A game-changer in the right hands

Ground-based air defence

The popular image of the fight to win control of the air is one of scores of fighters locked in swirling dogfights, epitomised by the Battle of Britain in World War 2 and MiG Alley in Korea. A less well-known method of asserting air control is ground-based air defence, which in certain circumstances has been very successful.

GBAD incorporates all or some of surface-to-air missiles, antiaircraft artillery, early-warning systems, and command and control centres, almost invariably in fixed locations. It has often been the choice of technologically modest and under-resourced forces opposed to superior opponents.