What is the difference between Active AMD and Passive AMD?

What is the difference between Active AMD and Passive AMD?

• A. Active: non-engagement measures; Passive: direct engagement with weapons.
• B. Active: uses only long-range missiles; Passive: uses only radar.
• C. Active: direct engagement (shooting threats); Passive: non-engagement measures (camouflage, dispersion, hardening, deception).
• D. Active: focuses on cyber defense; Passive: focuses on deception.

Answer: (C)

Active AMD is about directly countering threats with weapons—using sensors to detect, track, and engage incoming aircraft or missiles and destroy the threat in flight. It’s the hands-on, shoot-ability side of defense that reduces or eliminates the threat through interception or destruction. Passive AMD, on the other hand, reduces vulnerability without engaging the threat with weapons. It includes measures like camouflage and concealment to avoid detection, dispersion of forces and assets to prevent a single strike from being devastating, hardening of facilities to withstand damage, and deception to mislead or confuse the attacker. These measures make successful attack less likely or less damaging, without firing a shot. In practice, a robust system combines both: active measures to stop threats and passive measures to deny or blunt the impact of attacks.

Active AMD is about directly countering threats with weapons—using sensors to detect, track, and engage incoming aircraft or missiles and destroy the threat in flight. It’s the hands-on, shoot-ability side of defense that reduces or eliminates the threat through interception or destruction.

Passive AMD, on the other hand, reduces vulnerability without engaging the threat with weapons. It includes measures like camouflage and concealment to avoid detection, dispersion of forces and assets to prevent a single strike from being devastating, hardening of facilities to withstand damage, and deception to mislead or confuse the attacker. These measures make successful attack less likely or less damaging, without firing a shot.

In practice, a robust system combines both: active measures to stop threats and passive measures to deny or blunt the impact of attacks.