Currently headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas and serving as a subordinate unit of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade can point to the merger of the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 11th Coast Artillery and the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 11th Coast Artillery in 1950 as the move that put it on track to become an Air Defense Artillery unit.
The brigade would not receive that classification until 1972, when it was designated an Air Defense Artillery Group; it would become an ADA Brigade I980. A little over a decade later, the Brigade would make history when its Patriot batteries became the first to intercept a ballistic missile in flight on 18 January 1991; the Brigade would later be honored with a Valorous Unit Award for its service during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Stormed. Today, it is armed with Patriot, Avenger, and THAAD systems.
Informally nicknamed the “Imperial Brigade,” the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade was authorized to wear this Shoulder Sleeve Insignia in 1980. The Brigade’s mission is symbolized with the two arrows, with the incoming arrow being intercepted by one rising from the bottom of the shield. The silhouette of the two arrows forms two Roman numerals, “I” and “X,” that together reflect the Brigade’s numerical designation.
Related Items
11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)
11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)