{{Short description|US military designation scheme}} {{About |naming of US military programs|the general topic of weapons systems and for other US designations|Weapon|United States military aircraft designation systems|Joint Electronics Type Designation System}}
'''Weapon System''' was a United States Armed Forces military designation scheme for experimental weapons<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.acronymfinder.com/Military-and-Government/MX.html|title=MX - Military and Government|website=www.acronymfinder.com}}</ref> (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.<ref>Donald 2003, pp. 68–69</ref> 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".<ref>Grant Historical Study No. 126 p. 53</ref>
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."{{sfn|Daso|1997|p=166}}
The first WS designation was WS-100A.<ref name="Parsch" />
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).{{efn|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.}}
==List of Weapon Systems== {{Incomplete list|date=December 2008}} {| class="wikitable" |+ Key for numeric designations |- ! Abbreviation ! Meaning |- | CL || Lockheed Corporation |- | D || Douglas Aircraft Company |- | NA || North American Aviation<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app1/sm-64.html|title=North American SM-64 Navaho|website=www.designation-systems.net}}</ref> |- | WS || Weapon System |} {|class="wikitable sortable" |+List of weapon system programs for US military systems ! width=150px | Number ! Project |- |{{sort|104|WS-104A}}<ref name="auto"/> |SM-64 Navaho |- |{{sort|107A|WS-107A}} |SM-65 Atlas |- |WS-110 |North American XB-70 Valkyrie |- |WS-117L (GOR.80){{sfn|Burroughs|1988|p=80–87}} |Advanced Reconnaissance System (originally Project 1115);{{sfn|Stares|1985|p=30}} recoverable capsule - Pied Piper/Sentry/SAMOS; television transmission - unfeasible;{{sfn|Burroughs|1988|p=87}} Subsystem G: MiDAS |- |WS-119B (USAF 7795){{sfn|Burroughs|1988|p=139}} |Bold Orion ASAT |- |WS-119L |Project Moby Dick (originally Project Genetrix){{sfn|Stares|1985|p=31–32}} |- |WS-120A |BGM-75 AICBM |- |WS-124A | WS-124A Flying Cloud Project<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/ws-124a.html|title=WS-124A Flying Cloud|last=Parsch|first=Andreas|date=21 March 2006|website=Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles|publisher=Designation-Systems|access-date=2017-12-10}}</ref> |- |WS-125 | (B-72) |- |WS-133A |AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System (Program 494L) LGM-30 Minuteman |- |{{sort|199|WS-199}} | Anti-satellite weapon |- |{{sort|199B|WS-199B}} | Bold Orion |- |{{sort|199C|WS-199C}} | High Virgo |- |{{sort|199D|WS-199D}} | Alpha Draco |- |{{sort|201A|WS-201A}} | 1954 interceptor |- |WS-224A |Phase I: BMEWS, Phase II: Wizard missile system<ref>NORAD Historical Summary 1958 January–June, p. 106</ref> |- |{{sort|306A|WS-306A}} | Republic F-105 Thunderchief (misidentified as WS-3061<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.icodap.org/papers/AFHRL-Index/1956-1956.pdf | access-date=2023-10-29 | title=Research Report - Index to Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101216063833/http://www.icodap.org/papers/AFHRL-Index/1956-1956.pdf | archive-date=2010-12-16}}</ref>) |- | WS315A | PGM-17 Thor missile<ref name=Flight1959>{{Cite journal |date=6 February 1959 |title=Correspondence: Weapon System |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200401.html |via=Flightglobal Archive |journal=Flight |access-date=2011-09-13}}</ref> |- |{{sort|324A|WS-324A<ref>{{cite web| url=http://tig.ludost.net/plane_f111.html | title=F-111 Aadvark| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303183658/http://tig.ludost.net/plane_f111.html | archive-date=2012-03-03 | access-date=2023-10-29}}</ref>}} |General Dynamics F-111 |- |}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=Parsch>{{cite web |last=Parsch |first=Andreas |title=Designations Of U.S. Air Force Projects |url=http://designation-systems.net/usmilav/projects.html |access-date=2020-01-18}}</ref>
}} *{{Cite book |last=Burroughs |first=William E. |year=1988|edition=paperback|orig-year=1986 |title=Deep Black |location=New York |publisher=Berkley Publishing Group |isbn=0-425-10879-1}} *{{cite book |last=Daso |first= Dik |date=September 1997 |title=Architects of American Air Supremacy: General Hap Arnold and Dr Theodore von Kármán |publisher=Air University Press |pages=76, 166 }} *{{citation |last=Stares |first=Paul B. |title=The Militarization of Space |location=Ithaca |publisher= Cornell University Press |date= 1985}}
{{USAF system codes}}
Category:United States military-related lists