Integrated Air and Missile Defense Strategies: Keeping the Skies Safe

Integrated Air and Missile Defense Strategies: Keeping the Skies Safe presents a comprehensive examination of the unique challenges facing NATO’s Eastern flank countries and proposes innovative approaches for developing effective regional defense systems. It demonstrates how integrating command systems with diverse weapon platforms can address limited response times and operational depth in this strategic region.

Covering strategic, technical, and operational aspects of air and missile defense, this book showcases how lessons from recent conflicts can inform the development of more robust defensive capabilities. It addresses detection and classification challenges, interoperability requirements, and simulation-based planning while considering the emerging threats posed by unmanned platforms, cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons. This book details practical frameworks for establishing regional defense coalitions that align with NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) mission, from strategic planning to technical implementation and operational deployment.

This book is intended for engineers, military professionals, policy experts, and government officials who work in the area of air and missile defense. It will also benefit graduate students researching in the areas of modeling and computer simulation of IAMD components.

Adam Kawalec is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Mechatronics, Armament and Aerospace, Institute of Rocket Technology and Mechatronics, Military University of Technology, Poland, where he leads research projects and teaches courses in electronics and signals processing, theory of vibration, field and electromagnetic waves and quantum mechanics. He received an M.Sc. degree in solid state electronics and a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Technical Physics and D.Sc. degrees in electronics and acoustoelectronics from Faculty of Electronics, Military University of Technology, Poland in 1974, 1980, and 2002, respectively. Prof. Kawalec is the author and co-author of more than 300 scientific papers published in international and national journals and conference proceedings and the co-inventor of five patents. In 2024, Prof. Kawalec received an award from the Ministry of National Defense Republic of Poland for significant achievements in the field of implementation activities. He is a member of the Committee on Electronics and Telecommunication, Polish Academy of Sciences, and a senior member of IEEE.

Witold Buzantowicz is the Director of the Institute of Missile Technology and Mechatronics (Faculty of Mechatronics, Armament and Aerospace) at the Military University of Technology, Poland. He is a graduate of the Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland and the Polish Air Force Academy. In 2009, he began his professional service in the 78th Air Defense Regiment as a platoon leader. He took part in several rotations of US Army PATRIOT batteries in Poland. In 2011, after being transferred to the Military University of Technology, he served in many positions, from engineer to assistant professor. Lt Col Buzantowicz is an Expert of the Polish Academy of Science (Space Launch Systems Section), IEEE Member, and Polish Rocketry Society Member. In addition, he is a Raytheon scholarship recipient (2015) and an author of over 40 books, scientific articles and international conference papers. Notably, Lt Col Buzantowicz was awarded the “Aviation Cross of Merit,” the Gold Medal “For Merits to National Defense,” and the Silver Medal “Armed Forces in the Service of the Homeland.”

Marta Walenczykowska serves as an adjunct instructor at the Military University of Technology, Poland, specifically in the Faculty of Mechatronics, Armament, and Aerospace. She graduated in electronics and telecommunications from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland in 2005 and completed her PhD in telecommunication – digital signal processing at the same university in 2018. Dr. Walenczykowska began her professional career in the field of air defense systems, and after a few years, she transitioned to work related to the IT field. She possesses extensive knowledge in various fields, ranging from radiolocation, electronic warfare, and telecommunications to IT security.