Why in News?

• The sixth reunion of the Corps of Army Air Defence was celebrated on 20 and 21 September 2019 at Army AD College, Gopalpur.

Corps of Army Air Defence:

• The Corps of Army Air Defence (AAD) is an active corps of the Indian Army that is mandated with protecting Indian air space from enemy aircraft and missiles, particularly below 5000 feet, where it is highly impossible for Air Force planes to intercept the threat.
• AAD is tasked with India’s air defence against foreign threats.
• The Corps was first raised in 1939 when it participated in the Second World War.
• However, the Corps became an autonomous corps only recently in 1994, when the Corps of Air Defence Artillery was bifurcated from the Army’s artillery regiment.
• A training school called the Army Air Defence College (AADC) was set up to provide training to its personnel, at Gopalpur, Odisha.
• The motto of the corps is: ‘Aakashe Shatrun Jahi’ (Sanskrit for ‘Defeat the enemy in the sky’).
• Apart from the Second World War, it has seen action in the wars with Pakistan in 1947, 1965 and 1971; in the 1962 war with China and in the Kargil War in 1999.
• The Corps is headed by the Director General of Corps of Army Air Defence, who is generally a 3-star general.