Little known US Army missile projects of early 1950s

[Vahe Demirjian]

Is there any record of little-known US Army missile projects from the early 1950s? Considering that the RV-A-22 designation was allocated to Lark missiles used by the Army sometime between 1951 and 1953, and that the missing US Army missile designation numbers 20 and 21 must have been allocated in that timeframe, it is possible that a little-known Army missile project was given one of these designations. Also bear in mind that the SAM-A-25 designation was assigned to the Nike Hercules in June 1953, so another unknown US Army missile project may have been given the Army missile designation slot 24 because the Nike Zeus was envisaged in 1955.

 

[Ravinoff]

Going off this page, it looks like whatever 20 and 21 were, either nobody remembers or the documents are missing. The author there does have a note on the 24 designation though:

It is almost certain, that either the number 24 or 26 was allocated to the Western Electric Nike II, resulting in a SAM-A-24 or SAM-A-26 designation. Nike II was later renamed as Nike Zeus.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Going off this page, it looks like whatever 20 and 21 were, either nobody remembers or the documents are missing. The author there does have a note on the 24 designation though:

It is almost certain, that either the number 24 or 26 was allocated to the Western Electric Nike II, resulting in a SAM-A-24 or SAM-A-26 designation. Nike II was later renamed as Nike Zeus.

The Nike Zeus was conceived in 1955, whereas the Nike Hercules was conceived in June 1953, and the Dart anti-tank missile was designated SSM-A-23 in April 1953 --- way too early for the slot 24 to have been possibly allocated to the Nike Zeus. It is therefore possible that slot #24 may have been assigned to an little-known US Army guided missile that never reached the hardware phase or sounding rocket.