Italian Military Aircraft Designations

Copyright © 2003-2026 Andreas Parsch

1 Former Army Aircraft Designations

2 Common Military Aircraft Designations (MDS System)

3 Sources

1 Former Army Aircraft Designations

1.1 Designation System

Before the introduction of a common aircraft designation system for all military services in 2006, the Italian Army used a relatively simple designation system for all its aircraft. A prefix designating type (fixed wing or helicopter) and role is followed by a sequential number (one sequence per prefix). The following prefixes were used:

• ACTL - Aereo da Collegamento e Trasporto Leggero (Liaison/Light-Transport Aircraft)
• ACTR - Aereo da Collegamento e Trasporto Regionale (Liaison/Regional-Transport Aircraft)
• AL - Aereo Leggero da Collegamento (Light Liaison Aircraft)
• EA - Elicottero d'Attacco (Attack Helicopter)
• EC - Elicottero da Collegamento (Liaison Helicopter)
• EM - Elicottero Multiruolo (Multirole Helicopter)
• EOA - Elicottero di Osservazione Avanzata (Scout Helicopter)
• ERI - Elicottero da Ricognizione (Reconnaissance Helicopter)
• ESC - Elicottero da Supporto al Combattimento (Combat Support Helicopter)
• ETM - Elicottero da Trasporto Medio (Medium Transport Helicopter)

When the ESC category was introduced, all existing types in the EC, EM, EOA and ERI categories were redesignated in the ESC series.

1.2 Designation Listing

ACTL - Aereo da Collegamento e Trasporto Leggero (Liaison/Light-Transport Aircraft)

ACTR - Aereo da Collegamento e Trasporto Regionale (Liaison/Regional-Transport Aircraft)

AL - Aereo Leggero da Collegamento (Light Liaison Aircraft)

EA - Elicottero d'Attacco (Attack Helicopter)

EC - Elicottero da Collegamento (Liaison Helicopter)

EM - Elicottero Multiruolo (Multirole Helicopter)

EOA - Elicottero di Osservazione Avanzata (Scout Helicopter)

ERI - Elicottero da Ricognizione (Reconnaissance Helicopter)

ESC - Elicottero da Supporto al Combattimento (Combat Support Helicopter)

ETM - Elicottero da Trasporto Medio (Medium Transport Helicopter)

2 Common Military Aircraft Designations (MDS System)

2.1 Designation System

In 2006, the General Directorate of Air Armaments (Direzione Generale degli Armamenti Aeronautici, DGAA) of the Italian Ministry of Defense published a directive for a new aircraft designation system, to be used by all branches of the Italian armed forces and State forces. The system is basically a verbatim copy of the U.S. MDS (Mission-Design-Series) System, q.v. for a detailed reference. The layout of the Italian designations, as well the assigned Basic Mission and Modified Mission letters are exactly the same as in the American system, and are therefore not repeated here.

What is different, though, is the allocation of design numbers. Other than in the U.S. system, these numbers are not issued sequentially, with one sequence per Basic Mission letter. Instead the design number is almost always either the U.S. design number (if the aircraft has a U.S. military designation) or the manufacturer's model number. The only notable exceptions are some designations for small UAVs.

The series letters are are often, but not always, allocated sequentially, beginning with "A". There are also a few designations without any series letter.

2.2 Designation Listing

A - Attack

C - Transport

E - Special Electronic Mission

F - Fighter

* The F-35B was initially designated FV-35B in Italy.

G - Glider

H - Helicopter

P - Maritime Patrol

Q - UAV

* Designations for Italian-built micro-UAVs use design numbers in the low 2-digit range, which is also the typical range of numbers in the U.S. Q-for-UAV series. This actually led to a clash at RQ-12A. The designation was originally allocated to the Alpi Aviation Sixton, but was later duplicated for the AeroVironment Wasp AE, which is designated RQ-12A by the U.S. DOD.

T - Trainer

U - Utility

V - VTOL

Z - Lighter-than-Air

3 Sources

[1] Michele D'Urzo (Section about former Army designations)
[2] Ministero della Difesa: "Utilizzo della nomenclature "Mission Design Series" (MDS) nelle pubblicazioni tecniche (PPTT) di competenza della DAAA", AER(EP).0-0-12, editions 19 February 2009, 7 June 2012, 11 December 2019, 15 October 2021, 16 October 2024 and 24 March 2025

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Last Updated: 24 January 2026