Weapon System was a United States Armed Forces military designation scheme for experimental weapons[2] (e.g., WS-220) before they received an official name — e.g., under a military aircraft designation system. The new designator reflected the increasing complexity of weapons that required separate development of auxiliary systems or components.

Legend for Numeric Designations
CL: Lockheed Corporation
D: Douglas Aircraft Company
NA: North American Aviation[1]
WS (Weapon System)

In November 1949, the Air Force decided to build the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger around a fire-control system.[3] This was "the real beginning of the weapon system approach [and the] aircraft would be integrated into the weapon system "as a whole from the beginning, so the characteristics of each component were compatible with the others".[4]

Around February 1950, an Air Research and Development Command "study prepared by Maj Gen Gordon P. Saville...recommended that a 'systems approach' to new weapons be adopted [whereby] development of a weapon "system" required development of support equipment as well as the actual hardware itself."[5]

The first WS designation was WS-100A.[6]

US weapon programs were often begun as numbered government specifications such as an Advanced Development Objective (e.g., ADO-40) or a General Operational Requirement (e.g., GOR.80), although some programs were initially identified by contractor numbers (e.g., CL-282).[a]

List of Weapon Systems

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List of weapon system programs for US military systems
Number Project
WS-104A[1] SM-64 Navaho
WS-107A SM-65 Atlas
WS-110 North American XB-70 Valkyrie
WS-117L (GOR.80)[7] Advanced Reconnaissance System (originally Project 1115);[8] recoverable capsule - Pied Piper/Sentry/SAMOS; television transmission - unfeasible;[9] Subsystem G: MiDAS
WS-119B (USAF 7795)[10] Bold Orion ASAT
WS-119L Project Moby Dick (originally Project Genetrix)[11]
WS-120A BGM-75 AICBM
WS-124A WS-124A Flying Cloud Project[12]
WS-125 (B-72)
WS-133A AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System (Program 494L) LGM-30 Minuteman
WS-199 Anti-satellite weapon
WS-199B Bold Orion
WS-199C High Virgo
WS-199D Alpha Draco
WS-201A 1954 interceptor
WS-224A Phase I: BMEWS, Phase II: Wizard missile system[13]
WS-306A Republic F-105 Thunderchief (misidentified as WS-3061[14])
WS315A PGM-17 Thor missile[15]
WS-324A[16] General Dynamics F-111

Notes

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  1. ^ When a government program number is not available, a contractor number (if available) is used in the table, e.g., Lockheed CL-282 for the U-2.

References

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  1. ^ a b "North American SM-64 Navaho". www.designation-systems.net.
  2. ^ "MX - Military and Government". www.acronymfinder.com.
  3. ^ Donald 2003, pp. 68–69
  4. ^ Grant Historical Study No. 126 p. 53
  5. ^ Daso 1997, p. 166.
  6. ^ Parsch, Andreas. "Designations Of U.S. Air Force Projects". Retrieved 2020-01-18.
  7. ^ Burroughs 1998, p. 80–87.
  8. ^ Stares 1985, p. 30.
  9. ^ Burroughs 1998, p. 87.
  10. ^ Burroughs 1998, p. 139.
  11. ^ Stares 1985, p. 31–32.
  12. ^ Parsch, Andreas (21 March 2006). "WS-124A Flying Cloud". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles. Designation-Systems. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  13. ^ NORAD Historical Summary 1958 January–June, p. 106
  14. ^ "Research Report - Index to Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  15. ^ "Correspondence: Weapon System". Flight. 6 February 1959. Retrieved 2011-09-13 – via Flightglobal Archive.
  16. ^ "F-111 Aadvark". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  • Burroughs, William E. (1988) [1986]. Deep Black (paperback ed.). New York: Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 0-425-10879-1.
  • Daso, Dik (Major, USAF) (September 1997). Architects of American Air Supremacy: General Hap Arnold and Dr Theodore von Kármán. Air University Press. pp. 76, 166.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Stares, Paul B. (1985), The Militarization of Space, Ithaca: Cornell University Press