History Main / AntiAir

** Twister, [[{{Shoryuken}} Sky Uppercut]], Gust, and Thunder do double damage to a Pokémon that's taken to the air. In addition, a new move called Smack Down involves throwing a rock at the opponent, which knocks flyers to the ground. It's funny having [[MoreDakka all your Pokemon use it at once in a 3-on-3 battle.]]

* The Grineer settlements on Mars in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' are equipped with giant cannons aimed skywards that fire at something, probably some ships of the Corpus they are at war with.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': The Grineer Archgun Grattler's design is based off of real world anti-aircraft guns. This is further supported because associated files for the Grattler refer to it as "ArchGRNAAGUN," which can be seen as an abbreviation of "'''Arch'''wing '''Grin'''eer '''AA Gun'''".

SubTrope of WeaponOfXSlaying. Compare {{Shoryuken}} for fictional martial-arts moves designed to counter an airborne opponent, as well as AntiCavalry, AntiInfantry, AntiVehicle, AntiStructure, and AntiArmor.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In RealLife, the bulk of anti-aircraft weapons are specially designed for the role. Weapons designed to attack ground targets are often much less effective. For example, the sights on most firearms are not meant for firing into zenith -- ballistics is tricky science. Throw in the fact that airplanes are rapidly moving targets, and it is obvious that the weapon will need a fancy targeting system, relatively high rates of fire, high muzzle velocity, and a special mount to fire at steep angles. As a result, anti-air weapons are specialized and expensive. As such, it makes sense to use them in their intended capacity first and in all other capacities only as a last-ditch effort.
** That said, during the UsefulNotes/SecondWorldWar, AA guns of all types were successfully repurposed as ground weapons. In the case of larger, heavy anti-aircraft guns, it was found that their high muzzle velocity and heavy shell weights allowed them to punch through armour that earlier, specially-designed anti-tank guns (which were easier to handle but less powerful) could not penetrate. The German 88mm gun is the most famous example of this, in large part because its mountings actually made it a lot easier to use in this capacity, and because of its effectiveness against the heavy frontal armor of the British Churchill and Matilda II in North Africa and the Soviet KV-1 in the Eastern Front, all of which were generally impervious to other German anti-tank guns that were in use. This led to the development of the Tiger heavy tank, which mounted its own 88mm gun (though not one that was compatible with the anti-aircraft gun, contrary to popular belief). Similarly, light anti-aircraft autocannons, with their high muzzle velocities, rapid rates of fire, and ability to fire a variety of different projectiles, proved to be particularly effective against a wide range of ground targets.
** On one recorded occasion in January 1945, a low-flying [=Me 109=] fighter was shot down by an M10 tank destroyer of the US Army. It helped that the M10 was a tank-like vehicle mounting a repurposed 3-inch A/A gun. On this occasion, it was laid and aimed by a soldier who in civilian life had been an accomplished hunter, and who knew to shoot ahead of the target to bring down a bird in flight. He waited for the horizon-skimming fighter to get just where he wanted it in relation to the tank and treated his 3" gun as if it were a very large hunting rifle...
** Towards the end of the war, the British army realised it was massively over-stocked with anti-aircraft guns it just did not need because the collapse of the Luftwaffe had been so quick and complete. Much to their consternation and annoyance, anti-aircraft gunners who thought they were relatively safe were redeployed as infantry to replace losses. Many AA weapons were re-allocated as light artillery and were used to crushing effect to augment artillery barrages, most decisively during the Rhine crossings, where ''everything'' in the British artillery inventory was methodically sited and its firing times were synchronised so that all shells of all calibres landed, [[ParanoiaFuel without warning]], on German positions [[AlphaStrike simultaneously]].
** Additionally, while an individual rifleman poses little threat to aircraft, large numbers of infantry can damage low-flying aircraft. For instance, at least three Argentinean jets were shot down in the Falklands by concerted small-arms fire alone. Furthermore, even minor damage can require hours of maintenance and checks to ensure the plane is airworthy. The Soviets were noted to take this to extremes during WWII, with everything from submachine guns to light mortars being fired in the direction of attacking aircraft.
** It was noted that even well into the 1980s (and in some circumstances maybe even today) that while modern jet aircraft might get to the target zone at supersonic speeds, they ''still'' had to slow down to speeds not much faster than a UsefulNotes/WW2 piston-engined fighter, to be able to bomb accurately. This made them ''extremely'' vulnerable to [=WW2=] era defences against aircraft - such as concentrated ground-fire from small-arms weapons and machine guns. British defensive fire in the Falklands exploited this weakness. However, at least one RN ship was equipped with lock-on lasers used to blind incoming pilots on bombing runs - the ultra-modern alongside the old-fashioned.
** Mobile ground-based anti-air platforms exist. The Germans created the "Möbelwagen" [[CuteAsABouncingBetty (Furniture van)]], mounting four 20mm cannon on a Panzer IV tank chassis. The Americans mounted the M61 Vulcan six-barreled cannon on an Armored Personnel Carrier platform. One of the most effective ever created was the Soviet ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", equipped with a tracking radar and four 23mm cannons, which absolutely shredded low-flying aircraft in Vietnam and the Middle East. While highly powerful and a massive threat to helicopters even today, their old and easily jammed radar systems and the emergence of armored ground attack aircraft like the American A-10 "Warthog" and Russian Su-25 "Frogfoot" which could withstand 23mm fire led to the creation of the Shilka's more advanced cousin, the 9K22 "Tunguska". This combines 30mm cannon with radar-guided missiles to form an effective combo that can engage a variety of targets, with the guns being brought to bear primarily on low-flying aircraft and combat helicopters, as well as ground targets if necessary.
** Anti-aircraft artillery are not necessarily rapid-firing machine guns. Once miniaturized radar systems were developed, it was possible to put proximity fuses in pretty much any cannon shell turning any fast-traversing high-angled, long-barrel, high-velocity cannon into a potential AA device. The US and UK deployed many warships with 5" and 5.25" dual purpose guns, every bit at home with shooting down bombers and blowing up enemy warships. They also used huge batteries of 20mm, 40mm, and, late in the war, 76mm automatic cannon to tear up kamikaze aircraft that came too close. Large caliber guns are still used today for an AA role.
** The UK's 4.5 inch Mk 8 Mod. 1 gun fitted to the majority of their frigates and destroyers is able to operate in a proximity fused mode, along with predictive radar aiming in order to act as a rather mean flak cannon. Especially when you consider that it is an auto-loading cannon, capable of firing a shell every two seconds.
** The French firm GIAT builds a 100mm anti-air naval gun useful also for anti-ship combat and ground shelling used by various navies, and the Italian consortium Otobreda manufactures and sells the 127mm Compatto multipurpose gun (soon to be replaced with the similar but lighter 127 LW) and a 76mm gun whose two versions (Compatto, being more compact than the weapon it replaced, and the newer [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Super Rapid]]) are in use by 53 navies.
*** Otobreda loving the dual-purpose Super Rapido, they managed to put it on a tank chassis, obtaining the [[http://www.military-today.com/artillery/otomatic.htm Otomatic]], capable of both supporting ground troops with light artillery and shooting down choppers at 6 km, 2 km beyond the range of the helicopters' own anti-tank missiles. While this failed to sell, Otobreda tried again in 2010 with the help of the IVECO firm and created the [[http://www.military-today.com/artillery/draco.htm Draco]], that has the same gun (with better munitions) on the more mobile chassis of the Centauro tank destroyer.
** And in Russia as well - the Russian AKM-130 is a 130mm automatic cannon that is used for both anti-ship and anti-air combat, and fires at up to 80 rounds a minute.
** The Japanese had the "Beehive" round, a shell designed to turn the main guns of the battleship Yamato into the world's largest anti-aircraft shotgun. Such a big gun turned out to be impossible to aim fast enough, making it AwesomeButImpractical. The Germans had a massive anti-aircraft shell of their own for the main guns of the battleship Tirpitz, which succeeded in disrupting an incoming wave of Lancaster bombers but was, unsurprisingly, of very little utility in the end.
** Such guns were effective in the past but are very much a last resort weapon by now against modern fast movers (be them aircraft or sea-skimming missiles). And [[CrazyPrepared that's why]] Otobreda developed the STRALES ''maneuverable projectiles'' for its 76mm guns. The upgraded guns with the STRALES system basically fire [[MacrossMissileMassacre miniature radar-homing missiles]], and are expected to take down multiple enemy anti-ship missiles with a short burst to each.
* While fixed-wing aircraft are usually fairly safe from anything not specifically designed to attack aircraft, it should be noted that helicopters are not quite so fortunate. Being much lower and slower flying, they're under threat not only from dedicated anti-air platforms but also from other weapons systems. General purpose guided missiles can typically still target them, being designed not only with anti-tank work but also with versatility in mind. The same goes for cannons and unguided rockets designed to take down tanks, though some luck is required with the targeting. If the helicopter flies close enough to them, even infantry armed with machine guns can pose a threat by scoring a lucky hit on a weak spot like the tail rotor.
** Not to mention that many helicopters are designed to transport troops, dropping them off and picking them up directly on the battlefield, meaning that they often have to hover in close proximity to their enemies, if not outright land on a battlefield. There is a well-founded saying about how [[SittingDuck all aircraft become targets once they are on the ground.]]
* Inversely, a rare few aircraft are equipped with repurposed anti-air guns with the intent that these aircraft play a fire support role. Go figure.
* One of the most famous machine-gun examples from UsefulNotes/WW2 is the [[http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/quad_50.jpeg the M45 Quad mount, aka the Quad 50.]] It's 4 .50 cal machine guns mounted together and was originally intended for anti-aircraft use. Three guesses as to how it earned the nicknames "Meatchopper" and "Krautmower", and the first two don't count.
* The German equivalent was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_cm_Flak_30/38/Flakvierling#2_cm_Flakvierling_38 2 cm Flakvierling 38]] used in the Möbelwagen: Four 20 mm machine cannons.
* Various mounts have been produced utilizing the [[GatlingGood M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon]], most commonly associated with American fighter jets. Despite the use of radar-assisted targeting, they are of limited use against aircraft in an age of {{Roboteching}} munitions with [[ImprobableAimingSkills ridiculous accuracy]] and a range measured in tens of miles. However, experience has shown that the vehicle-mounted Vulcan cannons are ''tremendously'' effective against just about any sort of ground vehicle short of a tank, due to the Vulcan's hitting power and [[MoreDakka impressive rate of fire]].
* In the modern era, the autocannons of the past have been if not entirely replaced at least supplemented by a variety of man-portable and mobile surface-to-air missile systems, most famously the American man-portable Stinger missile and the ground-based Russian S-75 Dvina missile used by North Vietnam. The modern Russian Igla man-portable SAM is available in huge numbers and has a seeker with the ability to distinguish thermal exhaust from countermeasures like flares.
* If all else fails, try to snag the enemy with some cables strung between poles (preferably across any particularly tempting approaches for attackers, such as valleys or the tops of mountains or other high terrain near the target) or dangling from balloons floating over the target. This was primarily effective against enemy aircraft attempting to fly at tree-top level to avoid the worst of the anti-aircraft weapons and fighter cover. The presence of these cables would passively force the enemy aircraft to fly higher to avoid them, rendering them easier to target.
* While many battleships built during and in the decade or two after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI typically had limited ability to defend against air attacks, some UsefulNotes/WW2 battleships ''brimmed'' with anti-air firepower. Examples include the United States' ''North Carolina''-, ''South Dakota''-, and ''Iowa-class'' battleships. During one battle, an Admiral on an adjacent ship queried ''USS North Carolina'' asking if she was on fire because of the sheer volume of muzzle flashes from MoreDakka the ship's AA guns were throwing up. In addition to them, the Japanese designed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Shiki_%28anti-aircraft_shell%29 special AA ammo]] for the main guns of their battleships, that however were considered by US pilots as little more than pyrotechnic shows.
** Further, many older battleships were extensively refitted to improve their Anti Air capability, to the point of tearing down and rebuilding everything above the main deck except for the main battery, in particular to provide more places to mount defensive guns. Their main weaknesses in this regard were that the WWI era super-dreadnoughts were slower and smaller than the newer fast battleships, meaning they both had more difficulty avoiding aircraft and had less space to mount defenses.
* Modern air-defense equipment is dominated by guided missiles, which have the useful ability to steer themselves quite accurately into enemy aircraft, as well as in most cases boasting significantly longer range and larger warheads than any gun-based system. As the missile aims itself to an extent, much less gunner skill is required. The implications of such an accurate weapon system go beyond the obvious:
** Since each missile is much more likely to score a hit than a gun projectile, you can get away with carrying many fewer missiles than gun shells for equivalent effect. This means you can make each missile bigger, increasing range and power, on the same size platform -- or carry more but smaller missiles, and get a platform the same size with much-increased potency.
** Fewer crew are generally required for each platform, meaning you can have more platforms for them to operate, or dedicate crewmembers to other duties.
** If the weapon does the "thinking" for you, you can distribute them to untrained personnel and still get a reasonably effective air defense out of each platform, but now in more places at once.
* Most modern surface warships are varying levels of optimized for anti-aircraft defense, ranging from basic self-defense suites to AEGIS cruisers that can shoot down many of the world's smaller air forces by themselves. This is half due to the primacy of the aircraft carrier and the need to escort them, and half due to the fact that modern surface combatants increasingly ''need'' this capability just to survive against modern air and missile threats.
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* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', Green magic, being the opposing school of Blue magic (which is fond of flying monsters), has several ways to specifically deal with flyers. These range from spells that damage or destroys all flying creatures or simply strips them of their Flying attribute, to creatures that could block flying creatures or could be tapped to deal direct damage to them.

** The ability for land-based creatures to block flyers has been given the mechanic title "Reach." Making any creature with that ability into an Anti Air blocker.

* In ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' story "Mother Russia, Frank infiltrates a Russian nuclear missile silo along with a Special Forces guy, and they are trapped in a hangar with only an immobilized tank for defense. So Frank gets behind the machine and mows down the attackers, noting that the gun was [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill originally intended for use against aircraft]].
* Wallace from the ''ComicBook/SinCity'' story ''Hell and Back'' is menaced by a BlackHelicopter. Luckily, he has an old army buddy with an anti-aircraft missile launcher.

* In ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'', Postdam's missile launch complex was protected from air raids by a [[WaveMotionGun Positron Cannon]]. It was mounted like an artillery piece and connected to the power grid, and it was capable of shooting down an eighty-meter-tall flying TransformingMecha.
* In ''Fanfic/AlongCameASpider'', Kai pilots a 'Mech specifically designed for air defense, with advanced radar and a 360-degree weapon arc.
* In "Fanfic/LastRights" a Klingon fighter is shot down by Vaadwaur infantry with a shoulder-fired missile.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, the concept of an Air Force is in its infancy. Two air-capable Powers, Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, have the most evolved air arms and are watching each other closely to see what happens next. Ankh-Morpork's Air Watch has been into all-out combat once and has evolved tactic both for air-to-air fighting and for ground attack. The most that has been thrown back at them - so far - consists of random fireballs from ground-based magic users. But the [[AcePilot commanding officer]] is aware that this resulted in one pilot being killed and another limping back to base with damage. After an exercise involving mock attacks on Ankh-Morpork's navy in its home port of Pearl Dock, she is aware that there is a very definite need for ''capable'' ground defences capable of causing damage to air attackers. She is rather keen to be on the side that has them - and that the people operating them can tell friend from foe. Olga is also keen to know what form anti-air defence is likely to take so that she can start evolving counter-strategies.

* ''Film/FlightOfTheIntruder'' has North Vietnamese anti-aircraft defenses as a major and constant threat to the protagonists, which makes sense given the role of the titular aircraft as a low-altitude attack plane vulnerable to everything from advanced surface to air missiles to (literally) a peasant with a rifle. A major plot point in the film involves the protagonists going rogue to take out a stockpile of Vietnamese [=SAM=]'s that were off-limits due to operational restrictions at the time.
** The original book had them hitting the HQ of North Vietnamese Intelligence instead.

SubTrope of WeaponOfXSlaying. Compare {{Shoryuken}} for fictional martial-arts moves designed to counter an airborne opponent, as well as AntiCavalry, AntiInfantry, AntiVehicle, AntiStructure and AntiArmor.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', Green magic, being the opposing school of Blue magic (which is fond of flying monsters), has several ways to specifically deal with flyers. These range from spells that damage or destroys all flying creatures or simply strips them of their Flying attribute, to creatures who could block flying creatures or could be tapped to deal direct damage to them.

** The ability for land based creatures to block flyers has been given the mechanic title "Reach." Making any creature with that ability into an Anti Air blocker.

* Wallace form the ''ComicBook/SinCity'' story ''Hell and Back'' is menaced by a BlackHelicopter. Luckily, he has an old army buddy with an anti-aircraft missile launcher.

* In ''Fanfic/AlongCameASpider'', Kai pilots a 'Mech specifically designed for air defense, with advanced radar and a 360 degree weapon arc.

* ''Film/BehindEnemyLines'' has a rather memorable scene where the protagonists' plane is engaged by not one but ''two'' enemy surface to air missiles which are virtually impossible to outmaneuver or foil with any countermeasure they can think of.

* A major drive in ''Film/CharlieWilsonsWar'' is the need to find a weapon the Afghans can use to shoot down Soviet Hind gunships, which are armoured against anything up to .50 calibre. The venerable Oerlikon 20mm cannon is mentioned as a possibility, but dismissed because the Soviets will just switch to flying higher-altitude missions, above its effective ceiling. The key turns out to be the Stinger AA missile, though the [=CIA=] weapons expert also points out that a lot of other hardware is needed to make the Afghan fighters effective - including advanced communications gear so "they won't be so fucking easy to find".
* ''Film/RedDawn1984'' has both the Russians and the Wolverines trying to invoke this trope against attacking helicopters. In the beginning of the film, we see a US Army Huey strafing the Russian forces (and exacting a GunshipRescue for the heroes at one point), while the climax of the film shows the heroes take a desperate shot at a Soviet chopper with a rocket propelled grenade, hit it... [[NoSell and barely cause any damage at all.]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the Targaryen dragons are an almost irresistible weapon, because there are so few defenses against them. Most of the dragons that are killed in the series either die in a fight with other dragons, or are ambushed and killed on the ground. Still, at least one dragon was successfully killed in the air, using massed [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SiegeEngines scorpion fire]].
* In the ''Literature/{{Biggles}}'' series, Biggles, like many other [=WW1=] aviators is contemptuous of ill-aimed and random ground fire ("Archie" to pilots of the day) and largely ignores it. Which doesn't mean he isn't shocked on the one-in-a-thousand chance when he sees it bring down a plane. At one point, shot down and forced into the trenches for refuge, he leads an informal class in how infantrymen can shoot down German planes with the issue machine-gun - reminding them to account for deflection and to always aim ahead. He proves his point by knocking down a strafing German biplane. Later on, he is victim of a fluke when a single bullet, fired from the ground, knocks out his engine. He glides his plane to a landing wondering, bitterly, how unlucky you can get to be.

** There are also [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lancer-class_frigate/Legends Lancer class frigates]], ships specifically designed to be counters to starfighters (but not much else). In ''Literature/XWingSeries'', their pressence is pretty much always triggers an OhCrap response.

** The "Puff" ground to air missile deployed Kevlar streamers which snagged and fouled the propellers of prop-driven aircraft. Probably inspired by the ''Literature/{{Ecotopia}}'' example in {{Literature}}.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', since the introduction of airplanes in the core rules of sixth edition anti-aircraft weapons have become much more common. Every army has at least a few options, except for the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]]. By standard, such weapons do not receive penalties for firing on aircraft, but have a hard time hitting anything else.

** The Eldar field [[WalkingTank War Walkers]] with surface to air missiles and the [[BeamSpam Firestorm]] grav-tank as their primary surface-to-air weapons.

*** Though several of them are seeing use as general anti-infantry weapons, as the sheer volume of fire which some posess can make up for abysmal accuracy.

* An enemy staple in ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', coming in several varieties such as machine guns, [=SAMs=] and the occasional flak cannon or laser. AA guns are a very mild incenvenience at worse provided the plane isn't on it's last legs, [=SAMs=] can spell doom on high difficulties. Some games make them actually dangerous by giving them perfect accuracy if the player flies too high or not under clouds, making them invisible to radar (but not invincible; keen-eyed players can still destroy them by aiming at the source of the bullet trail or the contrails) or making them reachable only from a certain angle.

* ''Videogame/MechWarrior Living Legends'' has the Huitzilopitchli and Partisan anti-air tanks. [[MoreDakka They spew out hilarious amounts of ammunition at anything that flies]], and are [[InstantDeathRadius surprisingly effective]] against [[PoweredArmor battlearmor]]. The Rifleman [[HumongousMecha battlemech]] is an anti-air battlemech - it's overall less powerful than the tanks, but is faster and has a much more stable firing platform which can peak over hills. Some regular assets mounting the LB-X shotguns or a [[MagneticWeapons Heavy Gauss Rifle]] can deal crazy amounts of damage to dive-bombing aircraft, but most lack the necessary max pitch to be able to hit the high-altitude aircraft.

** But in a strange twist, the Blover's overspecialization actually cripples the CACTUS too. Balloon Zombies are so rare that it is usually not worth planting a Cactus in each lane to guarantee that you pop their balloons. Blovers are less cost efficient, but you can plant Repeaters or something else with more firepower/other uses instead of the Cactus to use the ''spaces'' more efficiently instead. Not to mention that you need five Cacti to be sure that you don't let anything through which costs 125 sun more compared to just planting Peashooters there instead (for the same firepower but no anti-air capabilities). A Blover, on the other hand, costs 100 sun. So if you only see one wave of Balloon Zombies, the Blover becomes more cost efficient too! Besides, sometimes you just can't afford the extra time it takes to kill one more zombie, so you're really happy that you can instantly kill them with a Blover instead of just grounding them.

* ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]]'' Anti-Air units (creatively called Anti-Airs) are essentially [[MoreDakka rapid-fire heavy machine guns]] on tracks. Not only are they devastating against air units, but against infantry and light vehicles as well. Against tanks however, they are rubbish (unless significantly weakened beforehand, making them decent in cleaning up tanks at low HP) and they cannot even attack ships. The Missile Launcher, meanwhile, is anti-air artillery capable of attacking aircraft up to five squares away. Being a SAM launcher [[CripplingOverspecialization it cannot attack non-aircraft at all]]. ''Days of Ruin'' increases their range to up to six squares away.

* In ''VideoGame/GadgetTrial'', the Anti-Aircraft Artillery unit is the ''only'' surface (non-air) unit that can engage air units. It's usually a one hit kill, but it's also slow, poorly armored, cannot fire after moving, and incapable of hitting anything else, and unlike in VideoGame/NintendoWars, air units can take advantage of terrain defense bonuses, so for air defense, the player is advised to stick to fighters.

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} 2'' features surface to air missile turrets on some maps as well as mobile anti-aircraft vehicles such as the American M6 Linebacker and the Russian 2S6M Tunguska. The [=USS=] ''Essex'' amphibious assault ship on some maps is also equipped with a [[GatlingGood Phalanx CIWS]] and Sea Sparrow missile system that can be operated by the player.

** Basic range units like the Night Elves' archers, the Orcs' Troll {{Javelin Thrower}s and the Humans' Dwarven Riflemen. They deal weak damage individually so a number of them is usually needed.

** Humans have the Dragonhawk Rider's Aerial Shackles spell, which prevent the captured unit from moving ''or'' attacking while doing large amounts of damage all the while; their Steam Tanks can be upgraded to fire rockets at multiple flyers simultaneously, their [[FragileSpeedster Flying Machines]] can receive the ability to do splash damage to air units.
** Undead' Crypt Fiends can shoot webs that force flyers to the ground so ground units (including the Crypt Fiend) can attack them, and the Gargoyle has a melee claw strike that deals considerably more damage against other airborne units than the beam attack they use against ground ones.

* Most ordinary combat units in ''VideoGame/ShatteredGalaxy'' will usually have attacks dedicated to anti-air or anti-ground. There exist "versatile" units and weapons that can attack both, but they are generally considered to be unfit for either role, and therefore only good for beginners who have yet to learn the system.

** In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade Renegade]]'', it is well possible to use a tank to fire at air units when you manage to target well enough. This is in fact the only way to get certain EVA Database entries of airplanes, which are otherwise impossible to aquire.

*** The Allies' naval AA unit has a SecondaryFire mode that actually ''prevents'' the target from firing, and can be used against any target.

* ''VideoGame/ImpossibleCreatures'' has anti-air towers that unleash bolts of electricity on flying creatures. Given that flyers tend to have fairly low HitPoints and defense stats in the first place, they fall pretty quickly; however, these towers can't hurt land or water based units.

* ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint'' appropriately features classic RealLife self-propelled AA artillery vehicles of its UsefulNotes/ColdWar era setting : The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZSU-23-4_Shilka ZSU-23-4 "Shilka"]] on the Soviet side and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M163_VADS M163 VADS "Vulcan"]] on the NATO side.
* ''Joint Task Force'' has the SA-11 Russian SAM launcher. It can devastate flying targets at extreme ranges, but nothing else. You also have to capture it since it is not a NATO unit. On your side, you have the German Gepard Flakpanzer, which uses it's two 35mm autocannons to great effect against light vehicles, light armor, helicopters, CAS-planes and, of course, Infantry. Tanks and other vehicles can use their mounted Heavy Machine Guns against helicopters for minimal damage, and Helicopters themselves can use their cannons against other helicopters.

* ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilation'' had missile units that could hit everything. They did pitiful damage, but they were only units that could track air units, which in turn had very low health. They ended up being spammed against ground targets anyway. The expansion pack added dedicated flak units that could only target aircraft, but destroyed them even more effectively.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalacticBattlegrounds'' has extremely fragile AA Troopers, less fragile AA Mobiles, decently durable AA turrets, and psychotically resilient Fortresses for all your AA needs. (Fortresses can shoot pretty much anything, since they're also fitted with ground-based lasers.) The general rule of thumb is that if it shoots rockets, it kills flyers.

* A few missions in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' and ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' involve you taking down enemy AA towers on foot so you can get some support from your CoolStarship (being a frigate, it couldn't accurate lay down orbital bombardment and couldn't provide atmospheric support without being shot down by the guns). Static AA defenses range from railguns to lasers, and are very effective at their jobs.
** There's also anti-space guns. They get referenced a few times in 1 and 2, and we finally see an example of an anti-space battery in 3; it's a small building housing three massive 100 meter long railguns that can accurately hit ships thousands of kilometers away, and take out even the most advanced ships in the galaxy in only a few shots. Granted, they have slower firing rates than ships and no defenses, but they're still good cheap glass cannon defenses. Any attacking force will lose a lot of cruisers if they try to slug it out with the guns, forcing them to either take the losses or send in large amounts of commandos. That said, dreadnoughts, with their extremely long ranges of tens of thousands of kilometers, can pretty much ignore the guns, though actually bombarding a planet with a dreadnought is equivalent to nuking your enemies in our universe. Probably because a single slug from a dreadnought impacts with three times the force of the Hiroshima bomb and a dreadnought can fire one out every two seconds with near InfiniteAmmo. Not many factions have dreadnoughts, though not have such powerful defenses either.

* Carriers in the ''Videogame/{{X}}-Universe'' series are capable of mounting massed anti-fighter weapons, such as the Starburst Shockwave Cannon, Flak Artillery Array, or the [[WaveMotionGun Phased Shockwave Generator]], all of which slaughter any fighter dumb enough to get close with extremely fast, high-explosive splash damage bolts. Destroyers and frigates typically have to make-do with flak coverage only on their topside and bottom.
* ''VideoGame/PlanetaryAnnihilation'' has Missile Turrets that attack land and air units and the more beefier Flak Turret that only targets air but is extremely efficient at it. Also for each of the unit types there is one that deals with air, you'll need a few of those in each army to prevent being bombed.

* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'': Aircraft are divided into two categories: helicopters and balloons, which can be shot down by infantry in addition to anti-air, and planes, which can only be taken down by other planes or anti-air. There's only one dedicated ground Anti Air unit, which is only really effective in large groups, and is later upgraded to a mobile missile launcher. One of the most effective is the Partisan unit, which can shoot at anything short of space units (and due to the way the game works, they can shoot down ''satellites''), is available one era before planes as a CurbstompCushion, and can move through trees.

* In ''VideoGame/{{FTL|FasterThanLight}}: Advanced Editon'', sometimes battles that take place in orbit around a planet will have a hazard known as Anti-Ship Batteries. These planet-side cannons will fire up at either your ship or the enemy's (but yours more frequently) and while a lot of the shots they fire will miss (since the cannons are on the ground hundreds or thousands of kilometers below you), when they ''do'' hit, they will ignore any shields on the target (even supershields) and inflict a lot of hull damage (if it hits yours, it's 10% of your hull meter).

* In RealLife, the bulk of anti-aircraft weapons are specially designed for the role. Weapons designed to attack ground targets are often much less effective. For example, the sights on most firearms are not meant for firing into zenith -- ballistics is tricky science. Throw in the fact that airplanes are rapidly moving targets, and it is obvious that the weapon will need a fancy targeting system, relatively high rates of fire, high muzzle velocity, and a special mount to fire at steep angles. As a result, anti-air weapons are specialized and expensive. As such, it makes sense to use them in their intended capacity first and in all other capacities only as a last ditch effort.

** On one recorded occasion in January 1945, a low-flying [=Me 109=] fighter was shot down by an M10 tank destroyer of the US Army. It helped that the M10 was a tank-like vehicle mounting a repurposed 3 inch A/A gun. On this occasion it was laid and aimed by a soldier who in civilian life had been an accomplished hunter, and who knew to shoot ahead of the target to bring down a bird in flight. He waited for the horizon-skimming fighter to get just where he wanted it in relation to the tank, and treated his 3" gun as if it were a very large hunting rifle...
** Towards the end of the war, the British army realised it was massively over-stocked with anti-aircraft guns it just did not need, because the collapse of the Luftwaffe had been so quick and complete. Much to their consternation and annoyance, anti-aircraft gunners who thought they were relatively safe were redeployed as infantry to replace losses. Many AA weapons were re-allocated as light artillery and were used to crushing effect to augment artillery barrages, most decisively during the Rhine crossings, where ''everything'' in the British artillery inventory was methodically sited and its firing times were synchronised so that all shells of all calibres landed, [[ParanoiaFuel without warning]], on German positions [[AlphaStrike simultaneously]].
** Additionally, while an individual rifleman poses little threat to aircraft, large numbers of infantry can damage low flying aircraft. For instance, at least three Argentinean jets were shot down in the Falklands by concerted small-arms fire alone. Furthermore, even minor damage can require hours of maintenance and checks to ensure the plane is airworthy. The Soviets were noted to take this to extremes during WWII, with everything from submachine guns to light mortars being fired in the direction of attacking aircraft.
** It was noted that even well into the 1980's (and in some circumstances maybe even today) that while modern jet aircraft might get to the target zone at supersonic speeds, they ''still'' had to slow down to speeds not much faster than a UsefulNotes/WW2 piston-engined fighter, to be able to bomb accurately. This made them ''extremely'' vulnerable to [=WW2=] era defences against aircraft - such as concentrated ground-fire from small-arms weapons and machine guns. British defensive fire in the Falklands exploited this weakness. However, at least one RN ship was equipped with lock-on lasers used to blind incoming pilots on bombing runs - the ultra-modern alongside the old-fashioned.

** Anti-aircraft artillery are not necessarily rapid firing machine guns. Once miniaturized radar systems were developed, it was possible to put proximity fuses in pretty much any cannon shell turning any fast-traversing high-angled, long-barrel, high velocity cannon into a potential AA device. The US and UK deployed many warships with 5" and 5.25" dual purpose guns, every bit at home with shooting down bombers and blowing up enemy warships. They also used huge batteries of 20mm, 40mm and, late in the war, 76mm automatic cannon to tear up kamikaze aircraft that came too close. Large caliber guns are still used today for an AA role.
** The UK's 4.5 inch Mk 8 Mod. 1 gun fitted to the majority of their frigates and destroyers is able to operate in a proximity fused mode, along with predictive radar aiming in order to act as a rather mean flak cannon. Especially when you consider that it is an auto loading cannon, capable of firing a shell every two seconds.

* While fixed wing aircraft are usually fairly safe from anything not specifically designed to attack aircraft, it should be noted that helicopters are not quite so fortunate. Being much lower and slower flying, they're under threat not only from dedicated anti air platforms, but also from other weapons systems. General purpose guided missiles can typically still target them, being designed not only with anti tank work but also with versatility in mind. The same goes for cannons and unguided rockets designed to take down tanks, though some luck is required with the targeting. If the helicopter flies close enough to them, even infantry armed with machine guns can pose a threat by scoring a lucky hit on a weak spot like the tail rotor.

* One of the most famous machine-gun examples from UsefulNotes/WW2 is the [[http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/quad_50.jpeg the M45 Quad mount, aka the Quad 50.]] It's 4 .50 cal machine guns mounted together, and was originally intended for anti-aircraft use. Three guesses as to how it earned the nicknames "Meatchopper" and "Krautmower", and the first two don't count.

* While many battleships built during and in the decade or two after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI typically had limited ability to defend against air attacks, some UsefulNotes/WW2 battleships ''brimmed'' with anti-air firepower. Examples include the United States' ''North Carolina''-, ''South Dakota''-, and ''Iowa-class'' battleships. During one battle, an Admiral on an adjacent ship queried ''USS North Carolina'' asking if she was on fire because of the sheer volume of muzzle flashes from MoreDakka the ship's AA guns were throwing up. In adition to them, the Japanese designed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Shiki_%28anti-aircraft_shell%29 special AA ammo]] for the main guns of their battleships, that however were considered by US pilots as little more than pyrotechnic shows.

** Since each missile is much more likely to score a hit than a gun projectile, you can get away with carrying many fewer missiles than gun shells for equivalent effect. This means you can make each missile bigger, increasing range and power, on the same size platform--or carry more but smaller missiles, and get a platform the same size with much increased potency.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Blitzkrieg}}''; if there are none of those pesky Messerschmitts around, the AA guns will be just as happy to blast themselves some panzers instead.

** Mobile ground-based anti-air platforms exist. The Germans created the "Möbelwagen" [[CuteAsABouncingBetty (Furniture van), ]] mounting four 20mm cannon on a Panzer IV tank chassis. The Americans mounted the M61 Vulcan six-barreled cannon on an Armored Personnel Carrier platform. One of the most effective ever created was the Soviet ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", equipped with a tracking radar and four 23mm cannons, which absolutely shredded low-flying aircraft in Vietnam and the Middle East. While highly powerful and a massive threat to helicopters even today, their old and easily jammed radar systems and the emergence of armored ground attack aircraft like the American A-10 "Warthog" and Russian Su-25 "Frogfoot" which could withstand 23mm fire led to the creation of the Shilka's more advanced cousin, the 9K22 "Tunguska". This combines 30mm cannon with radar-guided missiles to form an effective combo that can engage a variety of targets, with the guns being brought to bear primarily on low-flying aircraft and combat helicopters, as well as ground targets if necessary.

* ''[[Franchise/Pokemon {{Pokémon}}]]'':

* ''Franchise/{{Pokémon}}'':

* ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]]'' Anti-Air units (creatively called Anti-Airs) are essentially [[MoreDakka rapid-fire heavy machine guns]] on tracks. Not only are they devastating against air units, but against infantry and light vehicles as well. Against tanks however, they are rubbish and they cannot even attack ships. The Missile Launcher, meanwhile, is anti-air artillery capable of attacking aircraft up to five squares away. Being a SAM launcher [[CripplingOverspecialization it cannot attack non-aircraft at all]]. ''Days of Ruin'' increases their range to up to six squares away.

** And then in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Hoth base has an anti-''orbital'' ion cannon.

* ''Film/{{Severance}}'': played for BlackComedy when a weapons merchant fires a missile at attacking soldiers, only for the missile to arc up into the air and shoot down a passing airliner. Oops!

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': All races have some form of specialized air defense:

** Night Elves can have their Hippogryph Riders dismount, turning a ranged air unit into a separate strong melee flyer and a ranged ground attacker in no time at all. Their entire army being based on multiple ranged units, flyers tend not to last very long against a volley of arrows. The Hippogryphs also deal huge damage in melee in the air just like Gargoyles.
** Heroes with range attacks.

** Night Elves can have their Hippogryph Riders dismount, turning a ranged air unit into a separate strong melee flyer and a ranged ground attacker in no time at all. Their entire army being based on multiple ranged units, flyers tend not to last very long against a volley of arrows.
** Also, the elemental orbs are buffed in the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion to allow melee {{Hero Unit}}s to attack air units without having to resort to special abilities and spells.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': the move Gravity nullifies Flying type's immunity to Ground attacks as well as the effects of Magnet Rise and Telekinesis.

** The move Roost is a self Anti Air move that nullifies the user's Flying type. The move Ingrain makes the user susceptible to Ground moves, regardless if it is a Flying type, has the Levitate ability, or has used Magnet Rise or Telekinesis.

** Zygards Thousand Arrows is a ground move that hits airborn enemies and grounds them. Since it is as strong as earthquake and hits all enemies without harming allies, it is the superior option for the offensive.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' features a few weapons with the explicit "Flak" special ability -- a -2 to-hit bonus against airborne targets. The classic example are LB-X autocannons firing their special "shotgun" cluster rounds, although in recent years the Clans' hyper-assault Gauss rifles have joined the fray and dedicated flak ammunition for standard autocannons has been retconned into having always existed as well. In addition, engaging specifically ''fighters'' from the ground calls for rather different traits in a weapon than attacking ground targets; damage inflicted is nearly irrelevant under tournament rules because ''any'' hit in an atmosphere already forces the aircraft to make a control roll with the consequences of failure being a sudden loss of altitude and possible crash (a.k.a. "[[FanNickname lawn dart check]]"), while range is paramount because altitude does rapidly add to effective engagement range, rendering many shorter-ranged stock weapons largely or even completely ineffective. As a result, it's generally acknowledged that exactly the low-caliber autocannons that are frequently belittled in ground combat for their abysmal damage-to-weight ratio are among the best weapons to have on hand when the aerojocks come calling. The game also has the "Anti-Aircraft Targeting" quirk, which grants a bonus to attacks against airborne enemies. The Rifleman, Jaegermech, and Partisan Air-Defense Tank are all purpose-built for anti-aircraft work and have both the quirk and medium-sized autocannons for swatting down anything that tries flying over the battlefield.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' features a few weapons with the explicit "Flak" special ability -- a -2 to-hit bonus against airborne targets. The classic example are LB-X autocannons firing their special "shotgun" cluster rounds, although in recent years the Clans' hyper-assault Gauss rifles have joined the fray and dedicated flak ammunition for standard autocannons has been retconned into having always existed as well. In addition, engaging specifically ''fighters'' from the ground calls for rather different traits in a weapon than attacking ground targets; damage inflicted is nearly irrelevant under tournament rules because ''any'' hit in an atmosphere already forces the aircraft to make a control roll with the consequences of failure being a sudden loss of altitude and possible crash (a.k.a. "[[FanNickname lawn dart check]]"), while range is paramount because altitude does rapidly add to effective engagement range, rendering many shorter-ranged stock weapons largely or even completely ineffective. As a result, it's generally acknowledged that exactly the low-caliber autocannons that are frequently belittled in ground combat for their abysmal damage-to-weight ratio are among the best weapons to have on hand when the aerojocks come calling.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

* ''Literature/FlightOfTheIntruder'' centers on a Navy attack pilot during the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, and the various flavors of threats to their aircraft (and their various methods of dealing with them) is a constant underlying theme of the book. Through the course of the book, they have to deal with everything from radar-guided Surface to Air Missiles to fighter interceptors to a farmer firing blindly into the night sky with his rifle. Three named characters die without warning due to lucky shots by the enemy, and another dies as a result of a duel with an enemy AntiAir battery.

* ''Videogame/MechWarrior Living Legends'' has the Huitzilopitchli and Partisan anti-air tanks. [[MoreDakka They spew out hilarious amounts of ammunition at anything that flies]], and are [[InstantDeathRadius surprisingly effective]] against [[PoweredArmor battlearmor]]. The Rifleman [[HumongousMecha battlemech]] is an anti-air battlemech - it's overall less powerful than the tanks, but is faster and has a much more stable firing platform which can peak over hills. Some regular assets mounting the LB-X shotguns or a [[MagneticWeapon Heavy Gauss Rifle]] can deal crazy amounts of damage to dive-bombing aircraft, but most lack the necessary max pitch to be able to hit the high-altitude aircraft.

* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'': Aircraft are divided into two categories: helicopters and balloons, which can be shot down by infantry in addition to anti-air, and planes, which can only be taken down by other planes or anti-air. There's only one dedicated ground AntiAir unit, which is only really effective in large groups, and is later upgraded to a mobile missile launcher. One of the most effective is the Partisan unit, which can shoot at anything short of space units (and due to the way the game works, they can shoot down ''satellites''), is available one era before planes as a CurbstompCushion, and can move through trees.

** Further, many older battleships were extensively refitted to improve their AntiAir capability, to the point of tearing down and rebuilding everything above the main deck except for the main battery, in particular to provide more places to mount defensive guns. Their main weaknesses in this regard were that the WWI era super-dreadnoughts were slower and smaller than the newer fast battleships, meaning they both had more difficulty avoiding aircraft and had less space to mount defenses.

* In Season 7 of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', we get confirmation that Qyburn's SecretWeapon really can take down a mature dragon, though making it stay down is another matter altogether. The [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome reality]] is that unless they manage to hit a very precise and vulnerable location on the dragon's body -- such as the eyes or mouth -- then the primitive Scorpion is largely useless. And now that Drogon knows about its existence, he'll be [[ItCanThink on the outlook for it]] in the future.
** [[spoiler: In season 8, one of them kills Rhaegal in an ambush]]

** Allied AEGIS cruisers in ''Red Alert 2'' unleash a missile spam on air units, and only them. By comparison, GLA quad guns in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals Generals]]'' are as efficient on aircrafts as on infantry. As do the [[UsefulNotes/ChineseWithChopperSupport Chinese]] [[GatlingGood Gat]][[MoreDakka ling]] tank, which can actually ''shred'' infantry divisions with only a handful of them. Lastly, the US Patriot Missile systems can destroy large groups of any vehicle extremely fast. Which includes both aircraft and tanks.

* In Season 7 of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', we get confirmation that Qyburn's SecretWeapon really can take down a mature dragon, though making it stay down is another matter altogether. The [[RealityEnsues reality]] is that unless they manage to hit a very precise and vulnerable location on the dragon's body -- such as the eyes or mouth -- then the primitive Scorpion is largely useless. And now that Drogon knows about its existence, he'll be [[ItCanThink on the outlook for it]] in the future.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', since the introduction of airplanes in the core rules of sixth edition anti-aircraft weapons have become much more common. Every army has at least a few options, except for the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]].