From Anti-Aircraft Defence to Ground-to-Air Defence

The Musée de l'Artillerie traces through its collections the history of artillery from its beginnings to the present day, with particular emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The museum is a place for the conservation, restoration, and showcasing of French military heritage. It is also a centre of study. On 28 May 2010, around ten military officers and academics with an interest in the history of artillery gathered at the museum for a day of work devoted in particular to ground-to-air artillery.
Although the first shots against a lighter-than-air craft took place at the Battle of Fleurus, it was during the Great War that anti-aircraft fire developed alongside aviation itself. Throughout the twentieth century, firing, ranging, and aircraft-detection techniques were developed in parallel with advances in aircraft technology. Today, ground-to-air artillery no longer holds the same place in defence systems, and at the same time the whole of the artillery arm is involved in the use of airspace. It is no longer solely a matter of defence against aircraft but of a general management of airspace, involving in particular elements of the Air Force.
This work provides an overview of current and historical knowledge on this subject.
From Anti-Aircraft Defence to Ground-to-Air Defence.
Proceedings of the study day organised on 28 May 2010
at the École de l'Artillerie in Draguignan.