USAF's Air Force Program (AFP) numbering system

[RB586]

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1750/1

 

[Jos Heyman]

A very useful list and excellent work by Dwayne Day to compile this.
The list involves space programs only and not aircraft.
My addition (as sent to Dwayne) is AFP-43, which refers to the RCA Block 2 meteorological satellites.

The prefix AFP has, however, not always been used in the descriptions of the spacecraft. In a number of instances the reference was just to 'Program'.
(I do not see a problem with this).
Just a note of warning, many of these satellites also received a four digit 'Ops' number which, as far as I can determine, is unrelated to the AFP number.

 

[Andreas Parsch]

I have also a few numbers listed here:

http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/projects.html#_WS
http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/projects.html#_Other

I have never figured out the relation of the "AFP" or "Project" numbers to the "WS" or "System" numbers . I assumed the numbering was completely unrelated (obviously because of duplicate numbers for completely different systems). On the other hand, there are many numbers, where it is apparently unclear into which "list" they belong - could be one of the two, or both, or none at all . Therefore there are several entries in Dwayne Day's "Project" list, which I have listed in the "WS / System" list.

 

[Byeman]

1. I have never figured out the relation of the "AFP" or "Project" numbers to the "WS" or "System" numbers . I assumed the numbering was completely unrelated (obviously because of duplicate numbers for completely different systems).

2. On the other hand, there are many numbers, where it is apparently unclear into which "list" they belong - could be one of the two, or both, or none at all . Therefore there are several entries in Dwayne Day's "Project" list, which I have listed in the "WS / System" list.

1. There isn't. AFP numbers in the 80's and 90's were random to prevent any "tracking". The same project would have different number for each launch. This was due to more people being involved with the shuttle program.

2. It was different in the 60's and 70's where there were less people involved and the same numbers were used launch to launch

 

[Apophenia]

Dwayne Day's list from the linked article:​

USAF Program Numbers​

AFP Number	Identification	Source
11	Sub-satellite scientific/ferret	Various (confirmed)
35	Early DMSP (renamed Program 694BK)	Program History
101A	Samos E-1 and E-2	Various (confirmed)
101B	Samos E-5	Various (confirmed)
102	Heavy ferrets	Various (confirmed)
104	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
110	KH-8 GAMBIT	Various (confirmed)
141	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
162	CORONA/Discoverer	Program history
201	Samos E-6	Program history
206	KH-7 GAMBIT	?
224A	BMEWS?	Mike Cassutt
239A	MIDAS (renamed Program 461)	Richelson, America’s Space Sent, p. 33
241	ARGON	NRO Declass Guide
244	Tactical synchronous comsat work	AF in Space, FY1966
259	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
266	Midas	Program history
269	CIRRUS 1	Mike Cassutt
283	Sub-satellite scientific/ferret	RAE Table of Earth Satellites
313	SDS or JUMPSEAT?	Mike Cassutt
315A	Revamped Samos E-6/SPARTAN
326	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
366	CHALET	McDowell, Quest Vol4No. 4 (ECTR list?)
369	Medium altitude comsat	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 46
405B	Lasercom?	Mike Cassutt
417	Early DMSP	Program history
435	Navy navigation on Scout	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 92
437	Thor-based ASAT	Program history
437AP	Thor-based ASAT photographic	Program history
437Y	Thor-based ASAT non-nuclear (renamed 922)	AF in Space, FY1966
461	Midas	Program history
465	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
467	KH-9 HEXAGON (Lockheed Program 612)	Richelson, America’s Secret Eyes, p. 105
472	AQUACADE	ESTR Summary Report
475	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
477L	Vela?
491	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
498J	Beanstalk
498L	Milstar?
494L	ERCS (Minuteman comms)
505	Nike-Zeus ASAT
441L	AFSATCOM
557	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
563	STP program for shuttle launch?	Mike Cassutt
572	IDCSP Comsat	AF in Space, FY1966
580	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
591	UHF Communications experiment	AF in Space, FY1966
609	Blue Scout HETS
621B	Early GPS proposal
622A	CORONA	NRO Declass Guide
623	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
623A	Large Solid Propellant Motor	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 88
624A	Titan 3
624B	Titan 3B Agena D
627A	ABRES
631A	Gemini Experiments program	AF in Space, FY 1964
632	MOL/DORIAN
638	Vela	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 88
647	Defense Support Program	Program history
648	Agena D
658	AWST rumor this was SDS-II
661A	Ion engine on Blue Scout suborbital
675	CIRRIS/STP (STS-39)
694BK	Early DMSP (renamed Program 417)	Program history
698BK	Non-photographic VAFB launch (incl. ferrets)	VAFB Launch Reports
698BJ	Samos E-6	VAFB Launch Reports
706	ASAT	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 62
711	JUMPSEAT?
720	RHYOLITE	ESTR Summary Report
722	Samos E-6	NRO Declass Guide
731	MISTY stealth satellite	Unconfirmed?
732	NRO (Unknown)
749	CLIPPER BOW
750A	ASSET
770	Non-photographic VAFB launch (incl. POPPY)	VAFB Launch Reports
774	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
777	DSCS II
814	Synchronous comsat	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 46
823	Vela (renamed Program 638)	AF in Space, FY 1964, p. 87
827	CANYON	ESTR Summary Report
834L	GPS?
843	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
846	CORONA	NRO Declass Guide
850B	OV1?
868	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
878	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
888	Teal Ruby	Various
917	Scout-launched payload (ERCS?)	Document about Scout problems, 1963
922	Thor-based non-nuclear ASAT (not flown)	AF in Space, FY1966
946	NRO (Unknown)	NRO Declass Guide
949	DSP (renamed Program 647-June 1969)	Program history
989	ABM sub-satellite ferrets	Richelson, US Intel Com 4th Ed., p. 189
1010	KH-11 KENNAN	Richelson, America’s Secret Eyes, p. 124

Other Program Designations​

Program I	KH-7 GAMBIT	Single doc (speculation)
Program II	Early DMSP	Various (confirmed)
Program IIA	Early CORONA	Various (confirmed)