What's New
on
Designation-Systems.Net
August 2025
- Added articles about JUMPSEAT, TRUMPET, Vela, P-11, Starshield and NEMESIS satellites to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3.
July 2025
- Added articles about SAMOS ELINT, POPPY, PARCAE (NOSS), QUILL, ONYX, TOPAZ and SDS satellites to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3.
June 2025
- Added articles about WS-117L (incl. CORONA, SAMOS and MIDAS), GAMBIT, HEXAGON, KENNEN / CRYSTAL, CANYON, CHALET / VORTEX / MERCURY, RHYOLITE / AQUACADE and ORION satellites to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3.
- Completely revised section about Space Programs in page about Designations of U.S. Air Force Projects.
- Added a page about the new designation system for U.S. Space Force Weapon Systems.
May 2025
- Added short sections about designations B-21, F-47 and MV-75 to article about Non-Standard DOD Aircraft Designations.
- Added designations S/Tp 106 to page about Swedish Military Aircraft Designations.
- Added designations CT-102B, CT-142Q, CT-145E, CT-153 and CT-157 to page about Canadian Military Aircraft Designations.
April 2025
- Updated the page about Current Designations of U.S. Unmanned Military Aerospace Vehicles to include the new Basic Mission symbol for "High Speed/Hypersonic".
March 2025
- Added a list of AN/ZPY designations to the JETDS listings.
- Added designations YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
- Added pages about the FQ-42 and FQ-44 to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2.
- Added pages about the Valiant, ARES and Roadrunner UAVs to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4.
- Added designation F-47 to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
February 2025
- Added a page about the MQ-28 Ghost Bat to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2.
- Added designations C-40D, ME-11B, ML-1A, AGM-88J, AGM-181A, YRQ-10A, YRQ-11A, AGR-20F, XV-25A and YMV-75A to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
- Added short section on AGM-88J SiAW to page about the AGM-88 missile family.
January 2025
- Added a page about the Black Widow UAV to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4.
December 2024
- Updated pages about the AGM-65 Maverick, RIM-66 Standard SM-2, AGM/RGM/UGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-88 HARM / AARGM, FIM-92 Stinger, RGM/UGM-109 Tomahawk, AGM-114 Hellfire, RIM-116 RAM, FGM-148 Javelin, RIM-161 Standard SM-3, RIM-162 ESSM, MQM-170 Outlaw, GQM-173 MSST and AIM/RIM-174 Standard SM-6 missiles with info on the latest variants.
- Updated pages about the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, RQ-4 Global Hawk, RQ/MQ-8 Fire Scout and MQ-9 Reaper UAVs with info on the latest variants.
November 2024
- Added designation E-4C to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
- Updated the page about Spanish Military Aircraft Designations with all current designations.
- Updated the page about Thai Military Aircraft Designations with a description of the Thai Navy designation system, and all current designations.
- Added a page about the K1000ULE UAV to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4.
October 2024
- Added a bunch of designations allocated since around 2008 in the ASETDS listings for the BRU, BSU, CBU, CCU, CPU, CRU, CVU, CXU, DCU, DSU, FMU, FNU, FSU, FZU, GAU, GPU, JAU, KMU, LAU, MJU, MLU, MXU, PGU, PJU, RLU, SUU, WDU and WPU designation series.
- Added designation E-130J to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
- Updated the page about Brazilian Military Aircraft Designations with all current designations.
- Updated the page about Swedish Military Aircraft Designations with all current designations, and added a list of UAV designations.
September 2024
- Added pages about the Blackwing, C100 and Ghost-X UAVs to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4.
- Added a page about the GBU-53/B StormBreaker to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 5.
August 2024
- Added a page about the RQ-29 to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2.
- Added a page about FLTSATCOM, and amended pages about UFO, MUOS and EWS-G with MDS designation information, in the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3.
- Added pages about the Tamir / SkyHunter missile, ALTIUS loitering munition, and X-63 and X-64 research rockets to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4.
- Added a bunch of designations allocated since around 2008 in the JETDS listings for the AN/AAQ, AN/AAR, AN/AAS, AN/ACQ, AN/ALE, AN/ALQ, AN/ALR, AN/APA, AN/APG, AN/APN, AN/APQ, AN/APR, AN/APS, AN/APX, AN/APY, AN/AQA, AN/AQQ, AN/ARC, AN/ARQ, AN/ARR, AN/ARW, AN/ASC, AN/ASH, AN/ASQ, AN/ASX, AN/AVS, AN/AWG, AN/AYK and AN/AYQ designation series.
July 2024
- Added designation AIM-174B to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
- Updated article about MQM-186 RedWing with a photo, and more complete vehicle specifications.
- Added designations E-7A, QUH-101A, MIM-147A, MQ-28A, RQ-29A, AGR-21, ES-19A, ES-21A, ES-23A, X-63A and X-64A, and officially confirmed allocation dates to existing post-2018 entries, to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
June 2024
- Added model numbers M24, M32, M33, M35, M36, M37, M48, M49 and M54 to list of Army Model numbers for rockets.
- Extended articles about 3.25 inch Rocket M2, 2.36 inch Rocket M6, 4.5 inch Rocket M8, 4.5 inch Rocket M16/M20/M32 and 3.5 inch Rocket M28/M35 with more detailed information about rocket variants.
- Updated article about RGM-184 NSM with info about the AGM-184 JSM.
- Added some historical information to the description of the Army Nomenclature System.
- Added a listing of U.S. Army Model numbers for Cartridges & Projectiles to the description of the Army Nomenclature System.
- Added designations AGM-184A and XRQ-73A to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page.
- Added a short page about the XRQ-73 to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2.
- Added pages about the Spike NLOS missile, Rogue 1 loitering munition, and Jump 20 UAV to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4.
May 2024
- A listing of U.S. Army Model numbers for Bombs has been added to the description of the Army Nomenclature System.
- Listings of U.S. Navy Mark numbers for Bombs, Cluster Bombs and Torpedoes have been added to the description of the Navy Mark/Mod Nomenclature System.
April 2024
- Updated page about MLRS rockets with data about all GMLRS and ER-GMLRS variant designations.
- Updated the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3 with new short articles about some U.S. Space Force operated satellites, covering the EWS-G, UFO, MUOS and WSF-M satellites.
- Added a note about unidentified satellite designations ES-19A, ES-21A and ES-23A to page about Current Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles.
- Added new information to the section about JB-5, -6, -7 and -9 in article about JB Series missiles in the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 1.
- There is now a separate page listing known Army Model numbers for rockets (referenced from the pages about Pre-1963 Designations Of U.S. Missiles And Drones and the Army Nomenclature System).
- Added some information about P/A-I, P/A-V and P/A-IX projects to page about P/A Series of early Navy missile studies.
March 2024
- Updated the DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page with a few new designations allocated after 2018, which have been missing so far. Also, many designators from 2018 onwards are now confirmend as "official".
February 2024
- The Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3 received its first update since 2009. Short articles about some U.S. Space Force operated satellites were added, covering the SBSS, SBIRS, AEHF and GSSAP satellites. The Military Satellite Launch List has been updated with launches until the end of 2023.
- The Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 5 has also been updated. It covers now all known GBU-series weapons up to GBU-73, which led to updates to the pages about Paveway II, JDAM and Missing GBU Numbers, as well as new articles about GBU-57/B MOP and GBU-69/B SGM.
- Designation XQ-67A was added to DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page, leading also to a change in the page about "Missing" USAF/DOD Aircraft Designations. A new page about the XQ-67 has been added to the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2 as well.
- Adaptive Turbofan engine designation A103 was added to page about Aircraft Engines.
January 2024
- In the first update for 15 years, the Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles got new short articles about the missiles numbered MQM-175 through AGM-187 (MQM-175, AGM/BGM-176, BQM-177, MQM-178, AGM-179, AGM-180, AGM-181, LGM-182, AGM-183, RGM-184, MQM-185, MQM-186, AGM-187), plus the out-of-sequence LGM-35 and AIM-260.
- The list of WGU designations has new entries at the end of the list, from WGU-51 to WGU-63.
- Added reference to AGR-19 and AGR-20 designations to section about APKWS.
- The Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 2 got new articles. Pages about RQ-12, MQ-19 and RQ-20 were copied over from Appendix 4 and slightly updated, and pages for all UAVs designated xQ-21 and up in the sequence (RQ-21, RQ-22, RQ-23, CQ-24, MQ-25, RQ-26, MQ-27, RQ-28), as well as the out-of-sequence designated MQ-20, MQ-35, XQ-58, XRQ-72 and RQ-170, were added.
- The Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4 also got new articles, covering the PrSM, LRHW and KEI missiles, Switchblade, Coyote and Hero-120 loitering munitions, Copperhead, Excalibur and XM395 guided projectiles, Black Hornet, P-ISR, InstantEye, R80D SkyRaider and TRV-150C UAVs, and X-56, X-60, X-61 and X-65 unmanned X-planes.
- Added notes about designations to pages about PAC-3 and THAAD missiles.
2023
In the second half of 2023, I partly took the Designation-Systems.Net website out of its long hiatus. Most of the site's content is still (and will remain) as I left it many years ago, but a few pages have been slightly updated:
- Updated the DOD 4120.15-L - Addendum page with new official designations until October 2018, plus later designations published elsewhere. Some of these updates led to small changes in the page about "Missing" USAF/DOD Aircraft Designations.
- Updated the page about Allocation of Official Aerospace Vehicle MDS Designations to also mention the current procedure (changed in 2014).
- Updated the page about Cover Designations for Classified USAF Aircraft to present the most reliable current information.
- Updated the pages about designations of Aircraft Engines, Electronic Equipment and Aeronautical and Support Equipment to cover the latest standards.
- Added several new entries (just what I happened to find coincidentally) to the end of the lists of BLU and GBU designations.
- Updated the page about Canadian Military Aircraft Designations with all current designations.
- Removed the page with some topic-related links. Almost all of them were long dead anyway.
- And last but not least, the whole site got a minor optical face-lift.