Planetary aerospace defense

From Traveller Wiki - Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far future

A Planetary aerospace defense (PAD) system is a collection of ground based elements designed to protect a planet (or part of a planet) from a space borne attack.

In the Third Imperium era PAD was considered the last line of defense, used only if the enemy had defeated the naval forces and system defense boats. During the Hard Times era, where starships became rarer and more difficult to obtain, military strategy moved more toward utilizing the ground based forces for their defense. And once the Collapse had destroyed almost all of the remaining starships, ground based systems were all that were left.

In general, the systems consist of an Air force, a collection of flight capable vehicles some of which are orbital capable to enagage the enemy. These forces are know as Close Orbit and Airspace Control Command (COACC) or just Aerospace Control Command (ACC).

The air forces are supplimented (or in some cases supplanted) by ground based weapons systems, including planetary defense missiles, directed energy weapons, and the highly devastating deep Meson gun site.