Write Your Own History | The Sabre Killers

How 129 Air Defence Regiment wrote its name in the history of the Indian Army

Lt Col S Balaji R and Col Nikhil Kapoor

The term air defence was probably first used by Great Britain when it created the Royal Air Force command in 1925. In those days, air defence arrangements were also called ‘anti aircraft’, abbreviated as AA. After World War I, it was prefixed by ‘light’ or ‘heavy’ (LAA or HAA) to classify the type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA, AAA or ‘Ack Ack’ (from the pronunciation used by the British for transmission of AA) and ‘Archie’ (a World War I British term).

President K.R. Narayanan presenting Vir Chakra to Maj. G.S. Khot. During the Kargil War, on 19 June,
he undertook cas evac and air maintenance sorties under direct enemy fire from Tololing Top and Mashkoh in Dras Sector

The earliest known use of weapons specifically made for the anti-aircraft role occurred during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the disaster at Sedan, Paris was besieged and French troops outside the city started an attempt at communication via balloons. According to Nicholas Hobbs’ Essential Militaria: Facts, Legends, and Curiosities About Warfare Through the Ages, the Prussians mounted a modified 1-pounder (37 mm) gun—the Ballonabwehrkanone (Balloon Defence Canon) or Bak—on top of a horse-drawn carriage for the purpose of shooting down these balloons.

In some armies, the term All Arms Air Defence (AAAD) is used. Other terms from the late 20^th century include GBAD (Ground Based Air Defence) with related terms such as SHORAD (Short Range AD) and MANPADS (Man Portable AD Systems). Non-English terms for air defence include the German Flak (FliegerabwehrKanone), and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona, a literal translation of ‘anti-air defence’, abbreviated as PVO. In Russian, the AA systems are called zenitnye (i.e, pointing to zenith). In French, air defence is called DCA (Defense Contre les Aeronefs), being the generic term for all kind of airborne devices.

At the end of World War II, the anti-aircraft regiments in India