Air Defense Artillery seems to have forgotten the tradition of naming weapons and now only uses acronymns.

We used to have Vulcans, Chapparals, Nike, Hercules, Stinger, Linebacker, Avenger, Sentinel, Duster, Patriot, HAWK (I know it's an acronymn but it is also a cool bird), Redeye, and many others.

Now all we have is acronymns like THAAD, JLENS, MEADS, SLAMRAAM, GMD, C-RAM. I propose the branch start a force wide contest to choose names for these current and future systems.

Other branches seem to have names chosen for their stuff before it is even off the drawing board.

PS. Contrary to popular mythology, Patriot is NOT an acronymn.

It is not an acronym, but it IS expanded as Phased Array Tracking to Intercept Of Target

I do agree that we need to go back to cool names though like HAWK, Redeye, Chaparral, etc

Sounds good to me.

What are some of your suggestions? I know you have some.

There are many options when naming weapons. They can be named after war heroes, ferocious animals, ancient weapons, or ancient warrior cultures.

I think the C-RAM (land based Phalanx) should be named Vulcan II (the way A-10s are named thunderbolt II).

SLAMRAAM could be named the Caracal, after the African wild cat that is known for snatching birds out of the air in mid flight. I know it is an awkward name but that is why we need a contest to come up with batter ideas than I have.

I don't see anything wrong with those.