Weapon System was a United States Armed Forces military designation scheme for experimental weapons[1] (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.
In November 1949, the Air Force decided to build the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger around a fire-control system.[2] 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".[3]
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."[4]
The first WS designation was WS-100A.[5]
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
 |
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CL | Lockheed Corporation |
| D | Douglas Aircraft Company |
| NA | North American Aviation[6] |
| WS | Weapon System |
| Number | Project |
|---|---|
| WS-104A[6] | 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
- ^ 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
- ^ "MX - Military and Government". www.acronymfinder.com.
- ^ Donald 2003, pp. 68–69
- ^ Grant Historical Study No. 126 p. 53
- ^ Daso 1997, p. 166.
- ^ Parsch, Andreas. "Designations Of U.S. Air Force Projects". Retrieved 2020-01-18.
- ^ a b "North American SM-64 Navaho". www.designation-systems.net.
- ^ Burroughs 1988, p. 80–87.
- ^ Stares 1985, p. 30.
- ^ Burroughs 1988, p. 87.
- ^ Burroughs 1988, p. 139.
- ^ Stares 1985, p. 31–32.
- ^ 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.
- ^ NORAD Historical Summary 1958 January–June, p. 106
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Correspondence: Weapon System". Flight. 6 February 1959. Retrieved 2011-09-13 – via Flightglobal Archive.
- ^ "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 (September 1997). Architects of American Air Supremacy: General Hap Arnold and Dr Theodore von Kármán. Air University Press. pp. 76, 166.
- Stares, Paul B. (1985), The Militarization of Space, Ithaca: Cornell University Press
