The British GWS Missiles

Tzoli

Tzoli

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I've hoped to find a list showing the GWS (Guided Weapon System) series of British missile designations but I did not found one on this forum, so I ask you if you can provide me a list on these weapons.
From Wiki and some other sites I've collected these:

GWS.1 - Sea Slug Mark I
GWS.2 - Sea Slug Mark II

GWS.20 - Sea Cat (Manually aimed)
GWS.21 - Sea Cat (CRBFD Radar aimed)
GWS.22 - Sea Cat (MRS.3 aimed)

GWS.24 - Sea Cat (Alenia Orion Radar aimed)
GWS.25 - Sea Wolf
GWS.26 - Sea Wolf VL (Vertical Launch)
GWS.27 - Sea Wolf FaF (Fire and Forget)

GWS.30 - Sea Dart Mark I
GWS.31 - Sea Dart Mark II

GWS.40 - Ikara

GWS.45 Sea Viper

GWS.50 - MM38 Exocet

GWS.60 - UGM-84B Harpoon

As you can see there are gaps between the Sle Slug and Sea Cat and Se Wolf and Sea Dart as well as a missing GWS.23 (another seacat variant maybe?) and the modern SAMs of the Sea Viper and Sea Ceptor.
 
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Tzoli said:
As you can see there are gaps between the Sle Slug and Sea Cat and Se Wolf and Sea Dart
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It doesn't look like gaps - more like after Sea Slug they decided to switch from single-digit numbers to two-digit ones, where the first digit define the system type (short range SAM, long range SAM, SSM, anti-sub missile, ect.) and the second define the exact model.
 
Dilandu said:
It doesn't look like gaps - more like after Sea Slug they decided to switch from single-digit numbers to two-digit ones, where the first digit define the system type (short range SAM, long range SAM, SSM, anti-sub missile, ect.) and the second define the exact model.
Click to expand...
Like the naval Type designations?
 
Tzoli. There should be numbers for PAAMS with Aster in Type 45, and for the Naval Strike Missile. I haven't heard them announced yet.
 
Never heard of SeaWolf fire and forget, will have to do some Googling!
 
GWS27 would have used a phased array tracker, capable of controling missiles at more than one target over a limited sector ; in contrast to GWS25 and 26, which could work with salvos of missiles, but only at a single target.
 
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Daviesg. GWS27 was overtaken by a project called Support Defence Missile System (SDMS), which was relatively short ranged, but itself was overtaken by PAAMS in Type 45. Fortuitously the Aster missile also had much greater range, making it akin to Seadart as a medium range AAW weapon, despite the GWS45 tag, in a series which had previously been ASW missiles (Ikara).
 
BlackBat 242. You're correct with GWS40/41, but the missile numbers need revising. Bristol carried 23 Ikara (14 plus 9 in a reserve magazine) whilst the Leanders stowed 14. There's more background in some of the ship threads like T42 Hull Cut or the Type 82 Stretch.
 
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XRNWEO said:
Daviesg. GWS27 was overtaken by a project called Support Defence Missile System (SDMS), which was relatively short ranged, but itself was overtaken by PAAMS in Type 45. Fortuitously the Aster missile also had much greater range, making it akin to Seadart as a medium range AAW weapon, despite the GWS45 tag, in a series which had previously been ASW missiles (Ikara).
Click to expand...
I've speculated in the past that the technologies involved in GWS.27, would permit a new longer ranged missile.
Namely AESA, ARH and an increasing use of datalinks in place of CLOS.
But obviously FAMS took priority once commitment to PAAMS.
 
It probably was. The guys in charge don't have a corporate memory, and wouldn't have been aware of GWS40/41 which had left service at least 10 or 15 years prior to GWS45 being announced. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Once announced, the designation would have stuck ..... !!
 

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