1963 United States Tri-Service missile and drone designation system
On June 27, 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. It superseded the separate designation systems the Air Force and Navy had for designating US guided missiles and drones, but also a short-lived interim USAF system for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.
Explanation
The basic designation of every guided missile is based in a set of letters, which are in sequence. 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.
Code
| 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 |