Eli5: Why are weapons(guns, tanks, some planes) named with numbers and letters?
In: 3
Words are imprecise
Letter and number designations are cold, unfeeling, and accurate
Generally things get given a common name (Sherman) but also an initial designation (M4) but variants tack things onto the end of the base designation (M4A3(76)W)
A Sherman is everything from the round M4A1 to the longgg M4A4 to the Israeli M50 and it could have a 75mm gun or a high velocity 76mm gun which take very different rounds. There are dozens of possible configurations if you need parts for a “Sherman tank” but an M4A3(76)W is a Sherman with a Ford V8, a 76mm gun, and wet ammo storage and all that info is contained within 9 characters
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