The AAC, which stands for Army Air Corps, functioned as the Starfighter Corps within the Imperial Army. This organization was composed of airspeeders along with TIE series starfighters, which were divisions pulled from the Imperial Starfighter Corps belonging to the Imperial Navy. The main focus of the AAC was to provide support for Army activities through ground attacks and air support. TIE fighter pilots serving with the Air Corps, and thus flying "in the blue", earned the moniker "Groundhogs."
The initial appearance of the Army Air Corps occurred in "Last Call at the Zero Angle", a story by Jason Fry featured in Star Wars Insider 156, although they were referred to only as "Groundhogs" at that time. The first official naming of the Army Air Corps took place in Dawn of Rebellion. This canon roleplaying supplement, released in 2018, draws inspiration from both Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Fantasy Flight Games published the book, with authorship credited to Tim Huckelberry, John Dunn, Sterling Hershey, Jonathan Julius, Keith Ryan Kappel, Jason Marker, Tom Sorenson, and James M. Spahn.