As far as I understand, fighter pilots or more general military aircrews will use a dedicated phraseology to communicate with each other, which is different to communicating to ATC. Is this phraseology standardized across different air-forces or even within NATO? Are there any public documents on this phraseology?
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3 Answers
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There are NATO standard terms. For example the MiG-29 is known as a "Fulcrum." That's not the Russian name for it but the "NATO reporting name" which you can look up on Wikipedia.
There are also some standard (but not codified) terms such as "angels" meaning "thousands of feet." And there are some standard terms such as "bent" meaning "inoperative" but I don't know how much those are used any more.
Within a certain operating area or task force, there may be specific code words used that may change from day to day. These would not be known to anyone outside that area or task force.
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1$\begingroup$ Although I come from Russia, which was previously an opposing force), let me add to your answer. Generally nicknames for military aircraft were designed so that first letter describes is type. Fulcrum, Fencer, Foxbat are fighters, Archer is a ground attack airplane, and so on. The same doesn't apply to some American airplanes, Hornet, Tomcat, would start from "F" otherwise. Also there are some terms, such as "spike", denoting radar irradiation, "bogies" - enemy aircraft. $\endgroup$– EugeneSep 25, 2018 at 18:03
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1$\begingroup$ @Eugene that system only applies to the NATO reporting naming system for Soviet aircraft, not to anything else. It was created to have an unambiguous naming system for enemy aircraft when the actual names weren't known or too hard to pronounce. $\endgroup$– jwentingSep 26, 2018 at 5:06
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$\begingroup$ @jwenting You are right! And also when no clear communication is possible first letter helps with type understanding. $\endgroup$– EugeneSep 26, 2018 at 16:29
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When I read this question, I think of the chit chat which goes on during sorties. It IS non-standard, and varies by location and service. On youtube there is a recording of a F-4D pilot who went into the drink at night in the North Sea.
Listen to that (long) recording. The dialog is quite similar to the dialog used, for example, by pilots in Vietnam. (A buddy of mine was base commander of the affected pilots.)
You may find more current examples from more current conflicts where there are videos with radio audio. Much of the terminology is not standardized, but there are certainly components which are.
An example of terminology which is rather universal but perhaps not standardized, might be the term "feet wet" which means the flight has crossed the shoreline and is over water.
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They use brevity codes. They are used to quickly convey information on the radio. Like all things military, they are standardized but they do have some variation between services. You can find a list of US/NATO multi-service codes on Wikipedia.
