SykesFive
Posts: 39
Joined: Tue 07 Sep 2021, 21:15

Re: Russian naming of NATO vehicles

Fri 24 Mar 2023, 19:17

Exactly.

The West used reporting names because often the aircraft/missile/ship would be observed before its correct nomenclature was known. Then even after it was known, it was easier to use the reporting names since the actual Soviet nomenclature was somewhat confusing whereas the reporting names were designed to be easily distinguished.

That said, for AFVs, the West generally used an actual Soviet designation as soon as it was known.

The Soviets didn't have this problem to as great an extent and simply used the Western names.

The Soviets were, of course, aware of the reporting names we gave their equipment but had no use for them. They did think "Fulcrum" was a cool nickname for the MiG-29 and made some use of it, though.

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