Point defence (or point defense; see

spelling differences Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and Americ ...

) is the defence of a single object or a limited area, e.g. a ship, building or an airfield, now usually against air attacks and

guided missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of Propulsion, self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a targ ...

s. Point defence weapons have a smaller range in contrast to area-defence systems and are placed near or on the object to be protected. Point defence may include: * short-ranged

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

Close-in weapon system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...

s on ship * land-based short-ranged

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

guns or

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

systems *

Active protection system An active protection system (APS) is a system designed to actively prevent certain anti-tank weapons from destroying a vehicle. Countermeasures that either conceal the vehicle from or disrupt the guidance of an incoming guided missile threat are ...

s on tanks or other armoured fighting vehicles

Coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...

to protect harbours is similar conceptually, but is generally not classified as point defence. Similarly, passive systems—

electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...

, decoys,

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

s—are not considered point defence.

Examples

Aircraft

Bachem Ba 349 The Bachem Ba 349 Natter () is a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor aircraft, interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. After a vertical take-off, which eliminated the n ...

''Natter'' – vertical take-off rocket powered crewed interceptor (prototypes only) * Convair XF-92 – Later used as testbed for later projects. * F-14 ADC – Proposed interceptor for the USAF

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

. * Junkers EF 009 Hubjäger – Proposed interceptor with 10 radially placed turbojet engines. *

Messerschmitt Me 163 The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as ...

– World War II-era operational German rocket powered

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

. * NR-349 – Proposed Improved Manned Interceptor replacement for the F-101, F-102 and F-106.

Close-in weapons systems

* Goalkeeper CIWS – Gun

CIWS A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of ...

in current service by the Dutch navy. *

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS () is an automated gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the General Dynamics Co ...

– 20 mm Vulcan cannon mounted on a swivelling base. Notably used on almost all major surface combatants of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. *

Kashtan CIWS The Kortik (, "dirk") close-in weapon system (CIWS) is a modern naval air defence gun-missile system deployed by the Russian Navy. Its export version is known as Kashtan (, English: Chestnut), with the NATO designation CADS-N-1 Kashtan. The Korti ...

– Gun-Missile CIWS in current service by the Russian navy. * Type 730 – in current use by the Chinese Navy.

Surface-to-air missile systems

* RIM-116 RAM – Missile CIWS in current use by the US Navy. *

Barak 1 Barak (, ''lightning'') is an Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM) designed to be used as a ship-borne point-defense missile system against aircraft, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs. Design The Barak SAM system is designed to replace or complement ...

– Israeli point defence missile. * VL-SRSAM – Indian point and area defence missile.

Active Protection Systems

* Arena APS – a Russian point defence system for individual armoured vehicles. * Trophy APS - an Israeli APS in service with the IDF.

References