Surface to Air Missile (SAM)

Radar or infrared guided missile fired from a ground position to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft or missiles. Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) were developed to protect ground positions from hostile air attacks, specifically high-altitude bombers flying beyond the range of conventional antiaircraft artillery.

During the 1950s and 1960s, batteries of Nike-Ajax and Nike-Hercules SAMs provided strategic air defense against Soviet ICBMs and long-range bombers. Following agreements between the Soviet Union and the United States to limit strategic nuclear devices and the subsequent dismantlement of the Soviet Union into independent republics, research focused on the development of short-range, lighter, and more portable SAMs to protect ground troops. An important development among hand-held SAMs is integrated fire-control systems for ground units, which can separate friendly aircraft from hostile aircraft.

Since 1970, almost all the major industrial nations have developed tactical weapons to protect ground troops from air attack. Hand-held antiaircraft missiles using optical sighting and infrared homing devices like the Stinger missile have been used effectively against fighters and helicopters in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other areas.

The United States provided anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the late 1980s with Stinger missiles, which were an effective defense against Soviet helicopters attacking mountain positions. Muslim extremist groups have retained some of these weapons and acquired new SAMs, a situation that poses a significant terrorist threat at the current time.

A SAM was fired on an Israeli airliner in Africa in 2003. Insurgents also have downed a number of U.S. aircraft during Operation Iraqi Freedom using handheld surface to air missiles. Recent homeland security advisories have directed domestic airports to increase security around their perimeters to prevent a SAM missile from being launched at commercial airliners departing or arriving at U.S. airports.