Or mythological, since much astronomical (or astrological) naming has mythological basis.
Electra, Hercules, etc
Not content to just naming their own weapons, the Pentagon renames weapons from other nations. The Japanese named their planes by the Imperial year they were introduced. But numbers are hard to remember so some Army Air Force captain was tasked with naming them starting with buxom women he knew (Val, Betty, etc) and hillbilly boys he grew up with in Tennessee (Zeke, Rufe, etc). The one that never quite stuck was the IJN carrier version of Zeke. Most USN personnel stuck with the Japanese name for the navy fighter introduced in Imperial year 2600. The Navy Type “Zero” Carrier Fighter.
Let’s not forget that when the British government gave the public the chance to name a naval vessel, the collective wisdom of the Empire came up with “Boaty McBoatface.”"
EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle
Clearly inspired by cats, those well-known masters of flight.
It was more a response to some personal eye-rolling over “Storm Shadow” than anything else and curiosity if the names had any measurable effect. Morale and memorization seem to be the top reasons mentioned here, and that does make sense.
Michael Moorcock likes GI Joe?
As I mentioned upthread, the Brits have a rather more poetic & Classical Literature tone to their naming. Storm Shadow is one of theirs, not a US name.
They still have the best name for a weapon ever: HMS Warspite.
Hijack: It did take me awhile to realize the “cool” implied pronunciation of the ATACMS missile. In my head, I’d always pronounced it “Ata-cams”, sounding vaguely like the Atacama Desert, but only almost a year ago did I realize it could also be pronounced as “Attack-ems.”
Attack-ems is how it’s “officially” pronounced.
Sure, but that’s a research ship, not a weapons system.
I think it’s just an inexpensive way to add a bit of badassery to a weapons system via the naming. And troops are going to name them their own names anyway- witness the A-10 Warthog, or the F-16 Viper, or the Bazooka (named after a goofy musical instrument wielded by a comedian of the time).
Or maybe you should; cf Chef Guy’s post above.
I don’t know; an airplane that always lands on its feet sounds like a good idea to me!
Cats are famous for walking away from landings. That’s a hopeful omen for a class of aviation where recovery is usually a barely-controlled crash at maximum throttle on a tossing rolling postage stamp in the middle of the sea.
Come on, how is that better than Dreadnaught? It literally means “afraid of nothing”.
He’s thinking “Stormbringer” I’d wager, not “Storm Shadow”.
Sure, but it’s Moorcock-esque.
I didn’t know anything about GI Joe, as a media property.* I rather suspect the UK Ministry of Defense doesn’t either.
*GI Joe is a line of 12-inch poseable action figures with warlike accessories, and that’s all it ever will be. If necessary, I can reject your reality and substitute my own.
Brits had a series of climatological names (Hurricane, Typhoon, Tornado)
And who can ignore those fearsome names like Gnat, Moth, and Mosquito (that turned out to be deceptive…)
The F-16 came out when I was a kid. I always heard it as ‘Falcon’. I never heard ‘Fighting Falcon’ until the '80s at the earliest.
He named the plane after his mother.
Then again they named a battlecruiser “Invincible” that proceeded to get very thoroughly and totally vinced…
Curious about SDMB mentions, Storm Shadow is brought up as a GI Joe character 21 times and as a missle 8 times.