NATO callsigns for aircraft

Mohmar Deathstrike

Mohmar Deathstrike

Banned
I have a bunch of questions regarding these:

Who makes them up?

Why do only Russian (and previously Soviet) and Chinese aircraft get them?

What is their purpose?

The only thing I've figured out about them is that the callsigns of bombers start with a B, fighters with an F, Cargo Planes with a C, helicopters with a H, AA missiles with A, SS missiles with S, SA missiles with G (why G?), AS missiles with K (why K?), and patrol, surveillance and AWACS aircraft with M (why M?).
 
NATO reporting names were code names for Soviet and Chinese military equipment. These were created to facilitate communications between military units speaking different languages and because in most cases the actual name of the equipment was unknown or did not exist, and in many cases were not known for many years. NATO maintained lists of these names. Much of that equipment can still be found in use around the world, and NATO reporting names are sometimes still used. During this period the administration of assignment of the names for the Soviet and Chinese aircraft was handled by the five nation Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC) which consisted of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Source - Wikipedia

Here you have the whole article regarding NATO reporting names - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name
 
Venom PL said:
During this period the administration of assignment of the names for the Soviet and Chinese aircraft was handled by the five nation Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC) which consisted of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Source - Wikipedia

Here you have the whole article regarding NATO reporting names - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_namehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name
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Only anglo saxon countries?
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So this is why I didn't find anything when i wikied for "nato callsign" :D

Cheers Venom PL
 
Mohmar Deathstrike said:
Only anglo saxon countries?
icon8.gif


So this is why I didn't find anything when i wikied for "nato callsign" :D

Cheers Venom PL
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That's because we did not have "call signs" for soviet equipment.

Each type of equipment was given a nickname however the only times I heard the nicknames used on the radio was when they were part of a missile report and the names were of the S or K types. Surface to surface missiles or air to surface missiles.

Those reports were always accompanied by the word Vampire. (US and NATO only)
 
Senior Chief said:
That's because we did not have "call signs" for soviet equipment.
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Exactly. I had forgotten it was called "reporting name", rather than "call sign".
Senior Chief said:
Each type of equipment was given a nickname however the only times I heard the nicknames used on the radio was when they were part of a missile report and the names were of the S or K types. Surface to surface missiles or air to surface missiles.

Those reports were always accompanied by the word Vampire. (US and NATO only)
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Interresting.

Ah, so M-reporting names stand for 'Miscellaneous'.
 
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Mohmar Deathstrike said:
Exactly. I had forgotten it was called "reporting name", rather than "call sign".
Interresting.

Ah, so M-reporting names stand for 'Miscellaneous'.
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As I was on the side with the AWACS planes we didn't even know they were around. They were typically many miles from us.

We never used the term "reporting name" we used nickname (NATO Codenames)

Try looking at this list. (I tried to cut and paste but too many characters made it screwey)

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/gustin_military/sovdes.html

Try checking out a copy of Janes Fighting Ships from your local library.
 
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Two other things: aircraft get one-syllable names if they are propellor driven (BEAR for instance, or CUB, and all helicopters, such as HIND or HOOK) or two-syllable names if they are jet-powered (FOXBAT, BISON)

Aircraft are given designations by the Russians based on the design bureau that created them--MiG for Mikoyan and Gurevich, An for Antonov, Yak for Yakovlev, Il for Ilyushin and so on.

Surface warships are named for the geographic location where they are first seen, and sub classes just get alphabet names (ROMEO, WHISKEY, KILO, etc.)
 
wikipeida is god. you guys should go there more often for info, i rarely have trouble finding what i need there.
 
marslight said:
Two other things: aircraft get one-syllable names if they are propellor driven (BEAR for instance, or CUB, and all helicopters, such as HIND or HOOK) or two-syllable names if they are jet-powered (FOXBAT, BISON)

Aircraft are given designations by the Russians based on the design bureau that created them--MiG for Mikoyan and Gurevich, An for Antonov, Yak for Yakovlev, Il for Ilyushin and so on.

Surface warships are named for the geographic location where they are first seen, and sub classes just get alphabet names (ROMEO, WHISKEY, KILO, etc.)
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The Soviet ships I had "busisness with were named by Class. Kresta, Kresta II, Kashin, Osa, Komar, Kiev, Sverdlosk, to name a few that I remember, but all of the ships/boats were by their class names and we identified them by their emitters.
 
I stand corrected. The class of ship is what I meant. As to the larger ships, such as KIEV and MOSKVA and so on, I guess the Soviets didn't mind a bit of publicity and PR. "Look vhat ve have, Yankees! Ve vill keeck your imperialist keesters with sheeps like zeese!"
 
When the Kiev came out of the yards on sea trials I was on a Knox class frigate and recorded 14 tapes worth of thier radars. At the time all of them were mismatched from other classes.

We got a letter from someone up the line that said we did a good job. The CO kept the ship in near proximity so we could get everything we needed. Took several days, but kept the EW's rolling in the CO's good graces!
 
marslight said:
Aircraft are given designations by the Russians based on the design bureau that created them--MiG for Mikoyan and Gurevich, An for Antonov, Yak for Yakovlev, Il for Ilyushin and so on.
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Are MiG-29, Yak-3 etc not the Soviet names? If not, then what ARE the Soviet designations for these aircraft?
marslight said:
Surface warships are named for the geographic location where they are first seen, and sub classes just get alphabet names (ROMEO, WHISKEY, KILO, etc.)
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Did the Typhoon class have a NATO reporting name? (T should be Tango).
 
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