Military plane abbreviations:
USA
An abbrievbiation is given to all aircraft to specify its role. The common structure is: F-14D TOMCAT, where, the F is the aircraft type (fighter), the 14 is the number assigned to the aircraft (the F-14 was built before the F-15 and -16, etc.), The D after the 14 is the version of the aircraft, and Tomcat is the aircraft's name.
This is the Tri-service System of abbrieviations; used for all planes built after 1962 (Before then, each service used their own letters, though it caused confusion. For example, T meant trainer in the Army but Torpedo in the Navy.)
F -- (Fighter) -- e.g. F-22 Lightning
B -- (Bomber) -- e.g. B-52 Stratofortress
X -- Experimental -- e.g. X-29
Y -- Service test -- e.g. YF-22
T -- (Trainer) -- e.g. T-38 Goshawk
E -- (Electronic warfare) -- e.g. EA-6B Prowler
O -- (Observation) -- e.g. OA-10 Thunderbolt
P -- (Patrol) -- e.g. P-3 Orion
SR -- (Strategic Reconnaisance) -- e.g. SR-71 Blackbird
KC -- (Tanker) -- e.g. KC-10
C -- (Cargo) -- e.g. C-130 Hercules
U -- (Utility)
H -- (Helicopter)
AH -- (Attack Helicopter) -- e.g. AH-64 Apache
CH -- (Cargo Helicopter) -- e.g. CH-47 Chinhook
OH -- (Observation Helicopter)
UH -- (Utility Helocoptier) -- e.g. UH-1 Iroquois
MH -- (Mine countermeasures Helicopter)
The following two terms were discontinued in 1962, though commonly seen today:
A -- (Attack) -- e.g. A-6 Intruder
P -- (Pursuit) -- e.g. P-51 Mustang
Russian
SU -- (Sukhois) A plane made by the Russian company, Sukhois -- e.g. SU-27 Flanker
TU -- (Tupolev) A plane made by the Russian company, Tupolev -- e.g. TU-95 Bear
Mi -- (Mil) An aircraft made by the Russian Helicopter company, Mil -- e.g. Mi-24 Hind
MiG -- (Mikoyin Gurevich) A plane made by the Russian company, Mikoyin Gurevich -- e.g. MiG-21 Fishbed
IL -- (Ilyushin) A plane made by the Russian company, Ilyushin -- e.g. IL-76
Yak -- (Yakolev) A plane made by the Russian company, Yakolev -- e.g. Yak-41 Freestyle
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