air defense

Also known as air defence, anti air force

defensive measures designed to destroy attacking aircraft and aerodynamic missiles, or to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of such attack.

AI overview

Air defense is a system of weapons and methods designed to protect against attacks from aircraft and missiles by destroying them or making them less effective. It matters because it helps protect people, military forces, and important locations from damage caused by aerial attacks.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: branch of service
Subclass of: anti-aircraft warfare
Image: Bofors-aa-gun-algeria.jpg

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topic's main category: Category:Air defense
Commons category: Anti-aircraft weapons
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4

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Encyclopedic overview

Short- and long-range AA systems used by the Dutch Joint Ground-based Air Defence Command

Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) or air defence (or air defense in American English) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action". It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (submarine-launched), and air-based weapon systems, in addition to associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements, and passive measures (e.g. barrage balloons). It may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries, the main effort has tended to be homeland defence. Missile defence is an extension of air defence, as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “air defense” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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