USAF/DoD reporting names

Before the NATO ASCC reporting names became widely used, the USAF and United States Department of Defense applied their own system of allocating code names on newly discovered Soviet aircraft. Each item was given a type number sequentially, but it soon became obvious that the system was impractical over a long period of time, being abandoned in 1955, in favour of the NATO ASCC reporting name system.

Some aircraft that were allocated USAF DoD type numbers were never allocated NATO reporting names. Inconsistencies in contemporary published lists have led to presumed re-allocations, predicated on research using contemporary Soviet documents by Helge Bergander.

The US DoD also assigned codes to newly discovered Soviet or Chinese aircraft and equipment, which had not yet been identified, consisting of code for the site it was first identified, and a sequential letter.

USAF/DoD preliminary aircraft identification
Data from: Parsch

DoD preliminary codes
Codes for Soviet sites:
 * CASP:Caspian Sea
 * KAZ:Kazan
 * NOVO:GAZ-153 factory airfield (Novosibirsk)
 * RAM:Gromov Flight Research Institute, Ramenskoye, Moscow Oblast
 * SIB:Siberian Aeronautical Research Institute Named After S.A. Chaplygin (Novosibirsk)
 * TAG:Taganrog (Black Sea)

List of codes for Chinese locations:
 * HARB:Harbin
 * NAN:Nanchang
 * XIAN:Xian
 * CASP:Caspian Sea

US DoD preliminary 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:Embi-5 (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