying Corps from the music-hall comedianGeorge Robey's line “Archibald, certainly not!"[3]).NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) as “mea-sures taken to defend a maritime force against attacksby airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, sub-marines and land-based sites.”[4] In some armies the termAll-Arms Air Defence (AAAD) is used for air de-fence by non-specialist troops. Other terms from thelate 20th century include GBAD (Ground Based AD)with related terms SHORAD (Short Range AD) andMANPADS (“Man Portable AD Systems": typicallyshoulder-launched missiles). Anti-aircraft missiles arevariously called surface-to-air missile, abbreviated andpronounced “SAM” and Surface to Air Guided Weapon(SAGW).Non-English terms for air defence include the Ger-man Flak (Fliegerabwehrkanone, “aircraft defencecannon”,[5] also cited as Flugabwehrkanone), whenceEnglish flak, and the Russian term Protivovozdush-naya oborona (Cyrillic: Противовозду́шная оборо́на),a literal translation of “anti-air defence”, abbreviated asPVO.[6] In Russian the AA systems are called zenitnye(i.e. “pointing to zenith”) systems (guns, missiles etc.).In French, air defence is called DCA (Défense contre lesaéronefs, “aéronef” being the generic term for all kindof airborne device (airplane, airship, balloon, missile,rocket, etc.)).[7]

The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can en-gage an aircraft is an important figure. However, manydifferent definitions are used but unless the same defi-

1

2 2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION

nition is used, performance of different guns or missilescannot be compared. For AA guns only the ascendingpart of the trajectory can be usefully used. One termis 'ceiling', maximum ceiling being the height a projec-tile would reach if fired vertically, not practically usefulin itself as few AA guns are able to fire vertically, andmaximum fuse duration may be too short, but potentiallyuseful as a standard to compare different weapons.The British adopted “effective ceiling”, meaning the alti-tude at which a gun could deliver a series of shells againsta moving target; this could be constrained by maximumfuse running time as well as the gun’s capability. By thelate 1930s the British definition was “that height at whicha directly approaching target at 400 mph (=643.6 km/h)can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches70 degrees elevation”.[8] However, effective ceiling forheavy AA guns was affected by non-ballistic factors:

• The maximum running time of the fuse, this set themaximum usable time of flight.

• The capability of fire control instruments to deter-mine target height at long range.

• The precision of the cyclic rate of fire, the fuselength had to be calculated and set for where the tar-get would be at the time of flight after firing, to dothis meant knowing exactly when the round wouldfire.

2 General description

The essence of air defence is to detect hostile aircraft anddestroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving inthree-dimensional space; an attack must not only matchthese three coordinates, but must do so at the time thetarget is at that position. This means that projectiles ei-ther have to be guided to hit the target, or aimed at thepredicted position of the target at the time the projectilereaches it, taking into account speed and direction of boththe target and the projectile.Throughout the 20th century air defence was one of thefastest-evolving areas of military technology, respondingto the evolution of aircraft and exploiting various en-abling technologies, particularly radar, guided missilesand computing (initially electromechanical analog com-puting from the 1930s on, as with equipment describedbelow). Air defence evolution covered the areas of sen-sors and technical fire control, weapons, and commandand control. At the start of the 20th century these wereeither very primitive or non-existent.Initially sensors were optical and acoustic devices devel-oped during the First World War and continued into the1930s,[9] but were quickly superseded by radar, which inturn was supplemented by optronics in the 1980s. Com-mand and control remained primitive until the late 1930s,

when Britain created an integrated system[10] for ADGBthat linked the ground-based air defence of the army’s AACommand, although field-deployed air defence relied onless sophisticated arrangements. NATO later called thesearrangements an “air defence ground environment”, de-fined as “the network of ground radar sites and commandand control centres within a specific theatre of opera-tions which are used for the tactical control of air defenceoperations”.[1]

Rules of Engagement are critical to prevent air defencesengaging friendly or neutral aircraft. Their use is assistedbut not governed by IFF (identification friend or foe) elec-tronic devices originally introduced during the SecondWorld War. While these rules originate at the highest au-thority, different rules can apply to different types of airdefence covering the same area at the same time. AAADusually operates under the tightest rules.NATO calls these rules Weapon Control Orders (WCO),they are:

• weapons free: a weapon control order imposing astatus whereby weapons systems may be fired at anytarget not positively recognised as friendly.

• weapons tight: a weapon control order imposing astatus whereby weapons systems may be fired onlyat targets recognised as hostile.

• weapons hold: a weapon control order imposing astatus whereby weapons systems may only be firedin self-defence or in response to a formal order.[1]

Until the 1950s guns firing ballistic munitions were thestandard weapon; guided missiles then became dominant,except at the very shortest ranges. However, the typeof shell or warhead and its fuzing and, with missiles theguidance arrangement, were and are varied. Targets arenot always easy to destroy; nonetheless, damaged aircraftmay be forced to abort their mission and, even if theymanage to return and land in friendly territory, may beout of action for days or permanently. Ignoring smallarms and smaller machine-guns, ground-based air de-fence guns have varied in calibre from 20 mm to at least150 mm.[11]

Ground-based air defence is deployed in several ways:

• Self-defence by ground forces using their organicweapons, AAAD.

• Accompanying defence, specialist aid defence ele-ments accompanying armoured or infantry units.

• Point defence around a key target, such as a bridge,critical government building or ship.

• Area air defence, typically 'belts’ of air defence toprovide a barrier, but sometimes an umbrella cov-ering an area. Areas can vary widely in size. They

3

may extend along a nation’s border, e.g. the ColdWar MIM-23 Hawk and Nike belts that ran north–south across Germany, across a military formation’smanoeuvre area, or above a city or port. In groundoperations air defence areas may be used offensivelyby rapid redeployment across current aircraft transitroutes.

Air defence has included other elements, although afterthe Second World War most fell into disuse:

• Tethered barrage balloons to deter and threatenaircraft flying below the height of the balloons,where they are susceptible to damaging collisionswith steel tethers.

• Searchlights to illuminate aircraft at night for bothgun-layers and optical instrument operators. DuringWorld War II searchlights became radar controlled.

• Large smoke screens created by large smoke can-isters on the ground to screen targets and preventaccurate weapon aiming by aircraft.

Passive air defence is defined by NATO as “Passive mea-sures taken for the physical defence and protection ofpersonnel, essential installations and equipment in or-der to minimize the effectiveness of air and/or missileattack”.[1] It remains a vital activity by ground forces andincludes camouflage and concealment to avoid detectionby reconnaissance and attacking aircraft. Measures suchas camouflaging important buildings were common in theSecond World War. During the Cold War the runwaysand taxiways of some airfields were painted green.

3 Organization

While navies are usually responsible for their own air de-fence, at least for ships at sea, organizational arrange-ments for land-based air defence vary between nationsand over time.The most extreme case was the Soviet Union, and thismodel may still be followed in some countries: it was aseparate service, on a par with the navy or ground force.In the Soviet Union this was called Voyska PVO, and hadboth fighter aircraft and ground-based systems. This wasdivided into two arms, PVO Strany, the Strategic Air de-fence Service responsible for Air Defence of the Home-land, created in 1941 and becoming an independent ser-vice in 1954, and PVO SV, Air Defence of the GroundForces. Subsequently these became part of the air forceand ground forces respectively[12]

At the other extreme the United States Army has an AirDefense Artillery branch that provided ground-based airdefence for both homeland and the army in the field.Many other nations also deploy an air-defence branch inthe army.

In Britain and some other armies, the single artillerybranch has been responsible for both home and overseasground-based air defence, although there was divided re-sponsibility with the Royal Navy for air defence of theBritish Isles in World War I. However, during the SecondWorldWar the RAF Regiment was formed to protect air-fields everywhere, and this included light air defences.In the later decades of the Cold War this included theUnited States Air Force's operating bases in UK. How-ever, all ground-based air defence was removed fromRoyal Air Force (RAF) jurisdiction in 2004. The BritishArmy’s Anti-Aircraft Command was disbanded inMarch1955,[13] but during the 1960s and 1970s the RAF’sFighter Command operated long-range air -defence mis-siles to protect key areas in the UK. During World War IIthe Royal Marines also provided air defence units; for-mally part of the mobile naval base defence organisa-tion, they were handled as an integral part of the army-commanded ground based air defences.The basic air defence unit is typically a battery with 2to 12 guns or missile launchers and fire control elements.These batteries, particularly with guns, usually deploy in asmall area, although batteries may be split; this is usual forsome missile systems. SHORAD missile batteries oftendeploy across an area with individual launchers severalkilometres apart. When MANPADS is operated by spe-cialists, batteries may have several dozen teams deploy-ing separately in small sections; self-propelled air defenceguns may deploy in pairs.Batteries are usually grouped into battalions or equiva-lent. In the field army a light gun or SHORAD battalionis often assigned to a manoeuvre division. Heavier gunsand long-range missiles may be in air-defence brigadesand come under corps or higher command. Homelandair defence may have a full military structure. For exam-ple, the UK’s Anti-Aircraft Command, commanded by afull British Army general was part of ADGB. At its peakin 1941–42 it comprised three AA corps with 12 AA di-visions between them.[14]

4 History

4.1 Earliest use

The use of balloons by the Union Army during the Amer-ican Civil War compelled the Confederates to developmethods of combating them. These included the useof artillery, small arms, and saboteurs. They were un-successful, but internal politics led the Union’s BalloonCorps to be disbanded mid-war. The Confederates ex-perimented with balloons as well.[15]

The earliest known use of weapons specifically made forthe anti-aircraft role occurred during the Franco-PrussianWar of 1870. After the disaster at Sedan, Paris wasbesieged and French troops outside the city started an

4 4 HISTORY

attempt at communication via balloon. Gustav Kruppmounted a modified 1-pounder (37mm) gun — the Bal-lonabwehrkanone (Balloon defence cannon) — on top ofa horse-drawn carriage for the purpose of shooting downthese balloons.[16]

• Ballonabwehrkanone by Krupp

• Ballonabwehrkanone by Krupp

By the early 20th century balloon, or airship, guns, forland and naval use were attracting attention. Varioustypes of ammunition were proposed, high explosive, in-cendiary, bullet-chains, rod bullets and shrapnel. Theneed for some form of tracer or smoke trail was artic-ulated. Fuzing options were also examined, both impactand time types. Mountings were generally pedestal type,but could be on field platforms. Trials were underwayin most countries in Europe but only Krupp, Erhardt,Vickers Maxim, and Schneider had published any infor-mation by 1910. Krupp’s designs included adaptations oftheir 65 mm 9-pounder, a 75 mm 12-pounder, and evena 105 mm gun. Erhardt also had a 12-pounder, whileVickers Maxim offered a 3-pounder and Schneider a 47mm. The French balloon gun appeared in 1910, it wasan 11-pounder but mounted on a vehicle, with a total un-crewed weight of 2 tons. However, since balloons wereslow moving, sights were simple. But the challenges offaster moving airplanes were recognised.[17]

By 1913 only France and Germany had developed fieldguns suitable for engaging balloons and aircraft and ad-dressed issues of military organization. Britain’s RoyalNavy would soon introduce the QF 3-inch and QF 4-inchAA guns and also hadVickers 1-pounder quick firing“pom-pom"s that could be used in various mountings.[18]

The first US anti-aircraft cannonwas a 1-pounder conceptdesign by Admiral Twining in 1911 to meet the perceivedthreat of airships, that eventually was used as the basis forthe US Navy’s first operational anti-aircraft cannon: the3"/23 caliber gun.[19]

4.2 First World War

On 30 September 1915, troops of the Serbian Armyobserved three enemy aircraft approaching Kragujevac.Soldiers shot at themwith shotguns andmachine-guns butfailed to prevent them from dropping 45 bombs over thecity, hitting military installations, the railway station andmany other, mostly civilian, targets in the city. Duringthe bombing raid, private Radoje Ljutovac fired his can-non at the enemy aircraft and successfully shot one down.It crashed in the city and both pilots died from their in-juries. The cannon Ljutovac used was not designed as ananti-aircraft gun, it was a slightly modified Turkish can-non captured during the First Balkan War in 1912. Thiswas the first occasion in military history that a militaryaircraft was shot down with ground-to-air fire.[20][21][22]

1909 vintage Krupp 9-pounder anti-aircraft gun

A Canadian anti-aircraft unit of 1918 “taking post”

The British recognised the need for anti-aircraft capabil-ity a few weeks before World War I broke out; on 8 July1914, the New York Times reported that the British gov-ernment had decided to 'dot the coasts of the British Isleswith a series of towers, each armed with two quick-firingguns of special design,' while 'a complete circle of towers’was to be built around 'naval installations’ and 'at other es-pecially vulnerable points.' By December 1914 the RoyalNaval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) was manning AA gunsand searchlights assembled from various sources at somenine ports. The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) wasgiven responsibility for AA defence in the field, using mo-torised two-gun sections. The first were formally formedin November 1914. Initially they used QF 1-pounder“pom-pom” (a 37 mm version of the Maxim Gun).[23]

All armies soon deployed AA guns often based on theirsmaller field pieces, notably the French 75 mm and Rus-sian 76.2 mm, typically simply propped up on some sortof embankment to get the muzzle pointed skyward. TheBritish Army adopted the 13-pounder quickly produc-ing new mountings suitable for AA use, the 13-pdr QF6 cwt Mk III was issued in 1915. It remained in ser-vice throughout the war but 18-pdr guns were lined downto take the 13-pdr shell with a larger cartridge produc-

4.2 First World War 5

A French anti-aircraft motor battery (motorized AAA battery)that brought down a Zeppelin near Paris. From the journalHorseless Age, 1916.

ing the 13-pr QF 9 cwt and these proved much moresatisfactory.[24] However, in general, these ad-hoc solu-tions proved largely useless. With little experience in therole, nomeans of measuring target, range, height or speedthe difficulty of observing their shell bursts relative to thetarget gunners proved unable to get their fuse setting cor-rect and most rounds burst well below their targets. Theexception to this rule was the guns protecting spotting bal-loons, in which case the altitude could be accurately mea-sured from the length of the cable holding the balloon.The first issue was ammunition. Before the war it wasrecognised that ammunition needed to explode in the air.Both high explosive (HE) and shrapnel were used, mostlythe former. Airburst fuses were either igniferious (basedon a burning fuse) or mechanical (clockwork). Igniferi-ous fuses were not well suited for anti-aircraft use. Thefuse length was determined by time of flight, but theburning rate of the gunpowder was affected by altitude.The British pom-poms had only contact-fused ammuni-tion. Zeppelins, being hydrogen filled balloons, were tar-gets for incendiary shells and the British introduced thesewith airburst fuses, both shrapnel type-forward projec-tion of incendiary 'pot' and base ejection of an incendi-ary stream. The British also fitted tracers to their shellsfor use at night. Smoke shells were also available forsome AA guns, these bursts were used as targets during

A Maxim anti-aircraft machine gun.

training.[25]

German air attacks on the British Isles increased in 1915and the AA efforts were deemed somewhat ineffective,so a Royal Navy gunnery expert, Admiral Sir Percy Scott,was appointed to make improvements, particularly an in-tegrated AA defence for London. The air defences wereexpanded with more RNVRAA guns, 75mm and 3-inch,the pom-poms being ineffective. The naval 3-inch wasalso adopted by the army, the QF 3 inch 20 cwt (76 mm),a new field mounting was introduced in 1916. Since mostattacks were at night, searchlights were soon used, andacoustic methods of detection and locating were devel-oped. By December 1916 there were 183 AA Sectionsdefending Britain (most with the 3-inch), 74 with the BEFin France and 10 in the Middle East.[26]

AA gunnery was a difficult business. The problem wasof successfully aiming a shell to burst close to its tar-get’s future position, with various factors affecting theshells’ predicted trajectory. This was called deflectiongun-laying, 'off-set' angles for range and elevation wereset on the gunsight and updated as their target moved. Inthis method when the sights were on the target, the bar-rel was pointed at the target’s future position. Range andheight of the target determined fuse length. The difficul-ties increased as aircraft performance improved.The British dealt with range measurement first, when itwas realised that range was the key to producing a bet-

6 4 HISTORY

ter fuse setting. This led to the Height/Range Finder(HRF), the first model being the Barr & Stroud UB2, a2-metre optical coincident rangefinder mounted on a tri-pod. It measured the distance to the target and the ele-vation angle, which together gave the height of the air-craft. These were complex instruments and various othermethods were also used. The HRF was soon joined bythe Height/Fuse Indicator (HFI), this was marked withelevation angles and height lines overlaid with fuse lengthcurves, using the height reported by the HRF operator,the necessary fuse length could be read off.[27]

However, the problem of deflection settings — 'aim-off'— required knowing the rate of change in the target’sposition. Both France and UK introduced tachymetricdevices to track targets and produce vertical and hori-zontal deflection angles. The French Brocq system waselectrical, the operator entered the target range and haddisplays at guns; it was used with their 75 mm. TheBritish Wilson-Dalby gun director used a pair of track-ers and mechanical tachymetry; the operator entered thefuse length, and deflection angles were read from theinstruments.[28][29]

By the start of World War I, the 77 mm had become thestandard German weapon, and came mounted on a largetraverse that could be easily picked up on a wagon formovement. Krupp 75 mm guns were supplied with anoptical sighting system that improved their capabilities.The German Army also adapted a revolving cannon thatcame to be known to Allied fliers as the "flaming onion"from the shells in flight. This gun had five barrels thatquickly launched a series of 37 mm artillery shells.[30]

As aircraft started to be used against ground targets on thebattlefield, the AA guns could not be traversed quicklyenough at close targets and, being relatively few, werenot always in the right place (and were often unpopu-lar with other troops), so changed positions frequently.Soon the forces were adding various machine-gun basedweapons mounted on poles. These short-range weaponsproved more deadly, and the "Red Baron" is believed tohave been shot down by an anti-aircraft Vickers machinegun. When the war ended, it was clear that the increas-ing capabilities of aircraft would require better means ofacquiring targets and aiming at them. Nevertheless, a pat-tern had been set: anti-aircraft weapons would be basedaround heavy weapons attacking high-altitude targets andlighter weapons for use when they came to lower altitudes.

4.3 Inter-war years

World War I demonstrated that aircraft could be an im-portant part of the battlefield, but in some nations it wasthe prospect of strategic air attack that was themain issue,presenting both a threat and an opportunity. The experi-ence of four years of air attacks on London by Zeppelinsand Gotha G.V bombers had particularly influenced theBritish and was one of if not the main driver for form-

A No.1 Mark III Predictor that was used with the QF 3.7 inch AAgun

Shooting with anti-aircraft gun in Sweden 1934

ing an independent air force. As the capabilities of air-craft and their engines improved it was clear that theirrole in future war would be even more critical as theirrange and weapon load grew. However, in the years im-mediately after World War I the prospect of another ma-jor war seemed remote, particularly in Europe where themost militarily capable nations were, and little financingwas available.Four years of war had seen the creation of a new andtechnically demanding branch of military activity. Airdefence had made huge advances, albeit from a very lowstarting point. However, it was new and often lacked in-fluential 'friends’ in the competition for a share of lim-ited defence budgets. Demobilisation meant that mostAA guns were taken out of service, leaving only the mostmodern.However, there were lessons to be learned. In particu-lar the British, who had had AA guns in most theatres inaction in daylight and used them against night attacks athome. Furthermore, they had also formed an AA Exper-imental Section during the war and accumulated a lot ofdata that was subjected to extensive analysis. As a result,they published, in 1924–5, the two volume Textbook ofAnti-Aircraft Gunnery. It included five key recommen-dations for HAA equipment:

4.3 Inter-war years 7

• Shells of improved ballistic shape with HE fillingsand mechanical time fuses.

• Higher rates of fire assisted by automation.

• Height finding by long-base optical instruments.

• Centralised control of fire on each gun position, di-rected by tachymetric instruments incorporating thefacility to apply corrections of the moment for me-teorological and wear factors.

• More accurate sound-location for the direction ofsearchlights and to provide plots for barrage fire.

Two assumptions underpinned the British approach toHAA fire; first, aimed fire was the primary method andthis was enabled by predicting gun data from visuallytracking the target and having its height. Second, that thetarget would maintain a steady course, speed and height.This HAA was to engage targets up to 24,000 feet. Me-chanical, as opposed to igniferous, time fuses were re-quired because the speed of powder burning varied withheight so fuse length was not a simple function of timeof flight. Automated fire ensured a constant rate of firethat made it easier to predict where each shell should beindividually aimed.[31]

In 1925 the British adopted a new instrument developedby Vickers. It was a mechanical analogue computer Pre-dictor AA No 1. Given the target height its operatorstracked the target and the predictor produced bearing,quadrant elevation and fuse setting. These were passedelectrically to the guns where they were displayed on re-peater dials to the layers who 'matched pointers’ (targetdata and the gun’s actual data) to lay the guns. This sys-tem of repeater electrical dials built on the arrangementsintroduced by British coast artillery in the 1880s, andcoast artillery was the background of many AA officers.Similar systems were adopted in other countries and forexample the later Sperry device, designated M3A3 in theUS was also used by Britain as the Predictor AA No 2.Height finders were also increasing in size, in Britain, theWorld War I Barr & Stroud UB 2 (7 feet optical base)was replaced by the UB 7 (9 feet optical base) and theUB 10 (18 feet optical base, only used on static AA sites).Goertz in Germany and Levallois in France produced 5metre instruments. However, in most countries the maineffort in HAA guns until the mid-1930s was improvingexisting ones, although various new designs were on draw-ing boards.[32]

From the early 1930s eight countries developed radar,these developments were sufficiently advanced by the late1930s for development work on sound locating acousticdevices to be generally halted, although equipment wasretained. Furthermore, in Britain the volunteer ObserverCorps formed in 1925 provided a network of observa-tion posts to report hostile aircraft flying over Britain.Initially radar was used for airspace surveillance to de-tect approaching hostile aircraft. However, the German

Würzburg radar was capable of providing data suitable forcontrolling AA guns and the British AA No 1 Mk 1 GLradar was designed to be used on AA gun positions.[33]

The Treaty of Versailles prevented Germany having AAweapons, and for example, the Krupps designers joinedBofors in Sweden. SomeWorldWar I guns were retainedand some covert AA training started in the late 1920s.Germany introduced the 8.8 cm FlaK 18 in 1933, 36 and37 models followed with various improvements but bal-listic performance was unchanged. In the late 1930s the10.5 cm FlaK 38 appeared soon followed by the 39, thiswas designed primarily for static sites but had a mobilemounting and the unit had 220v 24 kW generators. In1938 design started on the 12.8 cm FlaK.[34]

The USSR introduced a new 76 mmM1931 in the early1930s and an 85 mm M1938 towards the end of thedecade.[35]

Britain had successful tested a new HAA gun, 3.6-inch,in 1918. In 1928 3.7-inch became the preferred solution,but it took 6 years to gain funding. Production of the QF3.7-inch (94 mm) began in 1937; this gun was used bothon mobile carriages with the field army and transportableguns on fixed mountings for static positions. At the sametime the Royal Navy adopted a new 4.5-inch (114 mm)gun in a twin turret, which the army adopted in simplifiedsingle-gun mountings for static positions, mostly aroundports where naval ammunition was available. However,the performance of both 3.7 and 4.5-in guns was limitedby their standard fuse No 199, with a 30-second runningtime, although a new mechanical time fuse giving 43 sec-onds was nearing readiness. In 1939 a Machine Fuse Set-ter was introduced to eliminate manual fuse setting.[36]

The US ended World War I with two 3-inch AA gunsand improvements were developed throughout the inter-war period. However, in 1924 work started on a new 105mm static mounting AA gun, but only a few were pro-duced by the mid-1930s because by this time work hadstarted on the 90 mm AA gun, with mobile carriages andstatic mountings able to engage air, sea and ground tar-gets. The M1 version was approved in 1940. During the1920s there was some work on a 4.7-inch which lapsed,but revived in 1937, leading to a new gun in 1944.[37]

While HAA and is associated target acquisition and firecontrol was the primary focus of AA efforts, low-levelclose-range targets remained and by the mid-1930s werebecoming an issue.Until this time the British, at RAF insistence, continuedtheir World War I use of machine guns, and introducedtwin MGmountings for AAAD. The army was forbiddenfrom considering anything larger than .50-inch. However,in 1935 their trials showed that the minimum effectiveround was an impact fused 2 lb HE shell. The follow-ing year they decided to adopt the Bofors 40 mm and atwin barrel Vickers 2-pdr (40 mm) on a modified navalmount. The air-cooled Bofors was vastly superior for landuse, being much lighter than the water-cooled pom-pom,

8 4 HISTORY

and UK production of the Bofors 40 mm was licensed.The Predictor AA No 3, as the Kerrison Predictor wasofficially known, was introduced with it.[38]

The 40 mm Bofors had become available in 1931. In thelate 1920s the Swedish Navy had ordered the develop-ment of a 40 mm naval anti-aircraft gun from the Boforscompany. It was light, rapid-firing and reliable, and a mo-bile version on a four-wheel carriage was soon developed.Known simply as the 40 mm, it was adopted by some17 different nations just before World War II and is stillin use today in some applications such as on coastguardfrigates.Rheinmetall in Germany developed an automatic 20 mmin the 1920s andOerlikon in Switzerland had acquired thepatent to an automatic 20 mm gun designed in GermanyduringWorld War I. Germany introduced the rapid-fire 2cm FlaK 30 and later in the decade it was redesigned byMauser-Werke and became the 2 cm FlaK 38.[39] Never-theless, while 20 mm was better than a machine gun andmounted on a very small trailer made it easy to move,its effectiveness was limited. Germany therefore addeda 3.7 cm. The first, the 3.7 cm FlaK 18 developed byRheinmetall in the early 1930s, was basically an enlarged2 cm FlaK 30. It was introduced in 1935 and produc-tion stopped the following year. A redesigned gun 3.7 cmFlaK 36 entered service in 1938, it too had a two-wheelcarriage.[40] However, by themid-1930s the Luftwaffe re-alised that there was still a coverage gap between 3.7 cmand 8.8 cm guns. They started development of a 5 cmgun on a four-wheel carriage.[41]

After World War I the US Army started developing adual-role (AA/ground) automatic 37 mm cannon, de-signed by JohnM. Browning. It was standardised in 1927as the T9 AA cannon, but trials quickly revealed that itwas worthless in the ground role. However, while theshell was a bit light (well under 2 lbs) it had a good ef-fective ceiling and fired 125 rounds per minute; an AAcarriage was developed and it entered service in 1939.The Browning 37mm proved prone to jamming, and waseventually replaced in AA units by the Bofors 40 mm.The Bofors had attracted attention from the US Navy,but none were acquired before 1939.[42] Also, in 1931the US Army worked on a mobile anti-aircraft machinemount on the back of a heavy truck having four .30 cal-iber water-cooled machine guns and an optical director.It proved unsuccessful and was abandoned.[43]

The Soviet Union also used a 37 mm, the 37 mmM1939,which appears to have been copied from the Bofors 40mm. A Bofors 25 mm, essentially a scaled down 40 mm,was also copied as the 25 mm M1939.[44]

During the 1930s solid fuel rockets were under develop-ment in the Soviet Union and Britain. In Britain the in-terest was for anti-aircraft fire, it quickly became clearthat guidance would be required for precision. How-ever, rockets, or 'unrotated projectiles’ as they were calledcould the used for anti-aircraft barrages. A 2-inch rocket

using HE or wire obstacle warheads was introduced firstto deal with low-level or dive bombing attacks on smallertargets such as airfields. The 3-inch was in developmentat the end of the inter-war period.[45]

4.4 Second World War

Rendering of a flak burst and damage in slow motion, not allfragments are visible but hits to the aircraft and pieces of it reg-ister as red squares

Poland’s AA defences were no match for the Germanattack and the situation was similar in other Europeancountries. Significant AA warfare started with the Bat-tle of Britain in the summer of 1940. 3.7-inch HAAwere to provide the backbone of the groundbased AAdefences, although initially significant numbers of 3-inch20-cwt were also used. The Army’s Anti-aircraft com-mand, which was under command of the Air DefenceUK organisation, grew to 12 AA divisions in 3 AA corps.40-mm Bofors entered service in increasing numbers. Inaddition the RAF regiment was formed in 1941 with re-sponsibility for airfield air defence, eventually with Bo-fors 40mm as their main armament. Fixed AA defences,using HAA and LAA, were established by the Army inkey overseas places, notably Malta, Suez Canal and Sin-gapore.While the 3.7 inch was the main HAA gun in fixed de-fences and the only mobile HAA gun with the field army,4.5-inch, manned by artillery, was used in the vicinity ofnaval ports, making use of the naval ammunition supply.4.5-inch at Singapore had the first success in shootingdown Japanese bombers. Mid war 5.25-inch HAA gunstarted being emplaced in some permanent sites aroundLondon. This gun was also deployed in dual role coastdefence/AA positions.Germany’s high-altitude needs were originally going tobe filled by a 75 mm gun from Krupp, designed in col-laboration with their Swedish counterpart Bofors, but thespecifications were later amended to require much higherperformance. In response Krupp’s engineers presented anew 88 mm design, the FlaK 36. First used in Spain dur-ing the Spanish CivilWar, the gun proved to be one of thebest anti-aircraft guns in the world, as well as particularlydeadly against light, medium, and even early heavy tanks.

4.4 Second World War 9

German 88 mm flak gun in action against Allied bombers.

After the Dambusters raid in 1943 an entirely new sys-tem was developed that was required to knock down anylow-flying aircraft with a single hit. The first attemptto produce such a system used a 50 mm gun, but thisproved inaccurate and a new 55 mm gun replaced it. Thesystem used a centralised control system including bothsearch and targeting radar, which calculated the aim pointfor the guns after considering windage and ballistics, andthen sent electrical commands to the guns, which usedhydraulics to point themselves at high speeds. Operatorssimply fed the guns and selected the targets. This system,modern even by today’s standards, was in late develop-ment when the war ended.The British had already arranged licence building of theBofors 40 mm, and introduced these into service. Thesehad the power to knock down aircraft of any size, yet werelight enough to be mobile and easily swung. The gun be-came so important to the British war effort that they evenproduced a movie, The Gun, that encouraged workers onthe assembly line to work harder. The Imperial measure-ment production drawings the British had developed weresupplied to the Americans who produced their own (unli-censed) copy of the 40 mm at the start of the war, movingto licensed production in mid-1941.Service trials demonstrated another problem however:that ranging and tracking the new high-speed targets wasalmost impossible. At short range, the apparent targetarea is relatively large, the trajectory is flat and the timeof flight is short, allowing to correct lead by watching the

German Soldier with MG34 Anti-aircraft gun in WW2

B-24 hit by flak over Italy, 10 April 1945

tracers. At long range, the aircraft remains in firing rangefor a long time, so the necessary calculations can in the-ory be done by slide rules - though, because small errorsin distance cause large errors in shell fall height and det-onation time, exact ranging is crucial. For the ranges andspeeds that the Bofors worked at, neither answer was goodenough.The solution was automation, in the form of a mechani-cal computer, the Kerrison Predictor. Operators kept itpointed at the target, and the Predictor then calculatedthe proper aim point automatically and displayed it as a

10 4 HISTORY

British QF 3.7 inch gun in London in 1939

pointer mounted on the gun. The gun operators simplyfollowed the pointer and loaded the shells. The Kerrisonwas fairly simple, but it pointed the way to future gener-ations that incorporated radar, first for ranging and laterfor tracking. Similar predictor systems were introducedby Germany during the war, also adding radar ranging asthe war progressed.

US Coast Guard sailors in the South Pacific man a 20 mm anti-aircraft cannon

A plethora of anti-aircraft gun systems of smaller cali-bre were available to the German Wehrmacht combinedforces, and among them the 1940-origin Flakvierlingquadruple-20 mm-gun antiaircraft weapon system wasone of the most often-seen weapons, seeing service onboth land and sea. The similar Allied smaller-calibre air-defence weapons systems of the American forces werealso quite capable, although they receive little attention.Their needs could cogently be met with smaller-calibreordnance beyond using the usual singly-mounted M2.50 caliber machine gun atop a tank’s turret, as fourof the ground-used “heavy barrel” (M2HB) guns weremounted together on the American Maxson firm’s M45Quadmount weapons system (as a direct answer to theFlakvierling),which were often mounted on the back ofa half-track to form the Half Track, M16 GMC, Anti-

Aircraft. Although of less power than Germany’s 20 mmsystems, the typical 4 or 5 combat batteries of an ArmyAAA battalion were often spread many kilometers apartfrom each other, rapidly attaching and detaching to largerground combat units to provide welcome defence fromenemy aircraft.

Indian troops manning a Bren light machine gun in an anti-aircraft mount in 1941.

AAA battalions were also used to help suppress groundtargets. Their larger 90 mm M3 gun would prove, as didthe eighty-eight, to make an excellent anti-tank gun aswell, and was widely used late in the war in this role. Alsoavailable to the Americans at the start of the war was the120 mm M1 gun stratosphere gun, which was the mostpowerful AA gun with an impressive 60,000 ft (18 km)altitude capability. No 120M1was ever fired at an enemyaircraft. The 90 mm and 120 mm guns would continueto be used into the 1950s.The United States Navy had also put some thought intothe problem, and came up with the 1.1"/75 (28mm) gunto replace the inadequate .50 caliber. This weapon hadthe teething troubles that most new weapons have, butthe issues with the gun were never sorted out. It wasreplaced by the Bofors 40 mm wherever possible. The5"/38 caliber gun turned out to be an excellent anti-aircraft weapon, once the Proximity fuse had been per-fected.The Germans developed massive reinforced concreteblockhouses, somemore than six stories high, which wereknown as Hochbunker “High Bunkers” or "Flaktürme"flak towers, on which they placed anti-aircraft artillery.Those in cities attacked by the Allied land forces becamefortresses. Several in Berlin were some of the last build-ings to fall to the Soviets during the Battle of Berlin in1945. The British built structures such as the MaunsellForts in the North Sea, the Thames Estuary and othertidal areas upon which they based guns. After the war

4.4 Second World War 11

One of six flak towers built during World War II in Vienna

A British North Sea World War II Maunsell Fort.

most were left to rot. Some were outside territorial wa-ters, and had a second life in the 1960s as platforms forpirate radio stations.Some nations started rocket research before World WarII, including for anti-aircraft use. Further research startedduring the war. The first step was unguided missile sys-tems like the British 2-inch RP and 3-inch, which wasfired in large numbers from Z batteries, and were also fit-ted to warships. The firing of one of these devices dur-ing an air raid is suspected to have caused the BethnalGreen disaster in 1943. Facing the threat of JapaneseKamikaze attacks the British and US developed surface-to-air rockets like British Stooge or the American Larkas counter measures, but none of them were ready at the

AB-24 bomber emerges from a cloud of flak with its no. 2 enginesmoking

end of the war. The Germans missile research was themost advanced of the war as the Germans put consid-erable effort in the research and development of rocketsystems for all purposes. Among them were severalguided and unguided systems. Unguided systems in-volved the Fliegerfaust (literally “aircraft fist”) as the firstMANPADS. Guided systems were several sophisticatedradio, wire, or radar guided missiles like the Wasserfall(“waterfall”) rocket. Due to the severe war situation forGermany all of those systemswere only produced in smallnumbers and most of them were only used by training ortrial units.

Flak in the Balkans, 1942 (drawing by Helmuth Ellgaard).

Another aspect of anti-aircraft defence was the use ofbarrage balloons to act as physical obstacle initially tobomber aircraft over cities and later for ground attack air-craft over the Normandy invasion fleets. The balloon, asimple blimp tethered to the ground, worked in two ways.Firstly, it and the steel cable were a danger to any air-craft that tried to fly among them. Secondly, to avoid theballoons, bombers had to fly at a higher altitude, whichwas more favorable for the guns. Barrage balloons werelimited in application, and had minimal success at bring-ing down aircraft, being largely immobile and passive de-fences.The allies’ most advanced technologies were showcasedby the anti-aircraft defence against the German V-1

12 4 HISTORY

cruise missiles (V stands for Vergeltungswaffe, “retalia-tion weapon”). The 419th and 601st Antiaircraft GunBattalions of the US Army were first allocated to theFolkestone-Dover coast to defend London, and thenmoved to Belgium to become part of the “Antwerp X”project. With the liberation of Antwerp, the port city im-mediately became the highest priority target, and receivedthe largest number of V-1 and V-2 missiles of any city.The smallest tactical unit of the operation was a gun bat-tery consisting of four 90 mm guns firing shells equippedwith a radio proximity fuse. Incoming targets were ac-quired and automatically tracked by SCR-584 radar, de-veloped at the MIT Rad Lab. Output from the gun-layingradar was fed to the M-9 director, an electronic analogcomputer developed at Bell Laboratories to calculate thelead and elevation corrections for the guns. With the helpof these three technologies, close to 90% of the V-1 mis-siles, on track to the defence zone around the port, weredestroyed.[46][47]

4.5 Post-war

A 1970s-era Talos anti-aircraft missile, fired from a cruiser

Post-war analysis demonstrated that even with newestanti-aircraft systems employed by both sides, the vast ma-jority of bombers reached their targets successfully, onthe order of 90%. While these figures were undesirableduring the war, the advent of the nuclear bomb consid-erably altered the acceptability of even a single bomberreaching its target.The developments during World War II continued for ashort time into the post-war period as well. In partic-ular the U.S. Army set up a huge air defence networkaround its larger cities based on radar-guided 90 mmand 120 mm guns. US efforts continued into the 1950swith the 75 mm Skysweeper system, an almost fully au-tomated system including the radar, computers, power,and auto-loading gun on a single powered platform. TheSkysweeper replaced all smaller guns then in use in theArmy, notably the 40 mm Bofors. In Europe NATO’sAllied Command Europe developed an integrated air de-fence system, NATO Air Defence Ground Environment(NADGE), that later became the NATO Integrated AirDefence System.

The introduction of the guided missile resulted in a sig-nificant shift in anti-aircraft strategy. Although Germanyhad been desperate to introduce anti-aircraft missile sys-tems, none became operational duringWorldWar II. Fol-lowing several years of post-war development, however,these systems began to mature into viable weapons sys-tems. The US started an upgrade of their defences usingthe Nike Ajax missile, and soon the larger anti-aircraftguns disappeared. The same thing occurred in the USSRafter the introduction of their SA-2 Guideline systems.

A three-man JASDF fireteam fires a missile from a Type 91 KaiMANPAD during an exercise at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaskaas part of Red Flag - Alaska.

As this process continued, the missile found itself be-ing used for more and more of the roles formerly filledby guns. First to go were the large weapons, replacedby equally large missile systems of much higher perfor-mance. Smaller missiles soon followed, eventually be-coming small enough to be mounted on armored cars andtank chassis. These started replacing, or at least supplant-ing, similar gun-based SPAAG systems in the 1960s, andby the 1990s had replaced almost all such systems inmodern armies. Man-portable missiles, MANPADs asthey are known today, were introduced in the 1960s andhave supplanted or even replaced even the smallest gunsin most advanced armies.In the 1982 Falklands War, the Argentine armed forcesdeployed the newest west European weapons includingthe Oerlikon GDF-002 35 mm twin cannon and SAMRoland. The Rapier missile system was the primary

13

GBAD system, used by both British artillery and RAFregiment, a few brand-new FIM-92 Stinger were used byBritish special forces. Both sides also used the Blowpipemissile. British naval missiles used included Sea Dart andthe older Sea Slug longer range systems, Sea Cat and thenew Sea Wolf short range systems. Machine guns in AAmountings was used both ashore and afloat.During the 2008 South Ossetia war air power faced offagainst powerful SAM systems, like the 1980s Buk-M1.In Somalia, militia members sometimes welded a steelplate in the exhaust end of an unguided RPG's tube todeflect pressure away from the shooter when shooting up-wards at US helicopters. RPGs are used in this role onlywhen more effective weapons are not available.

5 AA warfare systems

Although the firearms used by the infantry, particularlymachine guns, can be used to engage low altitude air tar-gets, on occasion with notable success, their effectivenessis generally limited and the muzzle flashes reveal infantrypositions. Speed and altitude of modern jet aircraft limittarget opportunities, and critical systems may be armoredin aircraft designed for the ground attack role. Adap-tations of the standard autocannon, originally intendedfor air-to-ground use, and heavier artillery systems werecommonly used for most anti-aircraft gunnery, startingwith standard pieces on new mountings, and evolving tospecially designed guns with much higher performanceprior to World War II.The ammunition and shells fired by these weapons areusually fitted with different types of fuses (barometric,time-delay, or proximity) to explode close to the airbornetarget, releasing a shower of fast metal fragments. Forshorter-range work, a lighter weapon with a higher rate offire is required, to increase a hit probability on a fast air-borne target. Weapons between 20 mm and 40 mm cal-iber have been widely used in this role. Smaller weapons,typically .50 caliber or even 8 mm rifle caliber guns havebeen used in the smallest mounts.

A Soviet WW II-era armoured train with anti-aircraft gunners

Unlike the heavier guns, these smaller weapons are in

widespread use due to their low cost and ability to quicklyfollow the target. Classic examples of autocannons andlarge caliber guns are the 40 mm autocannon and the 8.8cm FlaK 18, 36 gun, both designed by Bofors of Sweden.Artillery weapons of this sort have for the most part beensuperseded by the effective surface-to-air missile systemsthat were introduced in the 1950s, although they were stillretained by many nations. The development of surface-to-air missiles began in Nazi Germany during the lateWorldWar II with missiles such as theWasserfall, thoughno working system was deployed before the war’s end,and represented new attempts to increase effectiveness ofthe anti-aircraft systems faced with growing threat from[bomber]s. Land-based SAMs can be deployed fromfixed installations or mobile launchers, either wheeled ortracked. The tracked vehicles are usually armoured vehi-cles specifically designed to carry SAMs.Larger SAMs may be deployed in fixed launchers, butcan be towed/re-deployed at will. The SAMs launched byindividuals are known in the United States as the Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS). MAN-PADS of the former Soviet Union have been exportedaround theWorld, and can be found in use bymany armedforces. Targets for non-ManPAD SAMs will usually beacquired by air-search radar, then tracked before/while aSAM is “locked-on” and then fired. Potential targets, ifthey are military aircraft, will be identified as friend orfoe before being engaged. The developments in the lat-est and relatively cheap short-range missiles have begunto replace autocannons in this role.

Fire of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the neighborrhood of StIsaac’s cathedral during the defence of Leningrad (former Pet-rograd, now called St. Petersburg, ) in 1941.

The interceptor aircraft (or simply interceptor) is a typeof fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept anddestroy enemy aircraft, particularly bombers, usually re-lying on high speed and altitude capabilities. A numberof jet interceptors such as the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-106 Delta Dart, and the MiG-25 were built in the periodstarting after the end of World War II and ending in thelate 1960s, when they became less important due to theshifting of the strategic bombing role to ICBMs. Invari-

14 6 FORCE STRUCTURES

ably the type is differentiated from other fighter aircraftdesigns by higher speeds and shorter operating ranges, aswell as much reduced ordnance payloads.The radar systems use electromagnetic waves to iden-tify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of aircraftand weather formations to provide tactical and opera-tional warning and direction, primarily during defensiveoperations. In their functional roles they provide targetsearch, threat, guidance, reconnaissance, navigation,instrumentation, and weather reporting support to com-bat operations.

A Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer is a highly advanced anti-airship

5.1 Future developments

If current trends continue, missiles will replace gun sys-tems completely in “first line” service. Guns are being in-creasingly pushed into specialist roles, such as the DutchGoalkeeper CIWS, which uses the GAU-8 Avenger 30mm seven-barrel Gatling gun for last ditch anti-missileand anti-aircraft defence. Even this formerly front-lineweapon is currently being replaced by new missile sys-tems, such as the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile,which is smaller, faster, and allows for mid-flight coursecorrection (guidance) to ensure a hit. To bridge the gapbetween guns and missiles, Russia in particular producesthe Kashtan CIWS, which uses both guns and missilesfor final defence. Two six-barrelled 30 mm Gsh-6-30Gatling guns and 9M311 surface-to-air missiles providefor its defensive capabilities.Upsetting this development to all-missile systems is thecurrent move to stealth aircraft. Long range missiles de-pend on long-range detection to provide significant lead.Stealth designs cut detection ranges so much that the air-craft is often never even seen, and when it is, it is often toolate for an intercept. Systems for detection and trackingof stealthy aircraft are a major problem for anti-aircraftdevelopment.

However, as stealth technology grows, so does anti-stealthtechnology. Multiple transmitter radars such as thosefrom bistatic radars and low-frequency radars are said tohave the capabilities to detect stealth aircraft. Advancedforms of thermographic cameras such as those that in-corporate QWIPs would be able to optically see a Stealthaircraft regardless of the aircraft’s RCS. In addition, Sidelooking radars, High-powered optical satellites, and sky-scanning, high-aperture, high sensitivity radars such asradio telescopes, would all be able to narrow down thelocation of a stealth aircraft under certain parameters.[48]The newest SAM’s have a claimed ability to be able to de-tect and engage stealth targets, with the most notable be-ing the S-400, which is claimed to be able to detect a tar-get with a 0.05 meter squared RCS from 90 km away.[49]

Another potential weapon system for anti-aircraft use isthe laser. Although air planners have imagined lasersin combat since the late 1960s, only the most modernlaser systems are currently reaching what could be consid-ered “experimental usefulness”. In particular the TacticalHigh Energy Laser can be used in the anti-aircraft andanti-missile role. If current developments continue, somebelieve it is reasonable to suggest that lasers will play amajor role in air defence starting in the next ten years.The future of projectile based weapons may be found inthe railgun. Currently tests are underway on developingsystems that could create asmuch damage as a Tomahawk(missile), but at a fraction of the cost. In February 2008the US Navy tested a railgun; it fired a shell at 5,600miles (9,000 km) per hour using 10megajoules of energy.Its expected performance is over 13,000 miles (21,000km) per hour muzzle velocity, accurate enough to hit a5-meter target from 200 nautical miles (370 km) awaywhile shooting at 10 shots per minute. It is expected to beready in 2020 to 2025.[50] These systems while currentlydesigned for static targets would only need the ability tobe retargeted to become the next generation of AA sys-tem.

6 Force structures

MostWestern and Commonwealth militaries integrate airdefence purely with the traditional services, of the mili-tary (i.e. army, navy and air force), as a separate arm or aspart of artillery. In the United States Army for instance,air defence is part of the artillery arm, while in the Pak-istan Army, it was split off from Artillery to form a sep-arate arm of its own in 1990. This is in contrast to some(largely communist or ex-communist) countries wherenot only are there provisions for air defence in the army,navy and air force but there are specific branches that dealonly with the air defence of territory, for example, the So-viet PVO Strany. The USSR also had a separate strategicrocket force in charge of nuclear intercontinental ballisticmissiles.

6.2 Army 15

6.1 Navy

Soviet AK-630 CIWS (close-in weapon system)

Model of the multirole IDAS missile of the German Navy, whichcan be fired from submerged anti-aircraft weapon systems

Smaller boats and ships typically have machine-guns orfast cannons, which can often be deadly to low-flyingaircraft if linked to a radar-directed fire-control systemradar-controlled cannon for point defence. Some vesselslike Aegis cruisers are as much a threat to aircraft as anyland-based air defence system. In general, naval vesselsshould be treated with respect by aircraft, however thereverse is equally true. Carrier battle groups are espe-cially well defended, as not only do they typically consistofmany vessels with heavy air defence armament but theyare also able to launch fighter jets for combat air patroloverhead to intercept incoming airborne threats.Nations such as Japan use their SAM-equipped vessels tocreate an outer air defence perimeter and radar picket inthe defence of its Home islands, and theUnited States alsouses its Aegis-equipped ships as part of its Aegis BallisticMissile Defense System in the defence of the ContinentalUnited States.Some modern submarines, such as the Type 212 sub-marines of the German Navy, are equipped withsurface-to-air missile systems, since helicopters and anti-submarine warfare aircraft are significant threats. Thesubsurface launched anti-air missile was first purposed byUS Navy Rear Admiral Charles B. Momsen, in a 1953article.[51]

6.1.1 Layered air defence

RIM-67 intercepts Firebee drone at White Sands 1980

Air defence in naval tactics, especially within a carriergroup, is often built around a system of concentric lay-ers with the aircraft carrier at the centre. The outer layerwill usually be provided by the carrier’s aircraft, specifi-cally its AEW&C aircraft combined with the CAP. If anattacker is able to penetrate this layer, then the next lay-ers would come from the surface-to-air missiles carriedby the carrier’s escorts; the area-defence missiles, such asthe RIM-67 Standard, with a range of up to 100 nmi, andthe point-defence missiles, like the RIM-162 ESSM, witha range of up to 30 nmi. Finally, virtually every modernwarship will be fitted with small-calibre guns, including aCIWS, which is usually a radar-controlled Gatling gun ofbetween 20mm and 30mm calibre capable of firing sev-eral thousand rounds per minute.[52]

6.2 Army

Armies typically have air defence in depth, from inte-gral MANPADS such as the RBS 70, Stinger and Iglaat smaller force levels up to army-level missile defencesystems such as Angara and Patriot. Often, the high-altitude long-range missile systems force aircraft to fly atlow level, where anti-aircraft guns can bring them down.As well as the small and large systems, for effective air de-fence there must be intermediate systems. These may bedeployed at regiment-level and consist of platoons of self-propelled anti-aircraft platforms, whether they are self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAGs), integrated air-defence systems like Tunguska or all-in-one surface-to-air missile platforms like Roland or SA-8 Gecko.On a national level the United States Army was atypicalin that it was primarily responsible for the missile air de-fences of the Continental United States with systems suchas Project Nike.

16 7 TACTICS

6.3 Air force

F-22A Raptor −03-4058

Air defence by air forces is typically taken care of byfighter jets carrying air-to-air missiles. However, most airforces choose to augment airbase defence with surface-to-air missile systems as they are such valuable targets andsubject to attack by enemy aircraft. In addition, countrieswithout dedicated air defence forces often relegate theseduties to the air force.

6.4 Area air defence

Area air defence, the air defence of a specific area or loca-tion, (as opposed to point defence), have historically beenoperated by both armies (Anti-Aircraft Command in theBritish Army, for instance) and Air Forces (the UnitedStates Air Force's CIM-10 Bomarc). Area defence sys-tems have medium to long range and can be made up ofvarious other systems and networked into an area defencesystem (in which case it may be made up of several shortrange systems combined to effectively cover an area). Anexample of area defence is the defence of Saudi Arabiaand Israel by MIM-104 Patriot missile batteries duringthe first Gulf War, where the objective was to cover pop-ulated areas.

7 Tactics

7.1 Mobility

Most modern air defence systems are fairly mobile. Eventhe larger systems tend to be mounted on trailers and aredesigned to be fairly quickly broken down or set up. Inthe past, this was not always the case. Early missile sys-tems were cumbersome and required much infrastruc-ture; many could not be moved at all. With the diversifi-cation of air defence there has been much more emphasison mobility. Most modern systems are usually either self-propelled (i.e. guns or missiles are mounted on a truck ortracked chassis) or easily towed. Even systems that con-sist of many components (transporter/erector/launchers,radars, command posts etc.) benefit from being mounted

The Russian Pantsir-S1 can engage targets while moving, thusachieving high survivability.

on a fleet of vehicles. In general, a fixed system can beidentified, attacked and destroyed whereas a mobile sys-tem can show up in places where it is not expected. So-viet systems especially concentrate on mobility, after thelessons learnt in the Vietnam war between the USA andVietnam. For more information on this part of the con-flict, see SA-2 Guideline.

7.2 Air defence versus air defence suppres-sion

AGM-88 and AIM-9 on Tornado

Israel, and The US Air Force, in conjunction with themembers of NATO, has developed significant tacticsfor air defence suppression. Dedicated weapons such asanti-radiation missiles and advanced electronics intelli-gence and electronic countermeasures platforms seek tosuppress or negate the effectiveness of an opposing air-defence system. It is an arms race; as better jamming,countermeasures and anti-radiation weapons are devel-oped, so are better SAM systems with ECCM capabil-ities and the ability to shoot down anti-radiation missilesand other munitions aimed at them or the targets they aredefending.

17

7.3 Insurgent tactics

Rocket-propelled grenades can be—and often are—usedagainst hovering helicopters (e.g., by Somali militiamenduring the Battle of Mogadishu (1993)). Firing an RPGat steep angles poses a danger to the user, because thebackblast from firing reflects off the ground. In Somalia,militia members sometimes welded a steel plate in the ex-haust end of an RPG’s tube to deflect pressure away fromthe shooter when shooting up at US helicopters. RPGsare used in this role only when more effective weaponsare not available.For insurgents the most effective method of counteringaircraft is to attempt to destroy them on the ground, eitherby trying to penetrate an airbase perimeter and destroyaircraft individually, e.g. the September 2012 Camp Bas-tion raid, or finding a position where aircraft can be en-gaged with indirect fire, such as mortars.

8 See also• Air supremacy

• Artillery

• Gun laying

• List of anti-aircraft weapons

• Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon

• The bomber will always get through

9 Notes[1] AAP-6

[2] “ack-ack, adj. and n.”. OED Online. September 2013.Oxford University Press. (accessed September 14, 2013).

[3] “A E Borton_P”. Rafweb.org. Retrieved 19 June 2010.

[4] .AAP-6

[5] “flak”. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved30 June 2008.

[6] Bellamy pg 219

[7] le petit Larousse 2013 p20-p306

[8] Hogg WW2 pg 99–100

[9] “Huge Ear Locates Planes and Tells Their Speed” Popu-lar Mechanics, December 1930 article on French aircraftsound detector with photo

[10] Checkland and Holwell pg. 127

[11] Routledge pg. 456

[12] Bellamy pg 82, 213

[13] Beckett 2008, 178.

[14] Routledge pg. 396–397

[15] Spring 2007 issue of the American Association of Avia-tion Historians Journal

[16] Essential Militaria: Facts, Legends, and Curiosities AboutWarfare Through the Ages, Nicholas Hobbs, AtlanticMonthly Press 2004, ISBN 0-8021-1772-4

[17] Bethel pg 56–80

[18] Routledge pg 3–4

[19] “New American Aerial Weapons” Popular Mechanics,December 1911, p. 776.

[20] “How was the first military airplane shot down”. NationalGeographic. Retrieved 5 August 2015.

[21] “Ljutovac, Radoje”. Amanet Society. Retrieved 5 August2015.

[22] “Radoje Raka Ljutovac – first person in the world to shootdown an airplane with a cannon”. Pečat. Retrieved 5 Au-gust 2015.

[23] Routledge pg 4–5

[24] Routledge pg 6

[25] The Ministry of Munitions pg 40–41

[26] Routledge pg 8–17

[27] Routledge pg 14, 15

[28] Routledge pg 14, 20

[29] The Ministry of Munitions pg 11

[30] “flaming onions?". Theaerodrome.com. Retrieved 19June 2010.

[31] Routledge pg 48–49

[32] Routledge pg 49–50

[33] Routledge pg 95–97

[34] Hogg German WW2 pg 14, 162–177

[35] Hogg Allied WW2 pg 127–130

[36] Hogg Allied WW2 pg 97–107

[37] Hogg Allied WW2 pg 114–119

[38] Hogg Allied WW2 pg 108–110

[39] Hogg German WW2 pg 144–147

[40] Hogg German WW2 pg 150–152

[41] Hogg German WW2 pg 155–156

[42] Hogg Allied WW2 pg 115–117

[43] “Uncle Sam’s Latest Weapons For War In the Air”, De-cember 1931, Popular Mechanics

[44] Hogg Allied WW2 pg 131

18 11 EXTERNAL LINKS

[45] Routledge pg 56

[46] Cruise Missile Defence: Defending Antwerp against theV-1, Lt. Col. John A. Hamilton

[47] The Defence of Antwarp Against the V-1 Missile, R.J.Backus, LTC, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 1971

[48] http://homepage.mac.com/ardeshir/Anti-StealthTechnology.pdf

[49] Carlo Kopp (November 2003). “Asia’s new SAMs”(PDF).Australian Aviation: 30. Archived (PDF) from theoriginal on 23 July 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.

[50] “Image and comments”. Dvice.com. 2 February 2008.Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 19June 2010.

[51] “Will the New Submarines Rule the Seas?" Popular Me-chanics, August 1953, pp. 74-78, see page 78.

[52] “What it takes to successfully attack an American Aircraftcarrier” - Lexington Institute

10 References• AAP-6 NATO Glossary of Terms. 2009.

• Bellamy, Chris. 1986. “The Red God of War– Soviet Artillery and Rocket Forces”. London:Brassey’s

• Bethel, Colonel HA. 1911. “Modern Artillery in theField”. London: Macmillan and Co Ltd

• Checkland, Peter and Holwell, Sue. 1998. “Infor-mation, Systems and Information Systems – makingsense of the field”. Chichester: Wiley

• Hogg, Ian V. 1998. “Allied Artillery of World WarTwo”. Malborough: The Crowood Press ISBN 1-86126-165-9

• Hogg, Ian V. 1998. “Allied Artillery of World WarOne” Malborough: The Crowood Press ISBN 1-86126-104-7

• Hogg, Ian V. 1997. “German Artillery of WorldWar Two” London: Greenhill Books ISBN 1-85367-261-0

• Routledge, Brigadier NW. 1994. “History of theRoyal regiment of Artillery –Anti-Aircraft Artillery1914–55”. London: Brassey’s ISBN 1-85753-099-3

• Handbook for the Ordnance, Q.F. 3.7-inch Mark IIonMounting, 3.7-inchA.A.Mark II – Land Service.1940. London: War Office 26|Manuals|2494

• History of the Ministry of Munitions. 1922. Vol-ume X The Supply of Munitions, Part VI Anti-Aircraft Supplies. Reprinted by Naval & MilitaryPress Ltd and Imperial War Museum.

• Flavia Foradini: I bunker di Vienna”, Abitare2/2006, Milano

• Flavia Foradini, Edoardo Conte: I templi incompiutidi Hitler”, catalogo della mostra omonima, Milano,Spazio Guicciardini, 17.2-13.3.2009

11 External links• “Flak (1943)" on YouTube

• 1914 1918 war in Alsace - The Battle of Linge 1915- The 63rd Anti Aircraft Regiment in 14 18 - The 96thposte semi-fixed in the Vosges

• Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History ofGround-Based Air Defense by Kenneth P. Werrell(book available for download)

• Japanese Anti-aircraft land/vessel doctrines in1943–44

• 2nd/3rd Australian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment

19

12 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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