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Appendix 6:
US military aircraft designations
Since 1962 all US military aircraft have been designated
according to a common system which assigns a letter for
the basic mission, followed after a hyphen by a number
for the aircraft basic type. A simple example is B-1, signifying
bomber type 1. Modifying letters are then added to
give information on permanent changes to the basic
mission, and occasionally a status prefix is added to show
that the vehicle is ‘not standard because of its test, modification,
experimental, or prototype design’. Between the
basic mission letter and the hyphen a further letter can be
added to denote the following ‘vehicle types’: rotary-wing,
V/STOL, glider, lighter-than-air. To the right of the
number is added a series number, running consecutively
from A (for the first production version) onwards, omitting
I and O; the series letter is changed for each ‘major
modification that alters significantly the relationship of
the aerospace vehicle to its non-expendable system
components or changes its logistics support’. Finally, in
the fullest form of each designation, a block number is
added to identify identical aircraft forming one production
‘block’; these numbers are usually multiples of 5,
intermediate numbers then being assigned to identify later
field modifications.
Status prefix
G
J
N
X
Y
Z
Modified mission
A
C
D
E
F
H
K
L
M
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
W
Permanently grounded
Special test (temporary)
Special test (permanent)
Experimental
Prototype
Planning
Attack
Transport
Director
Special electronic installation
Fighter
Search and rescue
Tanker
Cold weather
Multi-mission
Observation
Patrol
Drone UAV
Reconnaissance
Anti-submarine
Trainer
Utility
Weather
Basic mission
A
B
C
E
F
O
P
R
S
T
U
X
Vehicle type
G
H
V
Z
Attack
Bomber
Transport
Special electronic installation
Fighter
Observation
Patrol
Reconnaissance
Anti-submarine
Trainer
Utility
Research
Glider
Helicopter
VTOL/STOL
Lighter-than-air vehicle
As an example of how the system works, if there were a
special-test version of the trainer variant of the US Marine
Corps Harrier it would be the NTAV-8B (ignoring any
block number) = N, special test; T, trainer; A, attack; V,
V/STOL; 8, eighth V/STOL type; B, second production
model.
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