Draft:Ground Forces Anti-Air Defense Missile Artillery (Ukraine)

Ground Forces Anti-Air Defense Missile Artillery (Зенітні ракетні війська протиповітряної оборони CB) is the Ukrainian Ground Forces' service branch of dedicated formations conducting anti-aircraft warfare operations in national land territory.

Tasks
As a combat support force it is designed to provide, in cooperation with other branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Air Defense of the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, the following:


 * anti-air defense cover of important administrative and political centers, facilities and the like
 * air defense cover of industrial and economic vital facilities
 * air defense cover of other important facilities and intrastructure as may be provided by the government of Ukraine
 * air defense cover to formations of the Armed Forces in combat operations, both static or mobile, as well as permanent installations and bases of the forces

This service operates various short and medium-range types of anti-aircraft missile (anti-aircraft artillery) systems with high capabilities of hitting modern air attack means in a wide range of altitudes and flight speeds, under different weather conditions and timeframes, in support of Ground Forces operations or in joint forces operations with other branches and in fulfillment of the various tasks of the Armed Forces as defined by law.

For Ukraine, the protection of military and political centers, industrial facilities and energy supply is one of the primary tasks of ensuring the country's defense capability, which is why to the Ground Forces, the GFAADMA is of paramount importance as a service branch in support of combat operations. As such the Ground Forces Air Defense distinguished itself in both the War in Donbas and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is being modernized with the arrival of Western air defense systems to the UGF.

Brief history
The 1991 decrees of the Verkhovna Rada that formed the Ground Forces on the basis of Soviet Army formations in Ukraine ensured the formation of Ground Forces Anti-Air Defense Missile Artillery as a combat support branch of the Forces and thus is one of the oldest combat support arms of this service branch. Each infantry and armored division, today infantry and armored brigades, had an air defense missile regiment in its ORBAT, now reduced to battalion size for some but remaining a regiment for many units, which provided mobile air defense support to combat and combat support formations, as well as defense of Army Aviation bases and installations, alongside independent regiments (battalion sized) or brigades reporting to Operational Commands directly.

The regiments formerly carried Soviet battle honours and state honours until these were removed from their titles and unit colours in the 2010s.

Russo-Ukrainian War
With the arrival of the Flakpanzer Gepard in the midst of the current Russian invasion as of 2022, the Anti-Air Defense Missile Artillery of the Ukrainian Ground Forces thus began an ongoing process of Westernization of its materiel, which had already been acclerated with the arrival of Western MANPAD systems to supplement those of Soviet-era manufacture in current use even before the invasion. The German-produced Gepards, together with Stormer HVMs produced in the United Kingdom, both of which arrived in the country during the current war, constitute the first Western-made mobile air defense systems in service in this branch of the Ground Forces since independence.

Active units of the AADMA of the UGF

 * Regional air defense regiments:
 * 39th Air Defence Missile Regiment, Volodymyr-Volynsky, Volyn Oblast
 * 1129th Bila Tserkva Air Defence Missile Regiment, Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast
 * 38th Air Defence Missile Regiment 'Major-General Yuriy Tyutyunnyk', Nova Odesa, Mykolaiv Oblast
 * 1039th Air Defence Missile Regiment (MU А1964), Hvardiiske, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
 * Air defense missile battalions/regiments in Mechanized, Motorized, Mountain and Assault Infantry and Armored Brigades:
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 1st Armored Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 10th Mountain Assault Infantry Brigade (Mountain)
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Regiment 13th Jaeger Infantry Brigade (Mot) (Light)
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 14th Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Regiment 17th Armored Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 24th Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 28th Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 30th Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Regiment 47th Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 53rd Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 54th Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 56th Motorized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 57th Motorized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 58th Motorized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 59th Motorized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 61st Jaeger Infantry Brigade (Mech) (Light)
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Regiment 68th Jaeger Infantry Brigade (Mech) (Light)
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 72nd Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 92nd Assault Infantry Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 93rd Mechanized Brigade
 * Air Defense Missile Artillery Battalion 128th Mountain Assault Infantry Brigade (Mountain)
 * 1121st Anti-aircraft Missile Artillery Training Regiment

Equipment
The Ground Forces Anti-Air Defense Missile Artillery operates the following:

Future purchases:

 * Skyshield truck-mounted short range anti-aircraft guns for UGF use
 * Skyranger 35 wheeled mobile short range anti-aircraft guns, mounted either on Boxer or BTR chassis
 * Crotale NG wheeled mobile short range surface-to-air missile launchers, can also be fitted on BTR chassis