Jetguy06 Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 So, I was giving a friend of mine a general rundown of some modern military aircraft, and all of a sudden, a pattern emerged... NATO names for Russian aircraft all start with the letter of the type of aircraft they are... Fighter/Attack types all start with 'F'. 'F' for "Fighter." Fagot, Fantail, Farmer, Fargo, Fencer, Flanker, Fresco, Fulcrum, Fishbed, Fitter, Flogger, Foxbat, Foxhound, Frogfoot, etc. 'B' for "Bomber." Bear, Blinder, Backfire, Blackjack, etc. Even helicopters!! 'H' for "Helicopter." Hind, Hip, Hokum, Havoc, etc. And then it all made sense why... So if someone says the name of an aircraft on the radio, the type of aircraft is in the name... oh wow!! I'm 28 years old, have been a military aviation enthusiast since I was in diapers, and yet was never taught this tidbit of info, and didn't catch on until a few days ago. Jeez, I feel slow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceSells Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Well, I didn't catch on until I read your post. And I'm older than you, so... My DCS modding videos: Modules I own so far: Black Shark 2, FC3, UH-1H, M-2000C, A-10C, MiG-21, Gazelle, Nevada map Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VZ_342 Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Sounds reasonable. I’m almost twice your age but never paid any attention to NATO codenames, let alone any first-letter commonalities...yer pretty sharp fer a youngin’! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 If you want to know more, check out the fighterpilotpodcast.com episode 008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fri13 Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Yes, but F stands for a fighter. A is for attack. A-10, F/A-18, A-8, A-4.... UH as utility helicopter AH attack helicopter Not the problem is that is very limiting really. A Su-34 is as capable bomber as it is a fighter. A Su-27 is capable bomber but primarily a long range fighter. A Su-24 is a strike fighter. The Soviet designed all their aircrafts to be somewhat capable to do all basic tasks. Like Su-25 carries R-60/R-73 air to air missiles and is similarly capable as F-5 is. Yet it is mainly a attack aircraft. There are different things why I dislike NATO designations as they try to put a square block trough a round hole. i7-8700k, 32GB 2666Mhz DDR4, 2x 2080S SLI 8GB, Oculus Rift S. i7-8700k, 16GB 2666Mhz DDR4, 1080Ti 11GB, 27" 4K, 65" HDR 4K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilWillis Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 The key is primary roles. A primary fighter - F. A primary bomber - B. A thing with bits that spin round on top - H. Of course it's over simplified, but how else would you suggest they did things? They're just code names, not in-depth surveys of capabilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retu81 Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 If you want to go further, then all NATO codenames for Russian air-to-air missiles begin with A (Archer, Aphid...), surface-to-surface missiles begin with S (Sunburn, Shipwreck, Spigot) and SAM systems begin with G (Gainful, Gadfly). It's as almost as someone thought this through. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetguy06 Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 Yes, but F stands for a fighter. A is for attack. A-10, F/A-18, A-8, A-4.... UH as utility helicopter AH attack helicopter Not the problem is that is very limiting really. A Su-34 is as capable bomber as it is a fighter. A Su-27 is capable bomber but primarily a long range fighter. A Su-24 is a strike fighter. The Soviet designed all their aircrafts to be somewhat capable to do all basic tasks. Like Su-25 carries R-60/R-73 air to air missiles and is similarly capable as F-5 is. Yet it is mainly a attack aircraft. There are different things why I dislike NATO designations as they try to put a square block trough a round hole. Yes, but the NATO reporting names I mentioned are only for non-NATO aircraft, i.e. Soviet, Russian, and Chinese aircraft. NATO aircraft are still known by their official names; Thunderbolt, Hornet, Crusader, Skyhawk, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetguy06 Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 If you want to go further, then all NATO codenames for Russian air-to-air missiles begin with A (Archer, Aphid...), surface-to-surface missiles begin with S (Sunburn, Shipwreck, Spigot) and SAM systems begin with G (Gainful, Gadfly). It's as almost as someone thought this through. :D I didn't pick up on those patterns until I started looking up all this "new" info online. Great stuff!! Indeed, someone was using their noodle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiG21bisFishbedL Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Ready for another mind blower? Single syllable is for prop-driven. Two syllables for jet-driven. Reformers hate him! This one weird trick found by a bush pilot will make gunfighter obsessed old farts angry at your multi-role carrier deck line up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetguy06 Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 Ready for another mind blower? Single syllable is for prop-driven. Two syllables for jet-driven. Wow!! Great stuff. Thanks for the info!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USSInchon Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 I have learned something new today, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catah Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Haha, I had the same realization as you a couple of months ago! It felt like I had opened the door into a whole new plane of existence. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts