Legend for Numeric Designations
CL: Lockheed Corporation
D: Douglas Aircraft Company
NA: North American Aviation[1]
WS (Weapon System)
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.
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."Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory.
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).[lower-alpha 1]
List of Weapon Systems
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| Number | Project |
|---|---|
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-104A[1] | SM-64 Navaho |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-107A | SM-65 Atlas |
| WS-110 | North American XB-70 Valkyrie |
| WS-117L (GOR.80)Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory. | Advanced Reconnaissance System (originally Project 1115);Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory. recoverable capsule - Pied Piper/Sentry/SAMOS; television transmission - unfeasible;Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory. Subsystem G: MiDAS |
| WS-119B (USAF 7795)Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory. | Bold Orion ASAT |
| WS-119L | Project Moby Dick (originally Project Genetrix)Lua error: not enough memory.Lua error: not enough memory. |
| WS-120A | BGM-75 AICBM |
| WS-124A | WS-124A Flying Cloud Project[6] |
| WS-125 | (B-72) |
| WS-133A | AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System (Program 494L) LGM-30 Minuteman |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-199 | Anti-satellite weapon |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-199B | Bold Orion |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-199C | High Virgo |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-199D | Alpha Draco |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-201A | 1954 interceptor |
| WS-224A | Phase I: BMEWS, Phase II: Wizard missile system[7] |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-306A | Republic F-105 Thunderchief (misidentified as WS-3061[8]) |
| WS315A | PGM-17 Thor missile[9] |
| <span data-sort-value="Lua error: not enough memory.">WS-324A[10] | 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.
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error: not enough memory.
- ↑ Lua error: not enough memory.
- ↑ Donald 2003, pp. 68–69
- ↑ Grant Historical Study No. 126 p. 53
- ↑ Lua error: not enough memory.
- ↑ Lua error: not enough memory.
- ↑ NORAD Historical Summary 1958 January–June, p. 106
- ↑ Lua error: not enough memory.
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