Designations of Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft and Missiles

Copyright © 2005-2008 Andreas Parsch and Aleksey V. Martynov
Original article and tables provided by Aleksey V. Martynov
Current Soviet/Russian missile tables based on research by Sean O'Connor (used with permission)
(Download Sean's missile tables (ZIP'ed XLS file))

1 Designation Systems

2 List of Designations for Rockets and Missiles

3 List of Designations for Chinese Rockets and Missiles

4 List of Designations for Soviet/Russian Aircraft

5 Other DOD Designations for Soviet Aircraft and Missiles

1 Designation Systems

1.1 NATO Reporting Names for Aircraft and Missiles

The NATO uses so-called "Reporting Names" when referring to aircraft and missiles of FSU (Former Soviet Union) states and the People's Republic of China. Reporting names for aircraft are selected by the ASIC (Air and Space Interoperability Council; renamed in 2005 from ASCC, Air Standardization Coordinating Committee - member states are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA and UK), but names for missiles (and other systems like radars etc.) are created by other organizations. However, all reporting names are eventually forwarded to NATO in a single list.

Fixed-wing aircraft are designated by reporting names beginning with code letters designating the aircraft's mission. Propeller-driven planes are designated by single-syllabic words (e.g. "Bear"), and jets by multi-syllabic words (e.g. "Backfire"). Helicopters and guided missiles are designated similarly, but the length of a word is not defined.

Code letters:

• A - Air-to-Air Missile
• B - Bomber
• C - Cargo
• F - Fighter
• G - Surface-to-Air Missile (including Anti-Ballistic Missiles)
• H - Helicopter
• K - Air-to-Surface Missile
• M - Miscellaneous (all aircraft not included in other categories)
• S - Surface-to-Surface Missile

Variants of aircraft and missiles are designated by suffix letters, for example "Bear-A" ("I" and "O" are not used). Small updates are designated "Mod." and Roman numeral suffixes, for example "Bear-F Mod.IV". Sometimes a variant is designated by adding the word "Modified", but only two examples are known: "Badger-C Modified" and "Badger-G Modified". More recently, subtypes of a variant are sometimes designated by adding numerical suffixes, like in "Fulcrum-A2" or "Foxbat-B5". Yet another method to designate subtypes is the suffix "variant n", where n starts from 1. An example is "Flanker-E variant 1" and "Flanker-E variant 2".

The code naming system was originally used for Soviet types only, but was later also used for Chinese aircraft and missiles.

1.2 DOD Designations for Missiles

This system differs radically from the NATO one, and is slightly similar to the American joint missile designation system of 1947. Designations consist of an alphabetic code and a sequential model number.

Code letters:

• AA - Air-to-Air Missile
• ABM - Anti-Ballistic Missile
• AS - Air-to-Surface Missile
• AT - Anti-Tank Missile
• DR - Drone
• FRAS - Unguided ASW Rocket ("Free Rocket Anti-Submarine")
• FROG - Unguided Artillery Rocket ("Free Rocket Over Ground")
• SA - Surface-to-Air Missile
• SA-N - Naval Surface-to-Air Missile
• SL - Space Booster ("Space Launcher")
• SS - Surface-to-Surface Missile
• SSC - Surface-to-Surface Missile (Navy, Coastal Defence)
• SS-N - Naval Surface-to-Surface Missile
• SUW-N - Naval Surface-to-Underwater Missile

Notes:
1. Beginning in 1962, the letter "X" is inserted before the number in the designations of experimental missiles. Examples are "SS-X-10" and "SS-NX-25".
2. Later this designation system was also used for Chinese missiles, but the letter "C" is added in front of the code letters, for example "CSS-5", "CSS-NX-5".

1.3 Sheldon Designations for Space Launchers

The Western designation system for Soviet boosters was devised in the early 1960s by Charles Sheldon of the U.S. Library of Congress. It is based on allocation of letters to families of launchers, and variants are designated by suffix numbers and letters. For example "Family A" included the boosters for Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, Vostok and Soyuz, and Sputnik 1/2 were designated "A", Vostok was "A-1", and Soyuz was "A-1-m". In addition, suffix letters are sometimes used to characterize a rocket:

• e - "escape velocity" (planetary probes)
• h - "high performance" (heavy loads and special purpose)
• m - "maneuverable" (Anti-Satellite weapons)
• r - "reentry" (reconnaissance and scientific capsules)
• s - "sustain" (for station keeping and nuclear reactor kick-up)

2 List of Designations for Rockets and Missiles

Notes:

• There is often some confusion whether a certain Soviet/Russian designation or name refers to the missile itself or the whole missile system. Therefore it's possible that some data in the "Missile" column really should go into the "Missile System" column and vice versa.
• For surface-to-air missiles, the DOD codes (SA-n, ABM-n) often refer to the whole system (including radars etc.), while the NATO code names refer to the actual missiles.
• If applicable, variants of a missile are detailed immediately behind the "main" entry, in the field with smaller type and gray background.

2.1 AA - Air-to-Air Missiles

Notes:
1. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the AA-1 include AA-1A (for the RS-2U) and AA-1B (for the RS-2US).
2. Unconfirmed DOD/NATO designations for the AA-5 include AA-5A Ash-A (for the R-4R) and AA-5B Ash-B (for the R-4T).
3. Unconfirmed DOD/NATO designations for the AA-8 include AA-8A Aphid-A (for the R-60/60K/60T), AA-8B Aphid-B (for the R-60M) and AA-8C Aphid-C (for the R-60MK).

2.2 ABM - Anti-Ballistic Missiles

Notes:
1. "Gaffer" has also been reported as the name of the V-400 surface-to-air missile. One of the two name associations must be erroneous.
2. The designation ABM-X-2 was assigned to a projected upgrade of the A-35 ABM system, using GALOSH missiles and new radars. The ABM-X-2 system, probably identical to the cancelled "Avrora", was not proceeded with.
3. The designation ABM-X-3 probably referred to the S-225 system, but this is unconfirmed.
4. It's possible that the ABM-X-3A/B designations for the 5Ya26/5Ya27 missiles are reversed.
5. The 53T6 Gazelle missile is identified as ABM-3 in most sources, but this is doubtful if ABM-4 is indeed the designation for the whole A-135 system (of which the 53T6 is one component).
6. The 55T6 missile is a successor of the 51T6.

2.3 AS - Air-to-Surface Missiles

Notes:
1. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the AS-4 include AS-4A (for the basic Kh-22), AS-4B (for the Kh-22N) and AS-4C (for the ARM variants).
2. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the AS-5 include AS-5A (for the KSR-2) and AS-5B (for the KSR-11).
3. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the AS-6 include AS-6A (for the KSR-5) and AS-6B (for the KSR-5N).
4. AS-8 was the original designation of the AT-6. No NATO name was assigned before the DOD designation changed to AT-6.
5. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the AS-12 include AS-12A (for the Kh-25P), AS-12B (for the Kh-27PS), AS-12C (for the Kh-25MP) and AS-12D (for the Kh-25MPU).
6. The Kh-555 may be designated AS-X-22.
7. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the AS-17 include AS-17A (for the Kh-31A), AS-17B (for the Kh-31AD), AS-17C (for the Kh-31P) and AS-17D (for the Kh-31PD).

2.4 AT - Anti-Tank Missiles

Notes:
1. The AT-9 designation is also attributed to the 9K121 Vikhr' system with the 9A4172 missile.

2.5 SA - Surface-to-Air Missiles

Notes:
1. The following table details the versions of the S-25 system (SA-1 Guild):

2. The following table details the versions of the S-75 system (SA-2 Guideline):


3. "Gaffer" has also been reported as the name of the V-1000 anti-ballistic missile. One of the two name associations must be erroneous.
4. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the SA-4 include SA-4A (for the 9M8) and SA-4B (for the 9M8Mx).
5. The designation SA-5 for the "Dal" system was dropped, after "Dal" had been cancelled.
6. Unconfirmed DOD/NATO designations for the SA-6 include SA-6A (for the 9M9) and SA-6B Gainful Mod.1 (for the 9M9Mx).
7. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the SA-8 include SA-8A (for the 9M33) and SA-8B (for the 9M33Mx).
8. Unconfirmed DOD designations for the SA-9 include SA-9A (for the 9M31) and SA-9B (for the 9M31M).
9. The S-300V system uses two types of missiles (long and medium range). These missiles start from different launchers, and therefore NATO assigned different reporting names to them.
10. The S-400 system (a.k.a. S-300PM-3) shares many components with the S-300PM-1/2 system, including the 48N6 and 9M96 series missiles.

2.6 SA-N - Naval Surface-to-Air Missiles

Note: The DOD assigns separate designations to naval and land-based missiles, while NATO assigns the same code name. DOD designations for the land-based equivalents of the missiles are shown in blue.

Notes:
1. The designation SA-N-20 was apparently assigned out of sequence to match the number of the land-based variant.

2.7 SS - Surface-to-Surface Missiles

Notes:
1. The missile system designations are mostly those which usually appear in Soviet-American treaties.
2. I have no idea why the SS-1 designator was reused for the Scud.
3. Unconfirmed variant designations for Saddler include Saddler Mod.1 (for the R-16) and Saddler Mod.2 (for the R-16U).
4. The SS-22 was redesignated as SS-12B.
5. Unconfirmed variant designations for Savage include Savage Mod.1 (for the RT-2) and Savage Mod.2 (for the RT-2P).
6. SS-X-26 was originally allocated to the cancelled RSS-40 Kurier (small ICBM).
7. The Pioner-UTTKh system with the 15Zh53 missile was possibly redesignated as SS-X-28.
8. The RS-24 system's missile is a land-mobile, MIRVed development of the RT-12PM2 Topol-M silo-based ICBM. The SS-29 designation should be regarded as unconfirmed.

2.8 SSC - Surface-to-Surface Missiles (Navy, Coastal Defence)

Notes:
1. SSC-X-5 was originally allocated to the 3M25N, which was later cancelled.

2.9 SS-N - Naval Surface-to-Surface Missiles

Notes:
1. The SS-N-1B designation is obviously a direct "navalization" of SS-1B.
2. SS-NX-10 was erroneously allocated to SS-N-14.
3. SS-N-11 was redesignated as SS-N-2C.
4. The D-5K was never operational, and therefore didn't receive a NATO name.
5. SS-N-25 is the surface-to-surface version of the AS-20 (Kh-35).

2.10 SUW-N - Naval Surface-to-Underwater Missiles

2.11 FRAS - Unguided ASW Rockets

Notes:
1. FRAS-1A is probably identical to SUW-N-1.

2.12 FROG - Unguided Artillery Rockets

Notes:
1. The FROG-7 is possibly identical to the 9M21 rocket.

2.13 SL - Space Launchers

Notes:
1. According to reliable first-hand sources, the "Sheldon" designations have been no longer assigned for quite some time. Therefore, the "L" and "M" designations are probably "inventions" by a third party.

2.14 DR - Drone

2.15 Other Designators

The designation CADS-N-1 is sometimes quoted for a naval close-in air-defense system, consisting of 30 mm Gatling guns and a 3K87 Kortik/Kashtan (SA-N-11) missile system (with 9M311 missiles).

3 List of Designations for Chinese Rockets and Missiles

These designations are listed in this document here to complete the listing of DOD and NATO designations. For more information on Chinese rockets and missiles, you may refer to Andreas Gehrs-Pahl's article on this site.

3.1 CAA - Air-to-Air Missiles

3.2 CAS - Air-to-Surface Missiles

3.3 CAT - Anti-Tank Missiles

3.4 CSA - Surface-to-Air Missiles

Notes:
1. CSA-1 is the Chinese version of the Russian SA-2 system.
2. CSA-4 is the Chinese version of the French "Crotale" system. CSA-7 is a further enhanced derivative.

3.5 CSA-N - Naval Surface-to-Air Missiles

3.6 CSS - Surface-to-Surface Missiles

3.7 CSSC - Surface-to-Surface Missiles (Navy, Coastal Defense)

Notes:
1. (Assumed) production of the SSC-2B in China.

3.8 CSS-N - Naval Surface-to-Surface Missiles

3.9 CSL - Space Launchers

4 List of Designations for Soviet/Russian Aircraft

Note: NATO names in brackets were originally assigned, but later replaced for various reasons.

4.1 B - Bombers

Notes:
1. Tu-22 and Tu-22M are completely different aircraft. Sometimes in the western literature the name Tu-26 is incorrectly assigned to the Tu-22M.

4.2 C - Transports

Notes:
1. The designation Il-18 was assigned to two different aircraft.

4.3 F - Fighters

Notes:
1. The Su-24 is incorrectly identified as a fighter, probably because of its external similarity with F-111. It is actually a tactical bomber.
2. The MR/MP suffixes for the Fencer-E/F might be reversed.
3. The Fishbed-E designator for the MiG-21F-13 was probably short-lived. Fishbed-E is often quoted as MiG-21S or -21PFS, but this is incorrect.
4. The Su-15TM with modified radome was incorrectly identified as "Su-21" in the West.
5. There are subvariant designations Foxbat-B2, Foxbat-B3, Foxbat-B4 and Foxbat-B5. Exact allocations are unknown, but aircraft include the MiG-25RBV and MiG-25RBT.
6. There are several sources, which list MiG-25RBK/RBT/RBF as Foxbat-D.
7. The Su-25 is incorrectly identified as a fighter for unknown reasons. It is actually a heavy ground attack aircraft (shturmovik).
8. The Tu-10 probably never existed.
9. There are subvariant designations Fulcrum-A Variant 1 through Variant 4, which differ in production details.

4.4 H - Helicopters

Notes:
1. "Haitun" is a Chinese name (meaning "Dolphin"; the Z-9 is a Eurocopter AS365N Dauphin built in China), which might double as a suitable reporting name.
2. Possibly known as "Izdeliye D". The Ka-20 designation might be fictitious.

4.5 M - Miscellaneous

Notes:
1. Originally training variants of combat aircraft were designated with a new name (e.g. MiG-21 "Fishbed", MiG-21U "Mongol"). This practice has been discontinued, and today training aircraft are designated as variants of the combat aircraft (e.g. MiG-29 "Fulcrum-A", MiG-29UB "Fulcrum-B").
2. Many sources quote the designation Il-87 for "Maxdome", but Il-80 is most likely the correct one.
3. This variant is sometimes labeled "Il-38M", which is probably incorrect.

5 Other DOD Designations for Soviet Aircraft and Missiles

5.1 "Type" Numbers (1947-1955)

A designation consisted of the word "Type" and a single number to indentify the type of aircraft, e.g. "Type 39" for the Tupolev Tu-16. Numbers were assigned in strict numerical sequence. The system was cancelled in 1955 because it was obviously impractical in the long run.

Notes:
1. Not all aircraft with a "Type" designation had ASCC/NATO names allocated.
2. These aircraft have nothing in common with later aircraft with the same designation (a Russian speciality!)
3. In essentially all published lists of "Type" numbers, the numbers 13, 17-20, 22, 24 and 38 are described as follows:

The corrected data, as presented here, has been provided by Mr. Helge Bergander, who obtained his information from detailed analysis of original Soviet documents of the time. In the original table, the entry #20 was suspected to erroneous anyway, because the MiG-17 was out of timeline. Numbers 18, 19, 21, 22 etc. were allocated to aircraft which were first seen around 1949, while the MiG-17 didn't fly before 1950 and didn't appear in public before 1954. The slot #38 is much more plausible for the MiG-17.

5.2 Codes for Research and Prototype Aircraft

The DOD assigned preliminary codes to newly discovered Soviet or Chinese aircraft, which had not yet been identified. A designation consisted of a code for the place of identification, and a sequential letter.

List of codes for Soviet locations:

• CASP - Caspian Sea
• KAZ - Kazan
• NOVO - GAZ-153 factory airfield (Novosibirsk)
• RAM - Ramenskoye (Moskow)
• SIB - SibNIA Research Facility (Novosibirsk)
• TAG - Taganrog (Black Sea)

List of codes for Chinese locations:

• HARB - Harbin
• NAN - Nanchang
• XIAN - Xian

CASP - Caspian Sea

KAZ - Kazan

NOVO - Novosibirsk

RAM - Ramenskoye

Notes:
1. The RAM-A through RAM-F block most likely includes Sukhoi T6-1, Sukhoi T6-IG and Sukhoi T-4.
2. RAM-R1 applied to the structural test article, RAM-R2 to the jet-powered aerodynamic test vehicle.

SIB - SibNIA

TAG - Taganrog

Notes:
1. Candidates for TAG-B and TAG-C are the KM and A-90 Orlyonok WIGs.

HARB - Harbin

NAN - Nanchang

XIAN - Xian

5.3 Codes for Research and Prototype Missiles

This designation system is similar to the system used for prototype aircraft, but instead of sequential letters numerical sequences are used.

List of codes for Soviet and Russian test ranges:

• BL - Barnaul (Air Force)
• EM - Emba (Air Defence)
• KY - Kapustin Yar
• NE - Nenoska (Navy)
• PL - Plesetsk
• SH - Sary Shagan
• TT - Tyuratam
• VA - Vladimirovska

List of codes for Chinese test ranges:

• SC - Shuang Cheng Tzu Missile and Space Test Facility

BL - Barnaul

EM - Emba

KY - Kapustin Yar

Notes:
Possible, but completely unconfirmed KY codes include: KY-01 = SS-1A (R-1/8K11); KY-02 = SS-1B (R-11/8K14) or SS-2 (R-2/8Zh38) or SS-3 (R-5); KY-04 = SS-4 (R-12/8K63); KY-05 = SS-5 (R-14/8K65); KY-06 = SS-12 (9M76); KY-07 = SS-X-14 (RT-15/8K96); KY-11 = SS-22 (9M76)

NE - Nenoska

PL - Plesetsk

SH - Sary Shagan

Notes:
1. The SH-04 code my be in error. It's possible that the A350R was also given the SH-01 code of the A350Zh.

TT - Tyuratam

Notes:
1. The SS-X-26 code for the RSS-40 was later cancelled and reassigned to the 9M72 missile.

VA - Vladimirovska

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Last Updated: 18 January 2008