1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery (EAAD)
The 1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery has Patriot batteries at Osan and Kunsan Air Base on South Korea's western coast and Suwon Air Base, a South Korean air force installation. Since 1994, 48 fire units of Patriot missiles have been deployed at Suwon, Osan and Kunsan airbases in South Korea. Suwon Air Base is a Republic of Korea Air Base, on which is housed the 1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery. The unit's mission is to defend against air attack. The 1st Battalion (PATRIOT), 43rd Air Defense Artillery is a six firing battery, Echelon Above Corps PATRIOT Missile Battalion with a Headquarters and Headquarters Battery and a direct support maintenance company. A battery is composed of eight launchers of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles, each having 4 and 16 interceptors, respectively. 1-43 ADA assumed it's mission in the Republic of Korea in October 1994.
Currently, HHB, two firing batteries (Alpha and Bravo), and the 3rd Combat Support Company reside at Suwon Air Base. Suwon Air Base is one of five co-located operating sites that could house deployed forces if war erupts on the divided peninsula. It appears that the six American Patriot batteries could be re-deployed at most [if not all] of the five co-located operating bases, as well as at Osan AB. Charlie and Delta Batteries are normally deployed at Osan Air Base, the home of the 7th Air Force and 51st Fighter Wing. Echo and Foxtrot Batteries are at Kunsan Air Base, home of the 8th Fighter Wing, which is not one of the five co-located operating bases.
The 1st Battalion (PATRIOT) 43rd Air Defense Artillery, the largest and most forward deployed Patriot Battalion in the world. The 1st Battalion (Patriot), 43d Air Defense Artillery is assigned to the 6th Cavalry Brigade. The inclusion of the 1st Battalion (Patriot), 43d Air Defense Artillery into the 6th Cavalry brigade arsenal has provided a potent, deadly combat team.
The 1st Battalion, 43rd ADA received its PATRIOT equipment at Fort Bliss, Texas in 1982. During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, the 1-43rd ADA Fire Direction Section deployed to Saudi Arabia to assist in coordinating HAWK and PATRIOT units in the Air Defense Task Force. The Fire Direction Section assisted in coordinating many SCUD intercepts. In 1994 the Battalion deployed to the Korean theater to relieve 2-7 ADA in the Tactical Ballistic Missile Defense of the peninsula. 1-43 synchronized its deployment with 2-7 ADA's return, providing the Republic of Korea, for the first time in history, a permanent basing of the Patriot missile system.
In September 2003 it was announced that 1-43 Air Defense Artillery Battalion (Patriot) had received new equipment to improve its current capability from the Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) to the Patriot Advanced Capability -3 (PAC-3) as a part of the Army's transformation and modernization program in support of the Theater Missile Defense Plan. The upgraded Patriot System brought enhanced defensive capabilities to the peninsula as well as contribute to the overall deterrence US forces bring to the alliance. The PAC-3 system represents a total upgrade to Patriot, including both hardware and software modifications throughout the US Army. The PAC-3 is the latest, planned improvement to the Patriot missile system, and provides for the enhanced defenses for Republic of Korea and U.S. forces and facilities. Part of the upgrade and new enhanced capabilities include the hit-to-kill technology to destroy incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
Twelve Officers and Enlisted members of 1-43 ADA PATRIOT were awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal for outstanding service during Operation Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL), which lasted from August 20th to September 4th, 2004. UFL is a ROK-US Combined Forces Command (CFC), simulation driven, OPLAN oriented Command Post Exercise (CPX) conducted annually in the Republic of Korea. UFL has been taking place since 1976. The purpose of UFL is to exercise joint and combined plans and procedures focusing on strategic, operational, and tactical aspects of military operations on the Korean Peninsula while improving US-ROK combat readiness and interoperability. This joint and combined political-military training exercise emphasizes flexible deterrent options, ROK mobilization, US reinforcement, and synchronization of deep, close, and rear battles through the use of state-of-the-art wargaming computer simulations and support infrastructures. Within this complex and multi-faceted exercise, PATRIOT has consistently played a role critical to the success of the overall mission.
History
The 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment was constituted 29 June 1918 in the Regular Army as the 43rd Artillery (Coast Artillery Corps). It was organized at Haussimont, France from existing Regular Army Units. The Regiment participated in numerous campaigns throughout the First World War as part of the Railway Artillery. The Regiment participated in many important Allied Offenses through 1918, supporting the troops on the ground with massive prolonged barrages which demoralized the enemy. The intense fire that the Regiment contributed was key to the success of many offenses, particularly at St. Mihiel and St. Meuse~Argonne in September and November of 1918.
After the war, elements of the 43rd Artillery Regiment were consolidated under the 64th Artillery Battalion, and soon found themselves at war in the Pacific. While providing artillery support to the 25th Infantry Division at Guadalcanal, the unit earned its first Presidential Citation in the first months of 1943. The intense fire that the unit provided was key to uprooting the Japanese from the island.
In mid 1950, elements of the Regiment found itself again at war, this time in Korea. The Regiment earned its second Presidential Citation while defending the South against the communist invasion. Elements of the Regiment wiped out large portions of a north Korean attack with its withering indirect fire, and repelled the remainder with direct fire. Later, north Korean troops were repelled from the units positions in hand-to-hand combat. Later that year, the unit earned its third Presidential Unit Citation while defending its own position. Fighting a rear guard action, the Battalion found itself in danger of being overrun by communist troops. With fierce determination, the unit once again used its guns, and with indirect fire repelled the attacks. The Battalion's actions allowed several units to safely withdraw from a position that was almost surrounded, saving them from certain destruction.
The unit was redesignated in 1971 as the 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment.
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