SEAD

SEAD, or Suppression of Enemy Air Defences operations are military actions to suppress enemy surface-based air defences primiarily in, but not limited to, the first hours of an attack.

The weapons most often associated with the mission are Anti Radiation Missiles (ARMs) such as the American HARM and British ALARM. However an SEAD mission can be anything which damages or destroys a component of an air defence system, for example a Paveway LGB is not a SEAD-specific munition but when used to destroy a radar antenna it achieves the objective of Suppression of Enemy Air Defence.

External links

• US Department of Defense definition (http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/s/05153.html)
• NATO definition (http://www.nato.int/docu/stanag/aap006/en/2004-s-e.pdf)