Flugabwehrraketengeschwader 1 (Air Defence Missile Wing 1) or (''FlaRakG 1'') "

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

" is a unit of the

German Air Force The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War a ...

based in

Stadum Stadum is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Notable people Rock musician Rio Reiser and his band Ton Steine Scherben moved to a farmstead at Fresenhagen in Stadum in 1975. Reiser lived there until h ...

and

Husum Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of ...

Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...

. The wing is equipped with the

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

air defense missile system.

History

The unit was established in 1959 as Air Defense Regiment 3 in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

and was equipped with

Bofors 40 mm Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

guns. The same year the unit transferred to Bocholt. In 1960, the unit transferred to

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

. In 1965 the

MIM-23 Hawk The Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK ("Homing all the way killer") is an American medium-range surface-to-air missile. It was designed to be a much more mobile counterpart to the MIM-14 Nike Hercules, trading off range and altitude capability for a much sm ...

air defense missile system was introduced and the unit was renamed Air Defense Missile Regiment 3 "Krummenort" and moved to near

Rendsburg Rendsburg ( da, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'', nds, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Ecke ...

. In 1967, the unit transferred to

Heide Heide (; Holsatian: ''Heid'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Dithmarschen. Population: 21,000. The German word ''Heide'' means "heath". In the 15th century four adjoining villages decided ...

. It was renamed Air Defence Missile Command 1 in 1989 and in 1993 reclassified as an air missile wing. Beginning in 1994, the wing moved to its present locations. The HAWK weapons system was deactivated in 2001. On 1 January 2011, Air Defence Missile Wing 1 took formal responsibility of the short-range protection system

MANTIS Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

. To operate this weapons system, the air force called into service an additional anti-aircraft group at

on 1 April 2011. Air Defence Missile Wing 1 was given the honorary name "Schleswig-Holstein" in 1989 and until 30 June 2013 it was part of the Air Forces's 4th Air Division. Currently the unit is assigned to the ''Luftwaffentruppenkommando''. Based on the agreement between Germany and The Netherlands signed in 2013, the Air Defence Missile Group 61 (''Flugabwehrraketengruppe 61'') will be integrated in The Netherlands ground-based Air Defence Organisation as part of the close cooperation between both countries from 2016 onwards. The formal transformation under Dutch command was established in April 2018.

Tasks

Air Defence Missile Wing 1 utilises the Patriot air defense missile weapon system to engage in

anti-aircraft warfare Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes Surface-to-air m ...

against aircraft and

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...

Structure

Air Defence Missile Wing 1 consists of four

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

: * Air Defence Missile Group 21 (''Flugabwehrraketengruppe 21'') based at Sanitz * Air Defence Missile Group 24 (''Flugabwehrraketengruppe 24'') based at Bad Sülze * Air Defence Missile Group 26 (''Flugabwehrraketengruppe 26'') based at Husum * Air Defence Missile Group 61 (''Flugabwehrraketengruppe 61'') based at Todendorf until April 2018

References

{{Geschwader and Regiments of the Luftwaffe Military units and formations established in 1959 Air defense wings of the German Air Force