How are American military aircraft named?

The current combat/attack aircraft of the US military are generally named after birds or flying insects (Grumman used to add the word "cat" to the nickname of its own aircraft in the past), but there are exceptions (for example, F35 is called Lightning II, and the nickname with numbers may be inherited from some fighters also called Lightning); Bombers are generally named according to their characteristics (for example, B/KLOC-0, which is good at speed, is called lancer, and B2, which is invisible, is called ghost); The transport plane is usually nicknamed "Big" to highlight its carrying capacity (such as "Hercules" and "Galaxy"); The nickname of early warning aircraft has the nature of "lookout", and most electronic fighters have similar characteristics, named after concealment, jamming ability or related characteristics; The helicopter is named after the famous Indian tribe (chief) in North America.

The Definition and Naming of Military Aerospace promulgated and implemented by the United States in 1997 stipulates that the model of an aircraft should consist of at most five capital letters (generally 2-3) and a number * * *.

Components: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 letters/numeric letters, letters, numeric letters

The meaning of each part is:

(1) status symbol (G- permanent grounding, used for ground experiment; J- temporary special experiment; N- permanent special experiment; X- experimental type; Y- prototype; Plan z).

② Task change symbol (A- attack; C- transportation; D- command; E- special electronic equipment; F- fighting; H- search and rescue; K- come on; L- cold climate use; M-type loaded missile; O- observation; p-patrol； Q- UAV; R- reconnaissance; S- anti-submarine; t-coach； U- multipurpose).

③ Basic task (purpose) symbol (A- attack; C- transportation; E- special electronic equipment; F- fighting; H- search and rescue; L- laser carrier; O- observation; p-patrol； Q- UAV; R- reconnaissance; S- anti-submarine; t-coach； U- multi-purpose; X- study)。

④ Class symbol (g-glider; H helicopter; Q- unmanned spacecraft; S- space plane; V/STOL aircraft: Z balloons, airships).

⑤ Design serial number, which is connected with the front short line.

⑥ Actual series symbols.

The number of the largest fighter known in the United States is F- 1 17, following the naming series before 1962. In addition, when the number reaches a certain level, it will not continue, but will be compiled from scratch. For example, equipped bombers are assigned to B-58, and developed bombers are assigned to B-70 (not equipped). The bombers developed later were numbered B- 1 and B-2 respectively.

The serial number of American military aircraft can represent the model, sequence and model of American fighter. Since 1962, the three armed forces of the United States have adopted a unified numbering method for military aircraft to distinguish various fighters.

The numbers of American military aircraft are all expressed by English letters and Arabic numerals. Among them, the model code uses English letters, most of which are the first letters of the English words of the model, and some of them are expressed by two letters, such as AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.