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).[lower-alpha 1]
List of Weapon 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
References
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