Glossary of Military Abbreviations - A

A

• AA – anti-aircraft
• AAA – anti-aircraft artillery "Triple A"
• AAAV – Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle
• AAD – Armoured amphibious dozer
• AAG – Anti-aircraft gun
• AAK – Appliqué armor kit (US)
• AAN – Army after next
• AAPC – Advanced Armoured Personnel Carrier (Turkey)
• AARADCOM – Army Armament Research and Development Command
• AAR – After Action Review
• AAV – Amphibious assault vehicle
• AAV – Assault Amphibious Vehicle
• AB – Air Burst
• ABC – Atomic, biological, chemical (replaced by chemical, biological, radiological (CBR), and Nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC))
• ABC – Automatic brightness control
• AB(C) – Aviation battalion (combat)
• ABIT – advanced built-in test
• ABM – air bursting munition
• ABM – anti-ballistic missile
• ABMS – air bursting ammunition system
• ABRO – Army Base Repair Organisation
• ABS – Aww-Busting System
• ABS – anti-skid braking system
• ABSV – Armoured Battlegroup Support Vehicle
• A/C – aircraft commander
• AC – alternating current
• ACA – ammunition container assembly
• ACAVP – Advanced Composite Armoured Vehicle Platform (UK)
• ACCE – Abrams/Crusader Common Engine
• ACCV – Armored Cavalry Cannon Vehicle (US)
• ACE – Armored Combat Earthmover (US)
• ACH – Advanced Combat Helmet (MICH TC-2000 Combat Helmet)
• ACLOSAutomatic Command to Line of Sight
• ACOG – Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight
• ACP – Automatic Colt Pistol
• ACR – Advanced Combat Rifle
• ACR – Armored cavalry regiment
• ACRV – Armoured command and reconnaissance vehicle
• ACS – Artillery communications system
• ACU – Army combat uniform
• ACV – Aardvark Cleaning Vehicle (US)
• ACV – Armoured combat vehicle
• ACVT – Armored Combat Vehicle Technology Program (US)
• ADA – air defense artillery
• ADAM – Area Denial Artillery Munition
• ADAMS – Air Defense Advanced Mobile System (US)
• ADATS – Air Defence Anti-Tank System
• ADC-A – Assistant Division Commander – Fire and Maneuver
• ADC-B – Assistant Division Commander – Combat Support
• ADEA – Army Development and Employment Agency
• ADI – Australian Defence Industries
• AE – action express
• AEF – Allied expeditionary force
• AESA – Active electronically scanned array
• AEV – Armoured engineer vehicle
• AF – Air force
• AFA/ARA – Aerial field artillery/aerial rocket artillery (US, Vietnam war era attack helicopter batteries employing 2.75 in. FFAR)
• AFARV – Armored, Forward Area, Re-arm Vehicle (US)
• AFAS – advanced Field Artillery System
• AFC – Australian Flying Corps
• AFCS – automatic fire-control systems
• AFD – automatic feeding device
• AFSC – air force specialty code
• AFSV – armoured fire support vehicle
• AFV – Armored Family of Vehicles (US)
• AFV – Armoured fighting vehicle
• AGC – automatic gain control
• AGF – Army ground forces
• AGL – above ground level
• AGL – automatic grenade launcher
• AGLS – automatic gun laying system
• AGS – armored gun system (US)
• AGV – assault gun vehicle
• AGVT – Advanced Ground Vehicle Technology
• Ah – Ampere hour
• AHC – Attack Helicopter Company (USA)
• AICS – Accuracy International Chassis System
• AICW – Advanced Individual Combat Weapon
• AIF – Australian Imperial Force (Australia, WWI)
• AIFS – Advanced Indirect Fire System
• AIFV – Armoured infantry fighting vehicle
• AIPS – Advanced Integrated Propulsion System (US)
• ALAAVS – Advanced Light Armored/Amphibious Vehicle System (US)
• ALC – Advanced Land Combat (US)
• ALICE – All-purpose lightweight individual carrying equipment
• ALS – Advanced laying system
• ALSV – Armoured logistics support vehicle
• ALT – Armoured launching turret
• AMC – United States Army Materiel Command
• AMC – Advanced Mortar Carrier (Turkey)
• AMCCOM – Armament Munitions and Chemical Command
• AMDS – Anti-Missile Discarding Sabot
• AMF – Amphibische Mehrzweck-Fahrzeuge (multipurpose amphibious vehicle)
• AML – Automitrailleuse Légère (light armoured car)
• AMLCD – Active-matrix liquid crystal display
• AMOS – Advanced mortar system
• AMR – Anti-materiel rifle
• AMR – Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance
• AMRWS – Advanced multi-role weapon station
• AMS – Armoured mortar system
• AMS-H – Advanced Missile System – Heavy
• AMX – Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux
• ANAD – Anniston Army Depot
• ANZAC – Australia and New Zealand Army Corps
• ANZUS – Australia New Zealand United States Treaty
• AO – Area of operations
• AOI – Arab Organisation for Industrialisation
• AOS – Add-on stabilisation
• AP – Anti-personnel
• AP – Armour-piercing
• APAM – Anti-personnel, anti-matériel
• APBC – Armour-piercing ballistic cap
• APC – Armoured personnel carrier
• APC – Armour-piercing capped
• APCBC – Armour-piercing capped ballistic cap
• APC-T – Armour-piercing capped – tracer
• APCT-BF – Armour-piercing capped tracer – base fuze
• APCNR – Armour-piercing composite non-rigid
• APCR – Armour-piercing composite rigid
• APCRBC – Armour-piercing composite rigid ballistic cap
• APDS – Armour-piercing discarding sabot
• APDS-T – Armour-piercing discarding sabot - tracer
• APE – Amphibisches Pionier-Erkundungsfahrzeug (amphibious front-line reconnaissance vehicle)
• APEP – Armour-Piercing Enhancement Programme
• APERS – Anti-personnel
• APERS-T – Anti-personnel tracer
• APFIDS – Armour-piercing fragmentation incendiary discarding sabot
• APFSDS-T – Armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot - tracer
• 'APFSDS(P) Armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (practice)
• APFSDSDU – Armour piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot, depleted uranium
• APG – Aberdeen Proving Grounds
• APGM – Autonomous precision-guided munition
• APHC – Armour-piercing hard core
• APHE – Armour-piercing high explosive
• API – Armour-piercing incendiary
• APIT – Armour-piercing incendiary tracer
• APM – Anti-personnel mine
• APS – Advanced propulsion system
• APS – Artillery pointing system
• APSA – Armour piercing secondary effect
• APSE – Armour-piercing secondary effect
• APSE-T – Armour-piercing secondary effect – tracer
• APT – Armour-piercing tracer
• APTE – Abrams Power Train Evolution (US)
• APU – Auxiliary power unit
• APV – Armoured patrol vehicle
• AR – Assault rifle
• AR/AAV – Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle (US)
• ARD – Anti-reflective device
• ARDEC – Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center
• ARDNOT – Automatic day/night optical tracker
• ARE – Atelier de Construction Roanne
• ARETS – Armour Remote Target System
• ARFORGEN – Army force generation
• ARMAD – Armoured and Mechanised Unit Air Defence
• ARMSCOR – Armament Manufacturing Corporation (South Africa)
• ARMVAL – Anti-armor vehicle evaluation (US)
• ARP – Anti-radiation projectile
• ARP – Armoured repair plates
• ARRADCOM – Armament Research and Development Command
• ARRV – Armoured repair and recovery vehicle
• ARSV – Armored Reconnaissance Scout Vehicle (US)
• ART – Armoured Recon Transport
• ARV – Armoured recovery vehicle or Armed Robotic Vehicle (XM1219)
• ASAAdvanced security agency
• ASAP – As soon as possible
• ASARC – Army Systems Acquisition Review Council
• ASCOD – Austrian Spanish Co-operative Development
• ASM – Armored Systems Modernisation (US)
• ASP – Automatic, self-powered
• ASTROS – Artillery Saturation Rocket System (Brazil)
• ASV – Armored Security Vehicle (US)
• ASV – Ammunition supply vehicle
• AT – Anti-tank
• AT – Ape tape
• ATACS – Advanced tank cannon system (US)
• ATAS – Automatic target acquisition system
• ATCAS – Advanced towed cannon system
• ATD – Advanced technology demonstration
• ATD – Advanced technology demonstrator (US)
• ATD – Automatic target detection
• ATDT – Automatic target detection and tracking
• ATDU – Armoured Trials and Development Unit (UK)
• ATFCS – Automated Targeting and Fire Control System
• ATG – Anti-tank gun
• ATGL – Anti-tank grenade launcher
• ATGM – Anti-tank guided missile
• ATGW – Anti-tank guided weapon
• ATK – Alliant Techsystems
• ATLAS – Advanced technology light artillery system
• ATLV – Artillery target location vehicle
• ATM – Anti-tank mine
• ATR – - EDS Automotive test rig – Electric drive system
• ATS – Atelier de Construction de Tarbes
• ATTC – All Terrain Tracked Carrier
• ATTS – Air Transportable Towed System
• ATV – All-terrain vehicle
• ATV – Armoured TOW vehicle (Turkey)
• AUG – Armee Universal Gewehr
• AVGP – Armoured Vehicle General Purpose (Canada)
• AVH – Armoured Vehicle Heavy
• AVL – Armoured Vehicle Light
• AVLB – Armoured vehicle-launched bridge
• AVM – Armoured Vehicle Medium
• AVR – Armoured vehicle reconnaissance
• AVRE – Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (UK)
• AVT – Advanced Vehicle Technologies (US)
• AWE – Advanced Warfighting Experiment
• AWOL – Absent without official leave