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Air Defense Artillery branch
USAADA-PLAQUE
Branch plaque
Active 1968-present
Country United States
Branch U.S. Army
Type Branch
Role Air defense
Motto(s) "First to Fire!"
Colors Red and Gold
March ADA March
Mascot(s) Oozlefinch
Anniversaries 17 November 1775- The Continental Congress elected Henry Knox "Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery"[1]
Insignia
Branch insignia USAADA-BRANCH

Air Defense Artillery refers to a combat arm that specializes in anti-aircraft weapons (such as surface to air missiles). In the US Army, these groups are composed of mainly air defense systems such as the Patriot Missile System, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and the Avenger Air Defense system which fires the FIM-92 Stinger missile. The Air Defense Artillery branch descended from the Anti-Aircraft Artillery (part of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps) into a separate branch on 20 June 1968. On 1 December 1968, the ADA branch was authorized to wear modified Artillery insignia, crossed field guns with missile.

Mission[]

According to the Army's Field Manual 44-100, the mission of Air Defense Artillery is "to protect the force and selected geopolitical assets from aerial attack, missile attack, and surveillance."[2]

History[]

On 10 October 1917 an Antiaircraft Service in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was created at Arnouville-Les-Gonesse where an antiaircraft school was established. The antiaircraft units were organized as serially numbered battalions during the war, as follows:

  • 1st Antiaircraft Battalion through the 10th Antiaircraft Battalion
  • 1st AA Machine Gun Battalion through the 6th AA Machine Gun Battalion. These units were organized by Col. James A. Shipton[3] but were disbanded in May 1918.
The National Defense Act of 1920 formally assigned the air defense mission to the Coast Artillery Corps, and 4 battalions were organized in 1921. In 1924 under a major reorganization of the Coast Artillery the battalions were reorganized as regiments.

In 1938 there were only 5 Regular Army and thirteen National Guard regiments, but by 1941 this had been expanded to 37 total regiments. In November 1942, 781 battalions were authorized. However, this number was pared down to 331 battalions by the end of the war. On 9 March 1942 Antiaircraft Command was established in Washington D.C. and in 1944 the AAA school was moved to Fort Bliss. Army Anti-Aircraft Command (ARAACOM) was created July 1950, and in 1957, ARAACOM was renamed to US Army Air Defense Command (USARADCOM).

The serially numbered battalions bore the following titles

  • Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
  • Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion
  • Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion
  • Antiaircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion
  • Barrage balloon Battalions

and later

  • Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion.

In 1957 the Combat Arms Regimental System organized the battalions under regiments again. In 1968 the Air Defense Artillery Branch was created. In 2010 the United States Army Air Defense Artillery School was moved from Fort Bliss to Fort Sill.

Major commands[]

Army Air & Missile Defense Command
Command SSI Garrison Subordinate to/
corps or army
32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command 32aamdc Fort Bliss, TX FORSCOM
94th Army Air & Missile Defense Command 94thAAMDC Fort Shafter, HI United States Army Pacific
10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command 10aamdc Kaiserslautern, Germany United States Army Europe
263d Army Air & Missile Defense Command 263ADABdeSSI Anderson, SC South Carolina Army National Guard

Brigade size units[]

Battalions[]

Air Defense Artillery Brigades
Brigade SSI Subordinate to/ garrison Component
6th ADA Brigade (ADA School) ADA School SSI Fort Sill Training and Doctrine Command
11th ADA Brigade 11ADABdeSSI Fort Bliss 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command
31st ADA Brigade 31ADABdeSSI Fort Sill 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command
35th ADA Brigade 35ADABdeSSI South Korea Eighth United States Army / 94th Army Air & Missile Defense Command[5]
108th ADA Brigade 108 ADA BDE SSI Fort Bragg
Fort Campbell
32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command
164th ADA Brigade 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Florida ARNG
174th ADA Brigade Ohio ARNG
Battalion
Unit DUI Subordinate to/ garrison Component
1-1 ADA
2-1 ADA
1 ADA Rgt DUI 35th ADA Brigade Regular Army
A Battery, 2nd ADA
3-2 ADA
2 ADA Rgt DUI 11th ADA Brigade (A Battery, 2nd ADA)
31st ADA Brigade, Fort Sill (3-2 ADA)
Regular Army
4-3 ADA 3 ADA Rgt DUI 31st ADA Brigade, Fort Sill Regular Army
A Battery, 4th ADA
3–4 ADA
4 ADA Rgt DUI 11th ADA Brigade (A Battery, 4th ADA)
108th ADA Brigade (3–4 ADA)
Regular Army
4-5 AMD
5-5 ADA
5ADARegtDUI 69th ADA Brigade (4–5 AMD)
31st ADA Brigade (5–5 ADA)
Regular Army
2–6 ADA
3–6 ADA
6thada-dui 6th ADA Brigade (ADA School), Fort Sill Regular Army
1-7 ADA (P)
5-7 ADA (P)
5-7ADA Crest 108th ADA Brigade (1–7 ADA)
Kaiserslautern, Germany (5–7 ADA)
Regular Army
1–43 ADA
2–43 ADA
3–43 ADA
43 ADA Rgt DUI 11th ADA Brigade Regular Army
1–44 ADA
2–44 ADA
44ADARegtDUI 69th ADA Brigade (1–44th ADA) Fort Hood
108th ADA Brigade (2–44 ADA)
Regular Army
5–52 ADA
6–52 ADA
52ADARegtDUI 11th ADA Brigade (5–52)
35th ADA Brigade (6–52)
Regular Army
1–56 ADA 56ADARegtDUI 6th ADA Brigade (ADA School), Fort Sill Regular Army
1–204 ADA 1–204 ADA Mississippi ARNG

Shipton award[]

The Shipton Award is named for Brigadier General James A. Shipton, who is acknowledged as the Air Defense Artillery Branch's founding father.[6] Shipton felt that the mission of antiaircraft defense was not to down enemy aircraft, but instead to protect maneuver forces on the ground: "The purpose of anti-aviation defense is to protect our own forces and establishments from hostile attack and observation from the air by keeping enemy aeroplanes [sic] at a distance." The Shipton Award recognizes an Air Defense Artillery professional for outstanding performance individual thought, innovation and contributions that results in significant contributions or enhances Air Defense Artillery's warfighting capabilities, morale, readiness and maintenance.

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Air Defense Artillery Branch (United States) and the edit history here.

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