I never realized that there was an actual reason behind the name chosen by NATO for the USSR's planes. I had always laughed at the funny names but this was quite informative!
NATO as an organisation has nothing to do with issuing the names. NATO is simply on the distribution list. It was the 5 Eyes intelligence community of UK/US/Canada/Australia and New Zealand that designates then Soviet and later Russian/Chinese systems.
@@Phantom-bh5ruI see your point but it actually does refer to the way eagles soar above the water before diving onto their prey. China has eagles. It's a solid name for a sea skimming ASM
@@ArmorCastI'm on speaking terms with the algorithm and I'm fairly certain it would, but just not the first parts of the video. Then again speaking terms of the algorithm may not be good enough to get a proper ruling on this
The naming scheme for Radars is often based on the appearance (would make satellite identification easier). Square Pair is literally two square-shaped antennas. Tombstone is shaped like a tombstone. Many like Big Bird don't seem to follow this, but they could also be named after other characteristics (like in ESM intercepts, the waveforms etc).
Some are pretty obvious where they came from (though for the longest time I thought it was Square Pear… like the fruit, and somehow that still made perfect sense to me! 😂) But ‘Scrum Half’? ‘Low Blow’? ‘Straight Flush’? The majority of them are pretty random, while only a few can really be said to LOOK LIKE the name given to them, much the same as with the aircraft and helicopters (‘Horse’, ‘Fullback’, ‘Maxdome’, etc.)
@@ArmorCast I think I know why the Kub's 1S91 "Straight Flush" was named as such, when the radar is retracted for transportation, the large circular base below the search radar lowers down seamlessly into the chassis, in other words, it *_flushes down,_* so I suppose that's why it's named the Straight Flush
Big Bird is probably because that arm that holds whatever you call the RF collector thing on a radar or satellite dish, the long arm looks kinda like a big beak.
In the Halo Universe a lot of the names for covenant vehicles and ships were given by the UNSC as like with NATO not knowing or learning the russian designations so did the UNSC
@@ArmorCast They use pattern names, like this, while humans designate it with Type, like the Type-25 Plasma pistol and rifle, while the covenant calls it the Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle, the numeral designation depends on the year it was first encountered by humanity, for example, the T-25 was encountered in 2525.
@@ArmorCast As far as I know with my casual levels of knowledge in Halo lore, basically all of the names of those covenant vehicles are more or less human designations
What I love about soviet systems is their value of preformance over safety. You ask a peice of Soviet kit to do something, it will do it, even if it will fail catastrophically and maim you in the process. You push the throttle all the way forward, there's no sissy interlock to keep the jets engines from exploding, just POWER!
@@PrograError nyet silicone, Comrade. Workers have no need soft, decadent western silicone, not when the Glorious Soviet Union has given you bakelite to use instead! It will be here in 16 weeks
Just as an FYI, the NATO reporting name for the MiG-15 (Fagot) isn't a bad word. Fagot simply means a piece of firewood, which is where the British slang for cigarette comes from. That bad word you're thinking of has 2 Gs, although I'm not sure that RU-vid's algorithm, or idiot humans, would know the difference,
I love how we tried to give them derogatory names but ended up as badass, don't tell me that fulcrum, fullback, frogger, fencer, flanker or frogfoot aren't cool af. Meanwhile in nato we have mid names like hornet (fucking insect), fighting falcon (viper is way better imo), grippen (im convinced it means grippy in a nordic language), Eurofighter (where could it be from?), harrier (are you carrying a harry inside?), eagle and Hercules are the redeeming ones. We have 2005 xbox live names lmao
Well, the Japanese F-2A atleast retained the original Viper name, it probly a license built F-16 (with key dofferences) by Mitsubishi, also gave it the name Zero (in remembrance of the Type 0/A6M fighter), so it was well known as Viper Zero?
Gripen is Swedish for Griffin. It is the animal on the coat of arms of Östergötland, the province where Saab AB is headquartered (Linköping, Sweden) Other Europeans go for the Storm theme however. Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafalé, and the BAE Tempest come to mind. (Rafalé means "Squall" or gust of wind in French)
@@jeramysteve3394 as i said, all xbox live names, my favorite is aardvark because it sounds cool and not a like a kid trying to think of a cool name, raptor and lightning II are mid, the coolest ones imo are hercules, orion, aardvark, black bird, eagle and buff, everything else sounds corny
Last I checked FENCER does not carry AA missiles. At least not to my knowledge but it does have a gun. What I've heard is a NATO officer thought it was a fighter when it was first unveiled during a flyover at the red square. And later they just didn't bother or see the need to correct it.
@@ArmorCast I stand corrected. Went through some old learning resources and saw the reason I thought they didn't carry AA missiles but can't reference those documents because that might get classified under the same category as "War Thunder forum leaks" by local officials.
F covers Fighter and Fighter bomber/ground attack aircraft. That is why the likes of Su-25 Frogfoot, Su-24 Fencer, Su-34 Fullback, etc. Also NATO as an organisation doesn't issue the codenames for any Russian/Chinese aircraft. NATO is simply on the distribution list. The AFIC (Air ForceInteroperability Council). It has gone through a number of names over the years issue the reporting names for Russian/Chinese aircraft. This is made up of 5 Eyes intelligence community UK/US/CANADA/NEW ZEALAND. Note that neither Australia or New Zealand are NATO members. NATO is simply on the distribution list as the majority of 5 Eyes are NATO members. Other 5 Eyes working groups allocated and issue the reporting names for Russian/Chinese missiles, radars, etc. NATO doesn't designate anything.
Whilst I already knew much of the info in this video, I had never before picked up on the "one syllable for props", "two syllables for jets". So as they say on South Park - "I learned something today..." 🙂
My favorite is Foxglove, a type of poisonous flower, that was being considered for the MiG 1.42 (not to be confused with the very similar MiG 1.44 Flatpack technology demonstrator).
Frogfoot B got an F-name because as far as NATO knew at the time, it was a more fully combat-capable aircraft than some of the other training aircraft that got M names.
AC you should do videos on different air forces. Their history, operations and current and past assets/platforms. Always a fun video, cheers from India
@@ArmorCast haha yeah, you can always split it into parts to make it easier or start with smaller video with multiple nations and then eventually moving into longer videos about more prominent air forces, say top10 of them
I think it worth mentioning that theres a way to tell the role of soviet/russian aircraft based on their name Fighters and interceptors usually are designated with odd numbers (except Su-30, probably because it was based on trainer) Ground attack and cargo aircraft with even numbers (except those made by sukhoi)
Tu-28 and Yak-28P (interceptors) also break this rule, as does the MiG-27 (ground attacker). It’s a CONVENTION, but it’s not consistent or reliable enough to count on (kinda like the convention of US helicopters being named for Native American/Indian tribes… it applies often but not always).
The Russians sometimes name their systems, for instance their Rocket artillery troops are all named after storms For instance the TOS 1 flamethrower (thermobaric) being called the Tornado The BM 27 ‘Uragan’ or Hurricane The BM-30 ‘Smerch’ which means Whirlwind. Don’t think it’s a hard and fast rule but definitely seems to be their convention
TOS-1 have unofficial name as Buratino(pinocchio) TOS-1A - Solntsepyok TOS-2 - Tosochka Also if we talks about artillery: BM-21 - Grad(hailstorm) 2S3 - Akatsiya(acacia) 2S7 - Pion 2S4 - Tyulpan(tulip) T-90M - Vladimir Su-34 - Utyonok(duckling)
The worst part about SA designations is no indication of range or targeting method. In DCS you'll have to memorise which SAs can be Magnum'd and which can't, what SAs will take you out from hundreds of miles away, and which are only dangerous up close.
I spent several years in the US Navy 80-87 . I ended up as an EW2 , Electronic Warfare Tech 2nd class. Our motto??? "We do it until our Giga-Hertz" I know it's lame but I was 20. I learned so much about what I did 40 some years ago in 20 some minutes. Thank you. I had 6 Badger C lock on all their Puff Ball radars 200 miles above the Artic Circle in March of 84. 25 years later I learned about our mission. My LPH with a squadron of Harrier AV-8B , a couple destroyers and an LPD escorted a Los Angeles Class sub to spy on Severomorsk Navy Base. I wished the Crypto douchebags would of warned me what was heading my way. A dozen As-2's locked on to one's ship is an interesting way to spend the 04 to 08 watch. The following day I finally got my Top Secret Clearance.
J-20 Firedrake? Fits well with J-10 Firebird, and sounds more flattering than "vigorous Dragon" or "mighty dragon", with their Chinese names they sound like products for bedroom activities. Edit: a few more H-20 Blitzwing (yeah I know it's a Decepticon) or Boombox Su-75 Femboy (do it NATO) Z-10 Hike Y-20 Crate
Dragon ("Long"/ "Loong") is a important creature in Chinese culture, phoenix is more western. (the Emperor/ Imperial items is always dressed up with those deco) also Chinese dragon is more snake like than birds of the western dragon.
Frogfoot in the Su-25 are purelly for apearence, For its Air brakes in the Wing Tips that Open in a "W" form that looks like a Frog legs seen from Above
Trainer Su-25 may be named like that beacuse it probably retained almost all of its combat abiliy, where as trainer MiG-15 or Yak-15 could be armed with just a single 12.7mm etc and be way less deadly than its normal counterpart
The MiG-15's name has only one G - referring to a small bundle of sticks, basically fuel or a fire starter. Though, yes, it'd be had to tell with just the pronunciation.
im guessing that the names starting with s in the radars denotes search radars and the names with a t as track radars, but the logic isn't entirely followed.
Names with 2 syllables denote a jet engined aircraft, e.g Flanker. One syllable for rotary like a helicopter or propped engine. e.g. Bear or Hind. it was this way in the 80's when i first learned this.
@@ArmorCast Very true, it was all good until the Havoc came out, may be they ran out of catchy single syllable H words and decided to sod it all and just do 2 syllables. l.ol
Gorgon is taken actually, by an exo-atmospheric anti-ballistic-missile system, Russian designation 51T6 www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/gorgon.htm
@@ArmorCast I had a feeling it had been! But when I checked I specifically searched "Gorgon surface-to-air missile" so it must have discarded returns for the ABM system because it is technically a spacecraft.
Soviet aircraft prior to, during and after WWII were named after the designers rather than the factory that made them. Russian aircraft have been given names almost always although most of the official names are known only to the pilots as are the crew nicknames, that said the Su-37 experimental aircraft was redesignated Su-47 and given the name Berkut (Golden Eagle) by the Russians with the Su-37 name being used by a Flanker variant although if we used Russian designations, it would be Cy rather than Su for Sukhoi, Cy is how the Russians abbreviate Sukhoi) and you got the An-12 NATO reporting name wrong, it's actually "Cock" probably because it likes to peck the ground when taxiing, the Cub is a different aircraft.
In the Air Force, yes. In the Navy, you got a different naming scheme - F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, F2H Banshee, AD Skyraider, or PBY Catalina. In each of these cases, the second letter in the name (third letter in the Catalina’s case) denotes the manufacturer: F for Grumman, U for Vought, H for McDonnell, D for Douglas, or Y for Consolidated. The first letter denotes type just like in the Air Force, and the number relates to how many aircraft have been produced by that manufacturer, which is why you get the F4F, F4U, F4H, and F4B, none of which are remotely related. They all happen to be the fourth navy fighter design produced by that manufacturer. The number 1 was not included (Grumman’s FF rather than F1F for example, or the famous AD Skyraider rather than A1D). That naming scheme was dropped in 1962, and existing aircraft were redesignated to just be a type classification similar to in the Air Force (F4H-1 Phantom to F-4B, AD-6 Skyraider to A-1H, A4D-5 Skyhawk to A-4E, or F11F-1 Tiger to F-11A)
gotta love natos naming logic: we follow an informative naming scheme which incorpates mnemonic aids and we try to maintain an ordered logical progression.... unless we feel like adding some other numbers and letters every now and again.
Also some indegenious planes of estern block countries never received nato reporting name name like TS-11 Iskra (polish "sprak") trainer/attacker from the 60s.
But err, who in NATO comes up with these names? In there an office in that building in Brussels labeled "foreign weapons systems designation specialist"? ;)
I never really liked NATO designations because of the entire superiority projection vibe "fuck you, we are going to call this craft Felon" but i cant deny the versatility of it
At least better than american names of their terrorism tools like AH 64 apache, CH47 chinook etc. Native americans were never warcriminals or international terrorists as the US are since about 1850.
The interesting but confusing case with the S-300 series is the systems themselves have nato designations but NOT the individual interceptors. Which can vary wildly in capabilities depending on the variant like 5V55K and 5V55R being a Command guided and Semi Active (or TVM depending on the source) missile respectively But then it gets even more confusing with the S-300V series which is a more ABM focused S-300 variation. That has 2 different SA-12 Designations for the SA-12A (for the 9M83 air defense interceptor) and the SA-12B (for the 9M82 Ballistic Missile interceptor). The S-300V can dual hat both of these interceptors in a single battery with the normal air search and high altitude air search radars while the tracking and illumination radar's being self contained on each launcher vehicle (TELAR). Needless to say i fucking hate NATO's confusing and needlessly long missile designations and i will always use GRAU index.
Everytime I remember or reminded that Kh-22 (Х-22) is an anti-ship missle and not a ground attack missle (which it is being actively used against my country), I chuckle of how backwards russian military is.
Guys whatever you do, no not buy from air models. They mark up the price of these aircraft by 50-150%. I see models during the ad that I’ve bought brand new from a store for half the cost or less. Make sure to shop around first to find the best price before buying those models and make sure you know what brand you’re paying money for
That’s pretty alarming to hear! Can you send us a link to a store that sells the same ones for cheaper? If so we’ll definitely stop working with them. Keep in mind the more expensive models listed there are larger sizes and/or full metal models
@@ArmorCast the more expensive ones in the clip are also not from expensive brands. You can tell by the model stand they have since each well known reputable brand has its own distinctive model stand. Many of these are from ones which are mass produced (not limited edition like models which cost between 60-100 euros) in a factory and then several companies buy the exact same product and sell it in a different box under a different company name
@@ArmorCastand very sorry but I thought I replied with another longer comment showing you 2 stores which are brilliant for in store purchase but also excellent for online purchasing. Firstly is Aviation megastore in the Netherlands. They’re near Amsterdam. Next is aviation retail direct in the UK. They’re on the outskirts of London and reachable by metro. Aviation megastore is better for buying new models from top brands like hobbymaster, corgi, calibre wings, century wings, Gemini jets, etc. Aviation retail direct is good for similar things too in the UK but is great for also finding vintage out of production limited edition models. Also great for finding one of a kind metal hand built models of extremely rare aircraft. One other huge concern I have with the website you linked to is that they never share what the brand you are ordering the type of plane from is. Some of the photos have a watermark from hobbymaster but they never say it’s a hobbymaster plane. just that it has a price much higher than that of a hobbymaster plane and uses their promo photos for themselves but for all you know, you could be getting a cheaper model from another company. I’ve seen that many times before with model planes
@@ArmorCastI have also personally purchased from the aircraft model store (online shop only) a handful of times but each time was great. Mostly good prices and fast delivery
The answer is simple, and this makes the difference between Americans and Russians! The Russians name their flying machine in a more natural way than the Americans do, while the Americans dare to rename the Russian made things on their liking and obviously, disrespectful by default.
