History Main / ReportingNames

Surface ship classes have a variety of different names. A ship might go from temporary designations, to Russian words beginning with "K" (for "korabl", Russian for "warship") to "first in class" names (rendered in "''italics''" here), which the Soviet Union and Russia don't actually do, tending to use names of birds for their bigger ships (and in all cases using a Project number; when a name is also used for the class it's appended after the number; Project numbers are not sequential and sometimes are reused, so the bird names can also serve a disambiguation purpose). Additionally, the ship NATO ''thought'' was the first of the class isn't always the ''actual'' class leader.[[note]]For example, the Type 7U destroyer was known in the West as thhe ''Soobrazitelnyy'' class, but that was actually the third Type 7U built; the first was ''Storozhevoi''.[[/note]] There were also "shipyard first sited" names for more minor vessels (this was standard for destroyers at the very start of the Cold War, until it occurred to NATO that the Soviets had a finite number of shipyards and this would've resulted in lots of repeat names), as well as Russian diminutives, bird names...

** Humans mostly call the Covenant species' by UNSC designations ("Brute" is a lot faster and easier to say than "Jiralhanae"). Grunts are CannonFodder, Jackals are thieving scavengers, Elites are badass, Drones are InsectoidAliens, Hunters are relentless, and Brutes are, well, brutes. The Prophets are an exception, as the name was translated by advanced human AI.

* "Fred" - Perhaps the most obscure of the NATO reporting names, but notable for being the only ''American-made'' aircraft to get one. The Bell P-63 Kingcobra was exported in large numbers to the USSR under Lend-Lease during WorldWarII, and by the early 1950s when the reporting name system was created there were still over a thousand of them in active service.

* The rumored F-19 Stealth Fighter, often seen in toy models and computer games during the 1980's and 1990's, was the result of jumbled information surrounding the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the Northrop YF-21, and the Lockheed YF-22 (which became the Lockheed F-22 Raptor). Even the 1987 edition of ''Jane's All the World's Aircraft'' speculated the existence of a Lockheed RF-19.

** It's worth noting that all of the Covenant species' "names" are ''also'' UNSC designations ("Brute" is a lot faster and easier to say than "Jiralhanae"); Grunts are CannonFodder, Jackals are thieving scavengers, Elites are badass, Drones are InsectoidAliens, Hunters are relentless, and Brutes are, well, brutes. The Prophets are an exception, as the name was translated by advanced human AI.
** Almost all the names of alien weapons are also UNSC designations based on what they do; Needler, Covenant Carbine, Plasma Pistol, etc.

A similar system was used for Japanese aircraft during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. "Zeke" referred to the Mitsubishi [=A6M=] Reisen fighter more commonly known as the "Zero".[[note]]Unlike most Japanese aircraft, the [=A6M=] series had a Japanese military designation ("Type 0 Carrier Fighter", due to entering service in Imperial Year 2600 or 1940) that was known to the US military. As a result, it ended up with the well-known nickname of "Zero" (incidentally, it had the same nickname among Japanese pilots) and as a result its reporting name was rarely used.[[/note]] (Although when a new version, the [=A6M3=], was issued, the Allies, unaware that it was a new iteration of the Zero, gave it initially the reporting name "Hap." However, [[ExecutiveMeddling General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold wasn't too thrilled with the name]], and it was changed in ''extremely'' short order to "Hamp.") The naming scheme was a mostly simple one, with fighters being given male names (Zeke, Oscar, Rufe), bombers/recon planes given female names (Betty, Dinah), trainers being named after kinds of trees (Maple, Ash), and a rocket-powered kamikaze guided bomb being quite appropriately referred to as "Baka" [[note]]"Idiot" in Japanese language[[/note]]. In case anyone's wondering about the choice of names here, the officer who selected most of these codenames, Captain Frank T. [=McCoy=], was from the DeepSouth and chose the names he was most familiar with.

The ''StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]], particularly the ComicBook/XWingSeries, is unsurprisingly full of this. Really big, impressive ships, like ''Executor''-class Star Dreadnoughts, got no nicknames, but ships that were encountered more frequently tended to attract short names that could be shouted by surprised pilots when they came out of hyperspace. Some of the more recurring names:

The two designations are often combined (i.e. SS-20 "Saber"), but they assigned separately. This sometimes means that the same "name" is allocated to more than one designation, something that usually applies with surface-to-air missiles. It should be noted that while anything new that turned up got a reporting name, only stuff thought likely to enter service got a [=DoD=] designation.

When it comes to equipment designed and produced by the [[UsefulNotes/ChineseWithChopperSupport Peoples Liberation Army]] (as opposed to imported or licensed hardware) the usual methodology is to reset the number and add a "C" too the front of one of the above designations. For example: The CSS-4 (Chinese designation Dongfeng 5), which was the first true Chinese ICBM.

* The Terrans in ''[[Videogame/FreeSpace FreeSpace 2]]'' used Egyptian- and demonic-themed reporting names, respectively, for Vasudan and Shivan themed spacecraft, in contrast to the Greco-Roman names they gave to their own ship classes. The Vasudans, who admired Ancient Egypt, adopted the reporting names when they merged their government with the Terrans. The [[StarfishAliens Shivans]] are too [[OmnicidalManiac belligerent]] and use some kind of [[StarfishLanguage communication method]] that prevents them from being asked for their opinion of GTVA reporting names.

In many ways (especially in the West), they still are a main way to refer to these technologies, especially in naval and aerospace discussion. It helps that they are easy to remember.

The Russians generally feel a bit insulted by many of these names, many of which are a bit derogatory. Who, for example, would want to fly a "Fishpot" (the Su-9), a "Fishbed" ([=MiG-21=]), a "Farmer" ([=MiG-19=]) or, for that matter, a "Flogger" ([=MiG-23=]/27)? The ultimate prize has to go to the [=MiG-15=] (It's 'fagot'. A name for a bassoon.). Some, however, are liked by their crews- the aforementioned "Bear" and "Fulcrum", for example.

* A Nod intelligence item in ''[[Franchise/CommandAndConquer Tiberium Wars]]'' suggests the name "Gravity Stabilizer" for the Scrin aircraft production is actually a name given by analysts after studying what the unknown "Visitor structure type 8" did. Presumably the other units' names were arrived at similarly, giving them a somewhat more plainly descriptive feel than the original factions' units. One imagines the Scrin themselves were less than interested in telling humans all about their fancy tech.

[[quoteright:319:[[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Juliett-US-Navy-Photo.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:319:[[Music/TaylorSwift Daddy said to stay away from a "Juliet"]]...]]

See UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes, RedsWithRockets and TricoloursWithRustingRockets for more examples of Soviet/Russian reporting names. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name The Wikipedia entry]] covers this in a lot more depth.

* The aforementioned "Literature/{{Firefox}}"

See MnogoNukes, RedsWithRockets and TricoloursWithRustingRockets for more examples of Soviet/Russian reporting names. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name The Wikipedia entry]] covers this in a lot more depth.

** Also note that at the height of the Cold War, part of the MnogoNukes Soviet Strategy for closing the Atlantic involved a ZergRush of Tu-16's (reporting name Badger), some of them equipped with enhanced PSBN-M-8 (reporting name Mushroom) radars, flying in a vaguely serpentine formation. HilariousInHindsight leading to the [[http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/ obvious snarky comment]] from the Meme-Savvy.

* "Eye Bowl" - a fire-control radar for the SS-N-14 "Silex" (see MnogoNukes).

* "Fulcrum" - the [=MiG=]-29, the Russian counterpart to the F-16. Very agile. Its best known feature is the R-73/AA-11 "Archer" missiles. Coupled to a helmet-mounted sight (like ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'' has), these highly agile missiles can be launched by the pilot merely looking at his target, up to about 60 degrees off the centre-line. Shockingly disproportionate results in mock dogfights with German MiG-29s led to the U.S. developing improved Sidewinders in response.

* The rumored F-19, often seen in toy models and computer games during the 1980's and 1990's, was the result of jumbled information surrounding the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the Northrop YF-21, and the Lockheed YF-22 (which became the Lockheed F-22 Raptor).

''We've got incoming "Backfires"! They're probably carrying "Kitchens"! They've got "Flanker" support!''

When it comes to equipment designed and produced by the [[ChineseWithChopperSupport Peoples Liberation Army]] (as opposed to imported or licensed hardware) the usual methodology is to reset the number and add a "C" too the front of one of the above designations. For example: The CSS-4 (Chinese designation Dongfeng 5), which was the first true Chinese ICBM.

* In the second book of the ''Literature/TheThirdWorldWar'', a section is devoted to an Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) version of the Il-76 "Candid" transport plane, called the Il-76C or "Cooker". Just before the war kicks off in the Central Region of NATO (i.e. WestGermany), one has to make an emergency landing at a Polish airport. The Polish ground crew nick the operating manuals and pass them to UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}. As the crew don't wish to feel the wrath of their superiors for losing the documents, they don't report the theft and NATO is able to render the "Cooker" ineffective.