NATO uses a system of code names , called reporting names , to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states , former Warsaw Pact countries, China , and other countries. The system assists military communications by providing short, one or two-syllable names, as alternatives to the precise proper names , which may be easily confused under operational conditions or are unknown in the Western world .
29-622: The Tupolev Tu-28 ( NATO reporting name Fiddler ) is a long-range interceptor aircraft introduced by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The official designation was Tu-128 , but this designation was less commonly used in the West. It was the largest and heaviest fighter ever in service. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union sought means to defend against nuclear-armed American bombers possibly penetrating its borders (especially its long and vulnerable northern border). Contemporary interceptors, such as
58-618: A steel cable attached to a winch that reeled the gas bag to its desired height (usually 1,000-1,500 metres) and retrieved it at the end of an observation session. The first military use of observation balloons was by the French Aerostatic Corps during the French Revolutionary Wars , the very first time during the Battle of Fleurus (1794) . The oldest preserved observation balloon, L'Intrépide ,
87-579: A DoD Spokesperson, said in a press conference that the balloon did not collect/transmit while it was transiting/flying over the United States and US military efforts contributed to the block. In an interview aired on CBS News Sunday Morning on Sep 17, 2023, Mark Milley told David Martin that the balloon was not spying and it was a high confidence assessment by the United States Intelligence Community that there
116-672: A bomber aircraft refers to the Tupolev Tu-95 , or "Fulcrum" for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighter aircraft. For fixed-wing aircraft, one-syllable names are used for propeller aircraft and two-syllable names for aircraft with jet engines. This distinction is not made for helicopters. Before the 1980s, reporting names for submarines were taken from the NATO spelling alphabet . Modifications of existing designs were given descriptive terms, such as " Whiskey Long Bin ". From
145-590: A few miles behind the front lines and at altitude, allowed them to see targets at greater range than they could on the ground. This allowed the artillery to take advantage of its increased range. Despite their experience in late 1800s Africa, the British were behind developments and were still using spherical balloons. These were quickly replaced by more advanced types, known as kite balloons , which were aerodynamically shaped to be stable and could operate in more extreme weather conditions. The Germans first developed
174-482: A large nose radome housing a radar, known as RP-S Smerch , having a detection range of about 50 km (31 mi) and a lock-on range of about 40 km (25 mi). Armament of the Tu-128 was four Bisnovat R-4 air-to-air missiles (known as K-80 during development; NATO reporting name AA-5 'Ash'). Usually two of them were R-4Rs with semi-active radar homing and two were R-4T infrared-homing missiles, with
203-517: Is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for gathering intelligence and spotting artillery . The use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars , reaching their zenith during World War I , and they continue in limited use today. Synonyms include espionage balloon , reconnaissance balloon , spy balloon , and surveillance balloon . Historically, observation balloons were filled with hydrogen . The balloons were fabric envelopes filled with hydrogen gas ,
232-746: Is managed by the Five Eyes Air Force Interoperability Council (AFIC), previously known as the Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC), which is separate from NATO . Based in Washington DC, AFIC comprises representatives from the militaries of three NATO members (Canada, the United Kingdom and United States) and two non-NATO countries (Australia and New Zealand). When the system was introduced in
261-698: Is on display in a Vienna museum. They were also used by both sides during the American Civil War (1861–65) and continued in use during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). Balloons were first deployed by the British Army's Royal Engineers during the expeditions to Bechuanaland in 1884 and Suakin in 1885. They were also deployed during the Second Boer War (1899–1902), where they were used in artillery observation at
290-642: The Battle of Magersfontein and during the Siege of Ladysmith . In South America, a reconnaissance balloon was deployed by Brazil in July 1867 during the Paraguayan War . World War I was the high point for the military use of observation balloons, which were extensively deployed by both sides. Artillery had developed to the point where it could engage targets beyond a ground-based observer's visual range. Positioning artillery observers on balloons, generally
319-687: The Parseval -Siegsfeld type balloon, and the French soon responded with the Caquot type. Because of their importance as observation platforms, balloons were defended by anti-aircraft guns , groups of machine guns for low altitude defence and patrolling fighter aircraft . Attacking a balloon was risky, but some pilots relished the challenge. The most successful were known as balloon busters , including such notables as Belgium's Willy Coppens , Germany's Friedrich Ritter von Röth , America's Frank Luke , and
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#1732779490355348-593: The Yakovlev Yak-28P , were able to cover a radius of just a few hundred kilometers flying from northern Soviet bases like Talagi and Savatiya ; the newly developed surface-to-air missiles had even shorter range. Considering both, the sheer numbers required to defend a 5,000 km air front were economically impossible to maintain. This left the Soviet Union able to provide a modern air defense only for selected valuable areas. The PVO decided to cover
377-410: The flammable nature of which led to the destruction of hundreds of balloons. Observers manning these observation balloons frequently had to use a parachute to evacuate their balloon when it came under attack. Shortly after World War I , observation balloons were often filled with non-flammable helium to avoid the potentially explosive consequences of hydrogen. Typically, balloons were tethered to
406-484: The 1950s, reporting names also implicitly designated potentially hostile aircraft. However, since the end of the Cold War, some NATO air forces have operated various aircraft types with reporting names (e.g. the "Fulcrum" Mikoyan MiG-29 ). The United States Department of Defense (DOD) expands on the NATO reporting names in some cases. NATO refers to surface-to-air missile systems mounted on ships or submarines with
435-587: The 1980s, new designs were given names derived from Russian words, such as " Akula ", or "shark". These names did not correspond to the Soviet names. Coincidentally, "Akula", which was assigned to an attack submarine by NATO, was the actual Soviet name for the ballistic missile submarine NATO named " Typhoon-class ". The NATO names for submarines of the People's Republic of China are taken from Chinese dynasties . Reconnaissance balloon An observation balloon
464-479: The Frenchmen Léon Bourjade , Michel Coiffard and Maurice Boyau . Many expert balloon busters were careful not to go below 1,000 feet (300 m) to avoid exposure to anti-aircraft and machine guns. World War I observation crews were the first to use parachutes, long before they were adopted by fixed wing aircrews. These were a primitive type, where the main part was in a bag suspended from
493-513: The NATO names, preferring a native Russian nickname. An exception was that Soviet airmen appreciated the MiG-29 's codename "Fulcrum", as an indication of its pivotal role in Soviet air defence. To reduce the risk of confusion, unusual or made-up names are allocated, the idea being that the names chosen are unlikely to occur in normal conversation and are easier to memorise. For fixed-wing aircraft,
522-598: The aircraft's close air support role. Transports have names starting with "C" (for "cargo"), resulting in names like "Condor" for the Antonov An-124 or "Candid" for the Ilyushin Il-76 . The initial letter of the name indicates the use of that equipment. The alphanumeric designations (eg AA-2) are assigned by the Department of Defense . The first letter indicates the type of aircraft, e.g., "Bear" for
551-552: The balloon, with the pilot only wearing a simple body harness around his waist, with lines from the harness attached to the main parachute in the bag. When the balloonist jumped, the main part of the parachute was pulled from the bag, with the shroud lines first, followed by the main canopy. This type of parachute was adopted by the Germans and later by the British and French for their observation balloon crews. Kite balloons began to be used at sea for anti-submarine purposes towards
580-555: The designation used by the OKB . The Tu-128 had a broad, low/mid-mounted swept wing carrying the main landing gear in wing-mounted pods, and slab tailplanes . Two Lyulka AL-7 F-2 turbojet engines were mounted in the fuselage. The two-man crew of pilot and navigator were seated in tandem. The Tu-128, with its maximum weight of 43 tonnes , was the heaviest fighter to enter service. A pure interceptor with high wing loading , unsophisticated but reliable avionics , and poor visibility, it
609-717: The end of World War I. The Red Army of the Soviet Union used observation balloons for artillery spotting. Eight aeronautical sections existed, and 19,985 observation flights were performed by balloonists of the Red Army during the Second World War, clocking up 20,126 flight hours. 110 Soviet observation balloons were lost. Observation balloons also played a role during the Cold War ; for example, Project Mogul used high-altitude observation balloons to monitor Soviet nuclear tests. However, heavier-than-air craft now perform
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#1732779490355638-404: The entire territory, but with a looser defence. In 1955 it placed a requirement for a large area-defense interceptor, that would achieve it with sparse airbases. The PVO requirement called for a supersonic aircraft with enormous fuel tanks for both a good patrol time and long range, a capable radar , and the most powerful air-to-air missiles possible. The first attempt, although unsuccessful,
667-498: The former on the outer pylons and the latter on the inner underwing pylons. There was no internal weapons bay. Production of the Tu-128 ended in 1970 with a total of 198 aircraft having been built. Development of various projects designated Tu-28A , Tu-28-80 , Tu-28-100 , Tu-138 , and Tu-148 were proposed by the Tupolev Design Bureau but all were abandoned. The Tu-128's only publicly reported combat operation
696-489: The number of syllables indicates the type of the aircraft's engine. Single-syllable code names denote reciprocating engine or turboprop , while two-syllable code names denote jet engine . Bombers have names starting with the letter "B", and names like "Badger" ( Tupolev Tu-16 ), "Blackjack" ( Tupolev Tu-160 ) and "Bear" ( Tupolev Tu-95 ) have been used. "Frogfoot", the reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-25 , references
725-520: The same names as the corresponding land-based systems, but the US DOD assigns a different series of numbers with a different suffix (i.e., SA-N- versus SA-) for these systems. The names are kept the same as a convenience. Where there is no corresponding system, a new name is devised. The Soviet Union did not always assign official "popular names" to its aircraft, but unofficial nicknames were common as in any air force . Generally, Soviet pilots did not use
754-511: The vast majority of operations. Aerostats were used by US and coalition military forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan . From late January to early February 2023, a balloon originating from China was spotted in United States airspace. The Chinese government claimed it was a weather balloon, while the United States government claimed it was a spy balloon. On June 29, 2023, Patrick S. Ryder ,
783-464: Was not an agile aircraft and was intended only to engage NATO bombers like the B-52 , not dogfight smaller aircraft. The interceptor made its initial public appearance in the 1961 Tushino air parade . Western experts, unaware that the bulge on the belly carried testing instruments, mistook it for a large ventral radar for a mixed interceptor/ AWACS role. The production version lacked the bulge and had
812-566: Was the Lavochkin La-250 , a 30-tonne interceptor prototype which was the last of the Lavochkin design bureau's aircraft. Iosif Nezval of Tupolev Design Bureau led development of the new interceptor aircraft. The work began in 1958, based on an existing single prototype of the unsuccessful Tu-98 supersonic bomber. The military designation of the interceptor was at first Tu-28 , but it was changed in 1963 to Tu-128 , identical to
841-575: Was the destruction of NATO reconnaissance balloons . The aircraft remained in service until 1990. Through the 1980s, units armed with the Tu-128 converted to the Mikoyan MiG-31 , which features more advanced sensors and weapons. Data from Tupolev: The Man and His Aircraft General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists NATO reporting name The assignment of reporting names
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