Anti-aircraft warfare: Difference between revisions

Turks carried out the first ever anti-airplane operation in history during the [[Italo-Turkish war]]. Although lacking anti-aircraft weapons, they were the first to shoot down an aeroplane by rifle fire. The first aircraft to crash in a war was the one of Lieutenant Piero Manzini, shot down on August 25, 1912.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.turkeyswar.com/prelude/turcoitalianwar/|title = Turco-Italian War}}</ref><ref>James D. Crabtree: On air defense, {{ISBN|0275947920}}, Greenwood Publishing Group, page 9</ref>

 

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File:Canon antiballons.JPG|''Ballonabwehrkanone'' by Krupp

 

The [[United States Navy]] had also put some thought into the problem, When the US Navy began to rearm in 1939 in many ships the primary short ranged gun was the M2 .50 caliber machine gun. While effective in fighters at 300 to 400 yards this is point blank range in naval anti-aircraft ranges. Production of the Swiss Oerlikon 20&nbsp;mm had already started to provide protection for the British and this was adopted in exchange for the M2 machine guns.<ref>Friedman, 2014 Location 8687</ref> From December 1941 to January 1942, production had risen to not only cover all British requirements but also allowed 812 units to be actually delivered to the US Navy.<ref>Friedman, 2014 Location 8713</ref> By the end of 1942 the 20&nbsp;mm had accounted for 42% of all aircraft destroyed by the US Navy's shipboard AA. However, the King Board had noted that the balance was shifting towards the larger guns used by the fleet. The US Navy had intended to use the British pom-pom, however, the weapon required the use of cordite which BuOrd had found objectionable for US service.<ref>Bulletin of Ordnance Information, No.245, pp. 54–60.</ref> Further investigation revealed that US powders would not work in the pom-pom.<ref>Friedman, 2014 Location 8620</ref> Bureau of Ordnance was well aware of the Bofors 40&nbsp;mm gun. The firm York Safe and Lock was negotiating with Bofors to attain the rights to the air-cooled version of the weapon. At the same time Henry Howard, an engineer, and businessman became aware of it and contacted RAMD W. R. Furlong, chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. He ordered the Bofors weapon system to be investigated. York Safe and Lock would be used as the contracting agent. The system had to be redesigned for both the English measurement system and mass production, as the original documents recommended hand fitting parts and drilling to shape.<ref>Friedman, 2014 Location 8956-8620</ref> As early as 1928 the US Navy saw the need to replace the .50 caliber machine gun with something heavier. The 1.1"/75 (28&nbsp;mm) Mark 1 was designed. Placed in quadruple mounts with a 500 rpm rate of fire it would have fit the requirements. However, the gun was suffering teething issues being prone to jamming. While this could have been solved the weight of the system was equal to that of the quad-mount Bofors 40&nbsp;mm while lacking the range and power that the Bofors provided. The gun was relegated to smaller less vital ships by the end of the war.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_1-1-75_mk1.php |title=USA 1.1"/75 (28 mm) Mark 1 and Mark 2 - NavWeaps |access-date=2 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930212147/http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_1-1-75_mk1.php |archive-date=30 September 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[5-inch/38-caliber gun|5"/38 naval gun]] rounded out the US Navy's AA suite. A dual purpose mount, it was used in both the surface and AA roles with great success.

 

[[File:Vienna flak tower dsc01594.jpg|thumb|upright|left|One of eight [[flak tower]]s built during [[World War II]] in [[Vienna]]]]

As this process continued, the missile found itself being used for more and more of the roles formerly filled by guns. First to go were the large weapons, replaced by equally large missile systems of much higher performance. Smaller missiles soon followed, eventually becoming small enough to be mounted on armoured cars and tank chassis. These started replacing, or at least supplanting, similar gun-based [[SPAAG]] systems in the 1960s, and by the 1990s had replaced almost all such systems in modern armies. Man-portable missiles, MANPADS, as they are known today, were introduced in the 1960s and have supplanted or replaced even the smallest guns in most advanced armies.

 

 

During the [[2008 South Ossetia war]] air power faced off against powerful SAM systems, like the 1980s [[Buk-M1]].