Types of Guided Missiles Guided missiles are divided into two types—service missiles and nonservice missiles. SERVICE MISSILES.— These missiles are generally referred to as tactical missiles. Service missiles are fully operational and fully explosive loaded rounds, designed for service use in time of war. NONSERVICE MISSILES.— These include all types of missiles other than service or tactical. They are subdivided as captive air training missiles (CATMs), dummy air training missiles (DATMs), special air training missiles (NATMs), and practice guided weapons (PGWs). Some practice and training missiles are used for actual launching. They contain live propulsion and guidance systems with inert loaded warheads. They are fitted with pyrotechnic fuze indicator signals and/or tracking flares that give a visual indication of missile/target impact. These missiles can also be fitted with a telemetry-type warhead, which transmits electronic signals to a monitoring station. The monitoring station displays the missile’s in-flight performance and missile/target hit. Some types of exercise missiles contain explosive-destruct charges so the missiles destroy themselves in flight. These explosive-destruct charges, when installed, are used as a safety measure so the missile does not travel beyond the established target range. The CATMs are used for pilot training in aerial target acquisition and aircraft controls/displays. They have both tactical and training components. The DATMs are ground training missiles used to train ground personnel in missile assembly/ disassembly, uploading/downloading, and handling procedures. The NATMs are used for pilot training during fleet weapon training exercises. The PGWs are used for stowage procedures and techniques. All components are completely inert. Service missiles are fired as practice or training missiles when approved by proper authority. Normally, approval is restricted to missiles that are obsolete or to missiles that have exceeded their normal service life. Guided missiles used in naval aviation include air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. Air-to-air guided missiles are fired by one aircraft against another aircraft. Air-to-surface guided missiles are fired from an aircraft against a target on the land or water surface. For further information on the classification of guided missiles, you should refer to United States Navy Ammunition Historical and Functional Data,NAVSEA SW010-AB-GTP-010, and Identification of Ammunition, NAVSEA SW010-AF-ORD-010. MISSILE DESIGNATION The Department of Defense established a missile and rocket designation sequence. The basic designation (table 3-1) of every guided missile are letters, which are in sequence. The sequence indicates the following: 1. The environment from which the vehicle is launched 2. The primary mission of the missile 3. The type of vehicle Examples of guided missile designators common to the Aviation Ordnanceman are as follows: Basic Designator Meaning AGM Air-launched, surface-attack, guided missile AIM Air-launched, intercept-aerial, guided missile ATM Air-launched, training guided missile RIM Ship-launched, intercept-aerial, guided missile The basic designator is followed by a design number. In turn, the number may be followed by consecutive letters, which show a modification. For example, the designation of AGM-45C means the missile is an air-launched (A), surface-attack (G), missile (M), forty-fifth missile design (45), third modification (C). In addition, most guided missiles are given popular names, such as Sparrow, Sidewinder, Harpoon, and Shrike. These names are retained regardless of subsequent modifications to the original missile. MISSILE IDENTIFICATION The external surfaces of all Navy guided missiles, except radome and antenna surfaces, are painted white. The color white has no identification color-coding significance when used on guided missiles. There are three significant color codes used on guided missiles and their components-yellow, brown, 3-2