United States Department of Defense Aerospace Vehicle Designation - Exceptions

Exceptions

• The F/A-18 Hornet uses an unofficial designation to highlight the fact that its multi-role capabilities were built in from the earliest stages (as opposed to a hypothetical AF-18: a fighter modified for the attack role), however other comparable aircraft, such as the F-16 and later F-15s do not seem to have even gained a modified mission A, instead remaining with their F designation. This is the case even with the F-15E Strike Eagle, an F-15 variant used exclusively in the attack role. It should also be noted that the system specifically forbids the use of slashes and other characters, and the Hornet is referred to in official documentation as the FA-18, which implies an attack aircraft modified for the fighter role. The F-22 Raptor was designated "F/A-22" for two years from 2003-2005 before being redesignated F-22 immediately before being transitioned to active service status. Recently a strike version of the F-22 has been mooted with the designation FB-22.

• The F-117 Nighthawk has no practical air-to-air capability, and should probably be an attack aircraft or a bomber. Some sources suggest that the ex-fighter pilot-dominated Air Force could not conceive of the most advanced aircraft being anything other than a fighter, but a more plausible reason comes from the need for secrecy. The real reason, however, is that several treaties the U.S. has entered into place restrictions on the addition of new bombers into its military inventory. It is rumoured that F-112 to F-116 were Soviet aircraft 'acquired' for testing, and it was perhaps hoped that anyone coming across an F-117 designation would assume that it was also a captured aircraft.

• Although the mission letters of the AV-8 Harrier's designation are correct, the series number is not. The Ryan XV-8 ("Fleep") had already existed, so, while A-8 would have been fine, the V designation should have been AV-14.

• The original designation of the SR-71 Blackbird, RS-71 was specifically allowed for in the original system, standing for Reconnaissance and Surveillance - or, it is sometimes said, Reconnaissance and Strike. Although there is an urban legend that president Lyndon Johnson made a slip of the tongue in his announcement speech, a look at the original speech he was reading from shows that this is not so. It transpires that USAF Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay simply liked the sound of SR-71 better that RS-71, and had the speech changed. The SR was explained as Strategic Reconnaissance.

• The Boeing 747 has three different designations in U.S. service - E-4, (V)C-25 and AL-1 - something which violates the basic purpose of the system.

• The CC-130J Hercules referred to the stretched C-130J-30 Hercules. The -30 suffix was not supportable in the system, yet another series letter (C-130L, for instance) was apparently not appropriate, so a modified mission letter had to be added. Hence, the CC-130J is, bizarrely, a cargo aircraft "modified" for the cargo role. This was later dropped. The CC-130J should not be confused with the CC-130 Hercules operated by the Canadian Airforce. The first "C" identifies the aircraft as a Canadian asset. Canada later acquired C-130Js as CC-130Js.

• Many manufacturers have used non-standard modifiers for commercial purposes; for instance, the Spanish F/A-18 Hornets were 'designated' EF-18 by McDonnell Douglas (the E standing for "España"), and AH-64D Apache helicopters were designated WAH-64 by licenced manufacturer Westland. Non-standard series letters, especially ones the U.S. Air Force has no intention of progressing to, are often used to designate the intended country of use, such as I (Israel - e.g. F-15I), J (Japan), K (South Korea or United Kingdom), S (Saudi Arabia) and SG (Singapore).