Foxbat (33 page)

HIFR
Helicopter In-Flight Refuelling. A
method of refuelling a helicopter whilst in the hover beside a ship that’s too small to allow the aircraft to land-on

Homer
A radar console manned by a specialist
Air Traffic Control officer on a CVS-class aircraft carrier

HUD
Head-Up Display

IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency

IAP
Istrebitel’nyi Aviatsion’nyi Polk
(Fighter Aviation Regiment). Russian air-defence interceptor squadron

ICBM
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

INGPS
Inertial Navigation/Global Positioning
System fitted to the GR9 Harrier

JARIC
Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence
Centre. The Royal Air Force’s photographic interpretation unit, located at RAF Brampton, near Huntingdon

JIC
Joint Intelligence Center. Intelligence
collection and collation facility on a US aircraft carrier

JTIDS
Joint Tactical Information
Distribution System. Secure electronic data dissemination system that links airborne assets with surface units

Keyhole
American KH-11 or KH-12
reconnaissance satellite

KH-12
Type of surveillance satellite
normally known as ‘Keyhole’

Kiloton
Yield equivalent to the explosion of
one thousand tons of TNT and normally applied to the power of a tactical nuclear weapon. The yield of strategic nuclear weapons is measured in megatons, or millions of tons of TNT

Kyocera
Make of satellite telephone

Legoland
See ‘Vauxhall
Cross’

Little F
Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander
(Flying)

Mach
Measure of an aircraft’s speed
relative to the speed of sound. Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound, Mach 3 three times the speed, and so on

Maverick
AGM-65 air-to-surface tactical
missile

MI5
Military Intelligence 5 – the
Security Service – responsible for counter-espionage in the United Kingdom. Also known as ‘Five’ or ‘The Box’ (from its old postal address of ‘PO Box 500,
London’)

MI6
See ‘SIS’

MiG-25
Mikoyan-Gurevich supersonic
interceptor, NATO reporting name ‘Foxbat’. The fastest fighter aircraft ever manufactured, capable of speeds in excess of Mach 3, though red-lined at Mach 2.5

MIRV
Multiple Independently-targeted
Re-entry Vehicle. System of multiple warheads contained within a single missile’s nose-cone, and often including decoys

Mode Charlie
Automated height readout that
forms part of an aircraft’s SSR fit. See also ‘Squawk’

MPCD
Multi-Purpose Crystal Display. Part of
the GR9 Harrier’s HUD

MRE
Meal, Ready-to-Eat. US Army field
ration

MVD
Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del. Actually
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but normally used to mean the Russian police force

NBCD
Nuclear, Biological and Chemical
Defence

NIS
National Intelligence Service. South
Korea’s intelligence agency

NMCC
National Military Command Center,
located in the Joint Staff area of the Pentagon

NOFORN
No Foreign Nationals. CIA acronym
restricting sight of a document to American citizens

NORAD
North American Aerospace Defense
Command. In many ways the centre of America’s defensive armament, NORAD is located in the heart of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, and has links to sensor networks and other hardened
facilities all over the United States

N-PIC
National Photographic Interpretation
Center. Part of the Science and Technology Directorate of the CIA and based at Building 213 in the Washington Navy Yard

NSA
National Security Agency.
America’s extremely secretive electronic intelligence agency, analogous to Britain’s GCHQ. Sometimes known as ‘No Such Agency’

NVG
Night Vision Goggles

ODNI
Office of the Director of National
Intelligence

OHP
Overhead projector

OP
Observation Point

Oplan 5027
The ‘master plan’
conceived by South Korea and America to repel a North Korean invasion

Orbitron
A satellite-tracking program
available for free download from the Polish website www.stoff.pl

PAC-2/PAC-3
See ‘Patriot’

Patriot
Patriot Advanced Capability versions
2 and 3. A high-performance air-defence guided missile system

Pave Paws
AN/FPS-115 long-range phased-array
radar system operated by the 21st Space Wing of the USAF Space Command for missile warning and space surveillance. Radars are located at Beale, Cape Cod and Clear, Alaska

Pigeons
Magnetic heading to steer and
nautical miles to run to reach a ship. Passed to a pilot on recovery to the ship in the format ‘Pigeons two seven five at forty-two’

Pinky or Pink Panther
SAS Land Rover

Predator
A long-endurance, medium-altitude
UAV. The RQ-1 version
is used only for reconnaissance, but the multi-role MQ-1 can be armed with Hellfire missiles

PriFly
Primary Flight Control. The location
on an American aircraft carrier from which flight operations are supervised

Prowler
See ‘EA-6B’

RAW
Radar Warning Receiver

Reporting names
The NATO reporting name
system is a convenient shorthand that avoids awkward pronunciations and also immediately identifies the type of asset being talked about, simply by the first letter of the name. Fighters are
designated by names beginning with ‘F’ – Foxbat, Fulcrum; bombers by ‘B’ – Bison, Badger; helicopters by ‘H’ – Hind, Hormone, and so on

RFA
Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Merchant ships
that operate under special rules and act as supply vessels to Royal Navy ships

RTB
Return to base

SA-2
The most widely deployed SAM system
ever manufactured, known in Russia as the S-75 Dvina, and by NATO as ‘Guideline’

SA-3
Isayev SAM system known in Russia as
the S-125 Neva or Pechora. NATO reporting name ‘Goa’

SAM
Surface-to-air missile system

SAR
Search and rescue

SAS
Special Air Service. Also known as
‘The Regiment’

Security Service
See ‘MI5’

Shadow 2000 UAV
Short-range tactical UAV
manufactured by the AAI Corporation

Sidewinder
See ‘AIM-9’

Sig 226
Schweizerische Industrie
Gesellschaft (SIG)-Sauer P226. A full-size combat pistol chambered for the 9mm Luger cartridge

SIGINT
Signals intelligence

Sirena S-3M
Radar homing and warning system
fitted to the MiG-25 Foxbat

SIS
Secret Intelligence Service. Frequently
but inaccurately known as MI6, and responsible for espionage outside the United Kingdom. Also referred to as ‘Six’

Six
See ‘SIS’

SLBM
Submarine-Launched Ballistic
Missile

Speed jeans
Anti-g trousers worn by fighter
pilots to help prevent g-loc

Splot
Senior pilot of a Royal Navy
squadron

Spoon Rest
Target acquisition and warning
radar that forms part of the SA-2 SAM system

Squawk
Secondary surveillance radar (SSR)
return. Selecting (‘squawking’) a particular SSR code will display a four-digit number or the aircraft’s callsign on a radar screen and allow an aircraft to be identified
immediately. Selecting one of the emergency squawks – 7700 (emergency), 7600 (radio failure) or 7500 (hijack) – will generate a flashing symbol

SR-71A Blackbird
American high-speed,
high-altitude surveillance aircraft, which still holds numerous absolute speed records. It first flew in 1964, nine years after the first flight of the U-2, and had a long and highly successful
career before being officially retired in the early 1990s

SSBN
Sub-Surface Ballistic Nuclear. American
designation of a ballistic missile-carrying nuclear-powered submarine

SSR
See ‘Squawk’

Starbase/Starship
Slang terms for the USS
Enterprise

STOL
Short Take-Off and Landing aircraft

Storm Shadow
Anglo-French air-launched
cruise missile

Stovie
Royal Navy slang term for a Harrier
or other fighter pilot

Super Hornet
See ‘F/A-18’

Superdollars
Near-perfect copies of American
banknotes produced in North Korea that even experts find difficult to detect. They’re known in the USA as PN-14342 notes, the numbering derived from Secret Service nomenclature

SVR
Sluzhba Vneshney Razvyedki Rossi.
The successor to the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, responsible for espionage and intelligence operations
outside Russia

TACAMO
Literally, ‘Take Charge and
Move Out’. A system of survivable communication links and platforms, including aircraft, designed to ensure that in the event of a nuclear exchange, proper control of US forces could still
be exercised

TEL
Transporter-Erector-Launcher. The
vehicle used to transport and fire a missile such as the Scud

Telebrief
Communication system used on Royal
Navy aircraft carriers to allow a pilot to receive last-minute tactical updates from the Operations staff

TFT
Thin-Film Transistor. Technology used in
flat-panel computer screens

Trappers
Examining officers who assess a
pilot’s flying ability and competence

Trident
Submarine-launched ballistic
missile-carrying nuclear warheads

U-2
High-altitude surveillance aircraft
developed by Lockheed in the 1950s

UAV
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

USStratCom
United States Strategic
Command

Vauxhall Cross
The headquarters of the
Secret Intelligence Service fronting the Thames in London. The building’s bizarre design has spawned a number of uncomplimentary nicknames. To those who work inside the building, it’s
known as ‘Legoland’

Wadi
Dried-up watercourse in a desert

Wings
Commander (Air). The head of the Air
Department on a Royal Navy aircraft carrier or air station