Anti-aircraft warfare
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"Flak" redirects here. For the audio file format "flac", see Free Lossless Audio Codec.
American troops mount an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943
American troops mount an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943

Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defence, is any method of engaging military aircraft in combat from the ground. Various guns and cannons have been used in this role since the first military aircraft were used in World War I, growing in power and accuracy over the years. Starting in the post-World War II era, the guns were joined by the guided missile, specifically the "surface-to-air missile", and today both are used in combination in most roles.

Adaptations of standard artillery systems were commonly used for most long-range anti-aircraft artillery, starting with standard pieces on new mountings, and evolving to custom guns with much higher performance prior to World War II. Their shells are usually fitted with different types of fuses (barometric, time-delay, or proximity) to send exploding metal fragments into the area of the target. The classic example of a large calibre, long-range anti-aircraft gun is the German 88 mm gun. Long-range weapons of this sort have for the most part been superseded by the effective anti-air missile systems that were introduced in the 1950s; however, because they are relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture compared to more modern systems, they are still employed in large numbers by many nations.

For shorter-range work, a lighter weapon with a higher rate of fire is required, to guarantee a hit on a quickly traversing target. Weapons of 20 mm, 37 mm, and 40 mm caliber have been widely used in this role. Even lighter, but potentially more deadly, was the so-called "Quad 50", an anti-aircraft weapon widely used by the United States Army and the U.S. Marines in both the Pacific and the European theaters of World War II.

The term "Quad 50" described a weapon, either pulled or truck-mounted, equipped with 4 separate but simultaneously-aimed and fired 50 caliber heavy machine guns. Because the Quad 50's 4 separate guns could be pre-set to converge at a given distance, it was capable of, and it often did, almost literally saw off the wing of a low-flying enemy plane attempting to complete a strafing run.

Unlike the heavier guns, these smaller weapons are still in widespread use today by Great Britain for the same reasons as they were originally introduced: the ability to quickly follow the target. Modern systems often use weapons generally known as autocannon, that were originally intended for air-to-ground use. However, developments in the latest short-range missiles mean that these appear to be able to replace guns even in this role.

Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation for anti-aircraft artillery, ack-ack (from the World War I phonetic alphabet for AA), archie (a WWI British term believed to derive via the Royal Flying Corps from the music-hall comedian George Robey's line "Archibald, certainly not!"), and flak or flack (from the German Flugabwehrkanone, aircraft defence cannon).[1] 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. The Soviet Anti-Air Defense was a separate armed service, but in Russia 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. Countries less assured of air superiority have more tiers. Russia, for example, has a system consisting of battalion-level MANPADS, regimental 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.
Contents
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* 1 History
o 1.1 Earliest use
o 1.2 World War I
o 1.3 World War II
o 1.4 Post-war
o 1.5 Future developments
* 2 Force structures
o 2.1 Navy
o 2.2 Army
o 2.3 Air force