NATO Reporting Names for Aircrafts

The NATO reporting name system for military aircraft is a method to name and identify non-NATO aircraft. This system was created because many nations, especially the Soviet Union and China, used a confusing array of designations for their aircraft, making it difficult for Western military analysts, pilots, and intelligence officers to discuss them. NATO needed a standardized naming system for ease of discussion and classification.

The names assigned to fixed-wing aircraft are generally one syllable for propeller planes and two syllables for jets. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also follow this pattern.

More importantly, the codenames start with a different letter depending on the type of aicraft:

• Fighter Aircraft ("F"): Fast military aircraft designed for air-to-air combat. Examples include the MiG-29 "Fulcrum" and the MiG-15 "Fagot".

• Bomber Aircraft ("B"): Aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry. For example, the Tu-95 is called "Bear" for a propeller bomber and the Tu-160 is known as "Blackjack" for a jet bomber.

• Cargo Aircraft ("C"): These are used for the transportation of cargo and passengers. The Il-76 is designated "Candid" for a jet-powered transport and the An-2 "Colt" for a propeller-driven transport.

• Helicopters ("H"): Rotary-wing aircraft. The distinction between jet and propeller is not made in this category. For example, the Mi-24 attack helicopter is known as "Hind."

• Miscellaneous ("M"): This category includes trainers, reconnaissance, seaplanes, tankers, and Airborne Early Warning aircraft. They can have one or more syllables in their name regardless of their engine type.

The actual names are often chosen to reflect a characteristic of the aircraft. For example, the MiG-25 was designated "Foxbat," which was chosen to imply speed and agility, characteristics of the actual fox and bat animals. The names are also intended to be easy to pronounce and remember for English speakers. The system has been in place since the 1950s and is still in use today, though with the end of the Cold War, its significance has somewhat diminished.