Faced with the threat of increasingly advanced naval strike aircraft and air-launched anti-ship missiles, the defense of the fleet is as important today as it was to the US Navy in the Pacific during World War I. Understand how a combination of carrier fighters, guns and ship-launched missiles provide layers of effective defense against a range of airborne intruders. Follow the development of the maritime air threats, from the kamikaze suicide raider of World War II to the missile-armed Soviet bombers of the Cold War era, and examine the defenses created to defeat them.—IMP