Wunderwaffe

Wunderwaffe is German for "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by the Third Reich propaganda ministry to a few revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained more or less feasible prototypes, or reached the combat theatre too late, and in too insignificant numbers (if at all) to have a military effect. A derisive abbreviation of the term emerged: Wuwa, pronounced "voo-vah".

The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment (especially against London and Antwerp), trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts. Therefore, they are also included here.

Aircraft carriers

 * GERMAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER Graf Zeppelin – a 33,550 ton aircraft carrier laid down in 1936; never completed.
 * Flugzeugträger B – planned sister ship to the Graf Zeppelin; scrapped before launching.
 * GERMAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER I – a planned 56,500 ton aircraft carrier, converted from a transport; cancelled before work started.

Battleships

 * H-class battleship – a series of proposals for battleships, culminating in the H-44, a 140,000 ton battleship with eight 20 inch guns. Two only laid down; scrapped on slipways

Oceangoing U-boats

 * Rocket U-boat – a planned ballistic missile submarine; project abandoned
 * Type XVIII U-boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; several were under construction when the war ended
 * Type XXI U-boat "Elektroboot" (Electric boat) – the first U-boat designed to operate completely submerged, 118 were built
 * Type XXIV U-boat – a planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion
 * Type XXVI U-boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; several were under construction when the war ended

Littoral U-boats

 * Type XXII U-boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; two were under construction
 * Type XXIII U-boat ("Elektroboot") – a U-boat designed for littoral missions; 67 were built
 * Type XXV U-boat – a planned all-electric U-Boat designed for littoral missions

Submarine aircraft carrier

 * Type XI – a U-boat designed to carry the Arado Ar 231 collapsible floatplane; four were laid down but canceled at the outbreak of World War II

Anti-aircraft weapons

 * Flakpanzer "Kugelblitz" (Ball Lightning) – a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun

Anti-tank weapons

 * Sturer Emil – an experimental tank destroyer

Super-heavy tanks

 * Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" (Rat) – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1000 metric tons and armed with two 280mm cannons, 128mm anti-tank gun, 8 20mm flak guns and 2 15mm heavy machine guns
 * Landkreuzer P. 1500 "Monster" – a proposed super-heavy self-propelled gun, weighing 1500 metric tons and armed with the 800mm Schwerer Gustav/Dora gun
 * Panzer VII "Löwe" (Lion) – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 90 metric tons and armed with a 105mm cannon
 * Panzer VIII "Maus" (Mouse) – a super-heavy tank, weighing 180 metric tons and armed with two cannons of 128mm and 75mm calibre, two operable prototypes completed
 * Panzerkampfwagen E-100 – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 140 metric tons and armed with either 128, 149 or 170mm cannon

Gliders

 * Junkers Ju 322 "Mammut" (Mammoth) – a flying wing heavy transport glider.

Piston engine aircraft

 * Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 – a planned tilt-rotor VTOL fighter
 * Focke-Wulf Ta 152 – a high-altitude interceptor
 * Focke-Wulf Ta 400 – a planned Amerika Bomber candidate with six radial engines and two jet engines with a range of 13,000 km in bomber configuration
 * Heinkel He 111Z – a five engined Zwilling (twin fuselage) aircraft created by combining two He 111s and designed to tow large gliders
 * Heinkel He 274 – a high altitude heavy bomber with four in-line engines with a range of 3,440 km, two completed by France after the war
 * Heinkel He 277 – a planned, advanced long range bomber design, never built as a complete aircraft, evolved to be an Amerika Bomber candidate, to be powered with four BMW 801 radial engines and up to 11,000 km range
 * Junkers Ju 390 – an Amerika Bomber candidate with six radial engines with a range of 9,700 km, two airworthy prototypes built and flown
 * Junkers Ju 488 – a heavy bomber with four radial engines with a range of 3,395 km
 * Messerschmitt Me 264 – an Amerika Bomber candidate with four inline or radial engines and a range of 15,000 km, three airworthy prototypes built and flown
 * Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" (Giant) – a heavy transport with six engines

Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft

 * Arado Ar 234 – the first operational turbojet bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
 * Arado E.555 – a planned jet-powered Amerika bomber
 * Arado E.560 – a series of tactical bomber projects
 * Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" (Adder) – a rocket-powered vertical takeoff interceptor
 * Blohm & Voss P.178 – a turbojet dive bomber
 * DFS 194 – a rocket-powered experimental aircraft
 * DFS 228 – a rocket-powered high altitude reconnaissance aircraft
 * DFS 346 – a rocket-powered research aircraft
 * Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg" – a manned version of the V-1 flying bomb
 * Focke-Wulf "Triebflügel" (Powered Wings) – a planned ramjet tailsitter interceptor
 * Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein" – a planned swept wing turbojet fighter
 * Focke-Wulf Ta 283 – a planned swept wing ramjet and rocket-powered fighter
 * Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger" (People's Fighter) – a turbojet fighter
 * Heinkel He 176 – the world's first liquid-fueled rocket-powered experimental aircraft
 * Heinkel He 178 – the world's first experimental turbojet aircraft to fly
 * Heinkel He 280 – the first turbojet fighter design, prototypes only
 * Heinkel He 343 – a planned four engined jet bomber based on the Arado Ar 234's general design
 * Henschel Hs 132 – a planned turbojet dive bomber and interceptor
 * Horten Ho 229 – a turbojet flying wing stealth jet fighter/bomber
 * Horten H.XVIII – a planned flying wing jet bomber based on the Horten Ho 229
 * Junkers EF 128 – a planned turbojet fighter
 * Junkers EF 132 – a planned turbojet bomber
 * Junkers Ju 287 – a forward-swept wing turbojet bomber
 * Lippisch P.13a – a planned supersonic ramjet delta wing interceptor
 * Lippisch P.13b – a planned ramjet delta wing interceptor developed from the Lippisch P.13a
 * Messerschmitt Me 109TL – a turbojet fighter designed as an alternate/back-up for the Me 262
 * Messerschmitt Me 163 "Komet" (Comet) – the first and only operational rocket-powered fighter
 * Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" (Swallow)- the first operational turbojet fighter/bomber
 * Messerschmitt Me 263 – a rocket-powered fighter developed from the Me 163
 * Messerschmitt P.1101 – a variable-sweep wing ramjet fighter
 * Messerschmitt P.1106 – a jet fighter based on the Messerschmitt Me P.1101
 * Silbervogel (Silverbird) – planned sub-orbital antipodal bomber
 * Zeppelin Fliegende Panzerfaust – a rocket-powered fighter
 * Zeppelin Rammer – a rocket-powered fighter

Helicopters

 * Flettner Fl 184 – a night reconnaissance and anti-submarine autogyro
 * Flettner Fl 185 – an experimental helicopter
 * Flettner Fl 265 – an experimental helicopter, the world's earliest known airworthy synchropter
 * Flettner Fl 282 "Kolibri" (Hummingbird) – a reconnaissance "synchropter" helicopter
 * Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache" (Dragon) – an anti-submarine, search and rescue, reconnaissance, and freight helicopter, based on the prewar Fw 61
 * Focke-Wulf Fw 61 – an experimental helicopter

Bombs and explosives

 * German nuclear energy project

Artillery

 * Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav) – an 800mm railway gun
 * V-3 cannon "Hochdruckpumpe" – "High Pressure Pump" a supergun

Missiles

 * Aggregate series
 * A1 – the first German experimental rocket
 * A2 – an experimental rocket, gyroscopically stabilized
 * A3 – an experimental rocket with an inertial guidance system
 * A4/V-2 – the first ballistic missile and the first human-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight
 * A4-SLBM – a planned submarine-launched ballistic missile
 * A4b
 * A5 – an experimental reusable rocket
 * A6 – an improved A4b
 * A7 – an improved A4
 * A8 – a planned submarine-launched ballistic missile
 * A9 Amerikarakete – a planned intermediate-range ballistic missile to be used to strike the eastern United States
 * A10 – a planned lower stage for the A9 to upgrade it to an intercontinental ballistic missile
 * A11 – a planned satellite launcher
 * A12 – a planned rocket, capable of putting 10 metric tons into low Earth orbit
 * Enzian – a planned surface-to-air missile with infrared guidance
 * Feuerlilie F-25 "Fire Lilly" – a surface-to-air missile
 * Feuerlilie F-55 "Fire Lilly" – a two-stage, supersonic surface-to-air missile
 * V-1 flying bomb/Fieseler Fi 103/Vergeltungswaffe 1 – the first cruise missile
 * Fliegerfaust "Pilot Fist" or "Plane Fist" / Luftfaust "Air Fist" – the first man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS)
 * Fritz X – an unpowered air-launched, MCLOS-guided anti-ship missile, the pioneering wartime example of a PGM
 * Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling "Butterfly" – a manually guided surface-to-air missile
 * Henschel Hs 117H – a manually guided air-to-air missile
 * Henschel Hs 293 – an MCLOS-guided air-to-ship missile
 * Henschel Hs 294 – an MCLOS-guided air-to-ship missile/torpedo
 * Henschel Hs 298 – an air-to-air missile
 * R4M Orkan "Hurricane" – an unguided air-to-air rocket
 * Rheinbote "Rhine Messenger"- the first short-range ballistic missile
 * Rheintochter "Rhinedaughter" – a manually guided surface-to-air missile
 * Ruhrstahl X-4 – a wire-guided air-to-air missile designed for the Ta 183
 * Taifun "Typhoon" – a planned unguided surface-to-air missile
 * Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete "Waterfall Remote-Controlled A-A Rocket" – a supersonic surface-to-air missile
 * Werfer-Granate 21 – a heavy-calibre (21 cm/8 inch) unguided air-to-air rocket, in use by the summer of 1943
 * G7es/Zaunkönig T-5 – acoustic homing torpedo used by U-boats

Orbital

 * Sun gun – a parabolic mirror in orbit designed to focus sunlight onto specific locations on the Earth's surface

Rifles

 * Jagdfaust – an automatically firing airborne anti-bomber recoilless rifle for use on the Me 163
 * Mauser MG 213 – a 20 mm aircraft mounted revolver cannon
 * Mauser MG 213C – a 30 mm aircraft mounted revolver cannon
 * Sturmgewehr 44 – the first assault rifle
 * "Krummlauf" – a curved barrel for the StG44
 * Sturmgewehr 45 – prototype

Rheotron/betatron
Among the directed-energy weapons the Nazis investigated were x-ray beam weapons developed under Heinz Schmellenmeier, Richard Gans and Fritz Houtermans. They built an electron accelerator called Rheotron (invented by Max Steenbeck at Siemens-Schuckert in the 1930s, these were later called betatrons by the Americans) to generate hard x-ray synchrotron beams for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM). The intent was to pre-ionize ignition in aircraft engines and hence serve as anti-aircraft DEW and bring planes down into the reach of flak. The rheotron was captured by the Americans in Burggrub on April 14, 1945.

Röntgenkanone
Another approach was Ernst Schiebolds 'Röntgenkanone' developed from 1943 in Großostheim near Aschaffenburg. The Company Richert Seifert & Co from Hamburg delivered parts.

Mission equipment

 * Zielgerät 1229 "Vampir" – active infrared for the Sturmgewehr 44
 * FG 1250 Tank Mounted night-vision equipment

Fictitious

 * Die Glocke
 * Nazi UFOs
 * Directed-energy weapon