Noun
QRA (plural QRAs)
(military, US) Initialism of quick reaction alert. A military and NATO term to define a higher state of readiness in which aircraft will become airborne within minutes to intercept and identify unknown aircraft or intercept one that has lost contact with air traffic control.
"At the start of the scaled QRA response, civilian air traffic controllers might see on their screens an aircraft behaving erratically, not responding to their radio calls, or note that it’s transmitting a distress signal through its transponder. Source: Internet
During peacetime operations, a portion of the Pershing 1a assets were deployed on the QRA mission. Source: Internet
The Secretary of Defense assigned the Pershing weapon system to a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) role in 1964 after a DoD study showed that the Pershing would be superior to tactical aircraft for the QRA mission. Source: Internet
Lossiemouth generally covers the northern sector, while Coningsby provides QRA in the south. Source: Internet
Project SWAP replaced all the Pershing equipment in Germany by mid-1970 and the first units quickly achieved QRA status. Source: Internet
Typhoon pilot Flight Lieutenant Noel Rees describes how QRA duty works. Source: Internet