In 1963, the U.S. Department of Defense established a designation system for guided missiles and drones jointly used by all the United States armed services. [1] It superseded the separate designation systems the Air Force and Navy had for designating US guided missiles and drones, but also a short-lived interim USAF system for guided missiles and rockets. [2]
On 11 December 1962, the U.S. Department of Defense issued Directive 4000.20 “Designating, Redesignating, and Naming Military Rockets and Guided Missiles”. It was implemented via Air Force Regulation (AFR) 66-20, Army Regulation (AR) 705-36, Bureau of Weapons Instruction (BUWEPSINST) 8800.2 on 27 June 1963. [3] [4] [5] This system was later subsumed under the DoD Joint Regulation Designating and Naming Military Aerospace Vehicles in 1971.
The basic designation of every guided missile is based in a set of letters, which are in sequence. [1] The sequence indicates the following:
Examples of guided missile designators are as follows:
The design or project number follows the basic designator. In turn, the number may be followed by consecutive letters, representing modifications.
In addition, most guided missiles have names, such as Harpoon, Tomahawk, Seasparrow, etc. These names are retained regardless of subsequent modifications to the missile.
Letter | Launch environment | Detailed description |
---|---|---|
A | Air | Air-launched |
B | Multiple | Capable of being launched from more than one environment |
C | Coffin or Container | Stored horizontally or at less than a 45 degree angle in a protective enclosure and launched from the ground |
F | Individual or Infantry | Carried and launched by one man |
G | Ground | Other Ground-launched, such as runway |
H | Silo-stored | Stored vertically in a silo but raised to ground level for launch |
L | Land or Silo | Launched from a fixed site or hardened silo |
M | Mobile | Launched from a ground vehicle or movable platform |
P | Soft Pad | Partially or unprotected in storage and launched from the ground |
R | Surface ship | Launched from a surface vessel such as a ship, barge, etc. |
U | Underwater | Launched from a submarine or other underwater device |
Letter | Mission | Detailed description |
---|---|---|
D | Decoy | Vehicles designed or modified to confuse, deceive, or divert enemy defenses by simulating an attack vehicle |
E | Special Electronic | Vehicles designed or modified with electronics equipment for communications, countermeasures, electronic radiation sounding, or other electronic recording or relay missions |
G | Surface Attack | Vehicles designed to destroy enemy land or sea targets |
I | Intercept-Aerial | Vehicles designed to intercept aerial targets in defensive roles |
Q | Drone | Vehicles designed for target reconnaissance or surveillance |
S | Space | Vehicles designed to destroy space-based targets |
T | Training | Vehicles designed or permanently modified for training purposes |
U | Underwater attack | Vehicles designed to destroy enemy submarines or other underwater targets, or to detonate underwater |
W | Weather | Vehicles designed to observe, record, or relay data pertaining to meteorological phenomena |
Letter | Vehicle type | Detailed description |
---|---|---|
M | Guided Missile | An unmanned, self-propelled vehicle with remote or internal trajectory guidance |
R | Rocket | A self-propelled vehicle whose flight trajectory cannot be altered after launch |
N | Probe | A non-orbital instrumented vehicle used to monitor and transmit environmental information |
An X preceding the first letter indicates an experimental weapon, a Y preceding the first letter means the weapon is a prototype, and a Z preceding the first letter indicates a design in the planning phase.
The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. Designed with a 7-inch (180 mm) diameter, and employing active transmit-receive radar guidance instead of semi-active receive-only radar guidance, it has the advantage of being a fire-and-forget weapon when compared to the previous generation Sparrow missiles. When an AMRAAM missile is launched, NATO pilots use the brevity code Fox Three.
The Boeing CIM-10 BOMARC was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of North America. In addition to being the first operational long-range SAM and the first operational pulse doppler aviation radar, it was the only SAM deployed by the United States Air Force.
The Tri-Service aircraft designation system is a unified system introduced in 1962 by the United States Department of Defense for designating all U.S. military aircraft. Prior to then, the U.S. armed services used separate nomenclature systems.
Joint Regulation 4120.15E: Designating and Naming Military Aerospace Vehicles is the current system for designating all aircraft, helicopters, rockets, missiles, spacecraft, and other aerial vehicles in military use by the United States Armed Forces.
The Hughes AIM-47 Falcon, originally GAR-9, was a very long-range high-performance air-to-air missile that shared the basic design of the earlier AIM-4 Falcon. It was developed in 1958 along with the new Hughes AN/ASG-18 radar fire-control system intended to arm the Mach 3 XF-108 Rapier interceptor aircraft and, after its cancellation, the YF-12A. It was never used operationally, but was a direct predecessor of the AIM-54 Phoenix.
The Avenger Air Defense System, designated AN/TWQ-1 under the Joint Electronics Type Designation System, is an American self-propelled surface-to-air missile system which provides mobile, short-range air defense protection for ground units against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, low-flying fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters.
The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Department during World War II for assigning an unclassified designator to electronic equipment. In 1957, the JETDS was formalized in MIL-STD-196.
The Martin MGM-1 Matador was the first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile designed and built by the United States. It was developed after World War II, drawing upon their wartime experience with creating the Republic-Ford JB-2, a copy of the German V-1. The Matador was similar in concept to the V-1, but it included a radio command that allowed in-flight course corrections. This allowed accuracy to be maintained over greatly extended ranges of just under 1000 km. To allow these ranges, the Matador was powered by a small turbojet engine in place of the V-1's much less efficient pulsejet.
National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology is a Taiwanese state owned corporation, formerly part of the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense's Armaments Bureau, which is active in the development, manufacturing, support, and sustainment of various weapons systems and dual use technologies.
The McDonnell ADM-20 Quail was a subsonic, jet powered, air-launched decoy cruise missile built by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. The Quail was designed to be launched by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and its original United States Air Force designation was GAM-72.
From 1922 until 1962, the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps and the United States Coast Guard used a system to designate their aircraft that included information about a craft's role and its manufacturer. For a listing of all such designations, see the list of United States Navy aircraft designations (pre-1962).
The GAM-63 RASCAL was a supersonic air-to-surface missile that was developed by the Bell Aircraft Company. The RASCAL was the United States Air Force's first nuclear armed standoff missile. The RASCAL was initially designated the ASM-A-2, then re-designated the B-63 in 1951 and finally re-designated the GAM-63 in 1955. The name RASCAL was the acronym for RAdar SCAnning Link, the missile's guidance system. The RASCAL project was cancelled in September 1958.
The MA-31 was a conversion of the Kh-31 anti-ship missile, developed by the Soviet Union during the 1980s, for use as a target drone by the United States Navy. Although the missile proved successful in this role, political complications resulted in the type being only an interim solution, and only a small number of the missiles were acquired.
The RGM-59 Taurus was an American project, conducted by the United States Navy, that was intended to develop a surface-to-surface missile for use as a fire support weapon during amphibious landings, replacing heavy-caliber naval guns. Developed during the early 1960s, the project was cancelled before any hardware development was undertaken.
The ZBGM-75 Advanced Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, also known as Weapons System 120A (WS-120A), was a program to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), proposed by the United States Air Force in the 1960s as a replacement for the LGM-30 Minuteman as the Air Force's standard ICBM. Funding was not allocated for the program and the project was cancelled in 1967.
The RIM-113 Shipboard Intermediate Range Combat System, or SIRCS, was an advanced surface-to-air missile proposed by the United States Navy in the 1970s. The project failed to be approved for funding and was cancelled in 1979.
Martlet is a lightweight air-to-surface, surface-to-air, and surface-to-surface missile developed by Thales Air Defence for the United Kingdom.
The AeroVironment Switchblade is a miniature loitering munition, designed by AeroVironment and used by several branches of the United States military. Small enough to fit in a backpack, the Switchblade launches from a tube, flies to the target area, and crashes into its target while detonating its explosive warhead. The name switchblade comes from the way the spring-loaded wings are folded up inside a tube and flip out once released.
A loitering munition is a weapon system category in which the munition loiters around the target area for some time and attacks only once a target is located. Loitering munitions enable faster reaction times against concealed or hidden targets that emerge for short periods without placing high-value platforms close to the target area, and also allow more selective targeting as the attack can easily be aborted.
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