32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command

32d Army Air and Missile Defense Command
Shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1918 – present
Country	USA
Branch	United States Army
Garrison/HQ	Fort Bliss
Nickname(s)	Blackjack Command
Motto(s)	"Blackjack"
Engagements	World War I; St. Mihiel – Meuse-Argonne World War II; New Guinea – Battle of Leyte Gulf
Commanders
Current commander	Brig. Gen. Christopher Spillman
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

The 32d or 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) is a theater level Army air and missile defense multi-component organization with a worldwide, 72-hour deployment mission. The 32d AAMDC commands echelon above corps (EAC) ADA brigades and other assigned forces. Four such brigades,11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, and 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade; by training, all stand ready to accomplish their mission of air defense against missile attack – 'anywhere, anytime' in support of the war-fighting Commander-in-Chief (CINC).

On order, 32d AAMDC rapidly deploys forces to conduct joint and combined/coalition air and missile defense operations for the regional combatant commander.

The 32d Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) is the Army Forces and Joint Forces Land Component Commanders' (ARFOR / JFLCC) organization that performs critical theater air and missile defense planning, integration, coordination, and execution functions. The 32d AAMDC coordinates and integrates the four operational elements (or pillars) of theater missile defense (TMD): passive defense, active defense, attack operations, and battle management/command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (BM/C4I) to protect contingency, forward deployed, and reinforcing forces, as well as designated theater strategic assets.

The 32d AAMDC is based at Fort Bliss, Texas and falls within the authority and under the operational control of U.S. Forces Command. Current Army authorization documents provide for four AAMDC's (three Active Component, and one Reserve Component).

Used for attack operations, standard Army processes are unwieldy and inefficient. A more streamlined method is needed that places Theater Missile Defense (TMD) responsibility under a single executive agent. Commander in chief, USARCENT and CFLCC, has designated a single authority for the conduct of TMD operations in the SWA theater of operations—in this case, the Commander, Air Component Command, and Commanding General, Ninth Air Force. In a break with Army tradition, the Commanding General, CFLCC, gives up operational control of 32d AAMDC when Ninth Air Force is in theater, effectively establishing a single focused authority over theater missile defense on the peninsula.