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NATO reporting names
Posted by TheFallen on March 19, 2003
In Reply to: NATO reporting names posted by TheFallen on March 19, 2003
: : We had a discussion
a while back of the derivation / history of the word SCUD with no solid clues
at all as to the derivation except that Bob found it was probably a NATO thing
and another theory on it being a Russian cloud.
: : Anybody out there have
anything to add?
: Sure. Scud isn't an acronym, nor a Russian word. It's a NATO-wide designation for the SS1 family of Soviet-designed surface-to-surface missiles, now in the hands of several other countries. Here's a fairly complete list of NATO terms for Soviet surface-to-surface missiles:
: SS-1 "Scunner" and "Scud"
: SS-2 "Sibling"
: SS-3 "Shyster"
: SS-4 "Sandal"
: SS-5 "Skean"
: SS-6 "Sapwood"
: SS-7 "Saddler"
: SS-8 "Sasin"
: SS-9 "Scarp"
: SS-10 "Scrag"
: SS-11 "Sego"
: SS-12 "Scaleboard"
: SS-13 "Savage"
: SS-14 "Scapegoat" and "Scamp"
: SS-15 "Scrooge"
: SS-16 "Sinner"
: SS-17 "Spanker"
: SS-18 "Satan"
: SS-19 "Stiletto"
: SS-20 "Saber"
: SS-21 "Scarab"
: SS-22 none
: SS-23 "Spider"
: SS-24 "Scalpel"
: SS-25 "Sickle"
: The terms seem to be fairly randomly chosen, though most if not all of them are recognisable English words, so don't go looking for too much rhyme or reason.
: However, definitely NOT random is the fact that, all Soviet surface-to-surface missiles are given NATO reporting names starting with S. This system is repeated in air-to-air missiles (they all start with A - Alkali, Atoll etc), air-to-surface missiles (K - Kennel, Kipper etc) and surface-to-air missiles (G - Guild, Guideline etc)
: It further continues into planes. Here's a list with some brief examples.
: Bombers are B - Backfire, Blackjack
:
Fighters are F - Foxbat, Fulcrum
: Helicopters are H - Halo, Hokum
: Transport
Planes are C - Condor, Cossack
: Miscellaneous Aircraft are M - Mainstay, Mule
On brief reflection, the Transport Planes all get C's because they're CARGO planes.
- NATO reporting names Brekke^ 03/19/03
- NATO reporting names - can anyone help with sasin and scaleboard? TheFallen 03/19/03
