This is an incomplete list of U.S. Department of Defense code names primarily the two-word series variety. Officially, Arkin (2005) says that there are three types of code name:
In 1975, the Joint Chiefs of Staff introduced the Code Word, Nickname, and Exercise Term System (NICKA) which automated the assignment of names. NICKA gives each DOD organization a series of two-letter alphabetic sequences, requiring each 'first word' or a nickname to begin with a letter pair. For example, AG through AL was assigned to United States Joint Forces Command. [1]
The general system described above is now in use by NATO, the United Kingdom, Canada (Atlantic Guard, Atlantic Spear, Atlantic Shield) Australia and New Zealand, and allies/partners including countries like Sweden.
Most of the below listings are "Nicknames."
A classic example of this occurred on a mission in 1982 when a C-130 named Creek Fury, in a corridor over a Soviet training area...
Diese Einsätze wurden von der USAFE auch als CREEK FURY bezeichnet[These missions were also referred to as CREEK FURY by the USAFE]
The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft built by Boeing and modified by a number of companies, including General Dynamics, Lockheed, LTV, E-Systems, L3Harris Technologies, and used by the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992. SAC was also responsible for strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airborne command posts; and most of the USAF's aerial refueling aircraft.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consist of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of the United States, along with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.
Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder.
The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in Europe and Africa, and operations and support activities in the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command's areas of responsibility. It also has a unique mission as the U.S. military's primary liaison to the British government, which is conducted through the command's 3 AF-UK headquarters at RAF Mildenhall, England.
The Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) (16 AF) is a United States Air Force (USAF) organization responsible for information warfare, which encompasses intelligence gathering and analysis, surveillance, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and electronic warfare operations. Its headquarters is at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas.
The Nineteenth Air Force is an active Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force. During the Cold War it was a component of Tactical Air Command, with a mission of command and control over deployed USAF forces in support of United States foreign policy initiatives. The command was reactivated in 1993 under Air Education and Training Command with a mission of conducting AETC's flying training.
Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. While being an RAF station, Fairford hosts United States Air Force personnel. Since 2019, the base has played host to a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is the USAF's only European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force (BTF) operations. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the 2003 Iraq War, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and the first Gulf War in 1991.
The Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the Air Force Reserve Command. Based on the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport, the MC-130s' missions are the infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces, and the air refueling of (primarily) special operations helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft.
The United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) is a United States Air Force (USAF) major command (MAJCOM) and a component command of both United States European Command (USEUCOM) and United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM). As part of its mission, USAFE-AFAFRICA commands U.S. Air Force units pledged to NATO, maintaining combat-ready wings based from the United Kingdom to Turkey. USAFE-AFAFRICA plans, conducts, controls, coordinates and supports air and space operations in Europe, parts of Asia and all of Africa with the exception of Egypt to achieve U.S. national and NATO objectives based on taskings by the two combatant commanders.
Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment absorbed by Air Combat Command (ACC).
Shaw Air Force Base (Shaw AFB) (IATA: SSC, ICAO: KSSC, FAA LID: SSC) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately 8.4 miles (13.5 km) west-northwest of downtown Sumter, South Carolina. It is one of the largest military bases operated by the United States, and is under the jurisdiction of USAF Air Combat Command (ACC). The 20th Fighter Wing (20th FW) is the host unit.
The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is one of the nine Major Commands (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University.
The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers 21,000,000 square miles (54,000,000 km2) and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, The Caucasus, Russia and Greenland. The Commander of the United States EUCOM simultaneously serves as the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) within NATO, a military alliance. During the Gulf War and Operation Northern Watch, EUCOM controlled the forces flying from Incirlik Air Base.
The 178th Wing is a unit of the Ohio Air National Guard, stationed at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport ANG complex, Springfield, Ohio. If activated to federal service, the wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC), with elements of the wing gained by the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (AFISRA).
The United States Air Force's 9th Combat Operations Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command space operations unit located at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The 9th augments the 614th Air and Space Operations Center in operating the Joint Space Operations Center, performing combat operations, plans, strategy and intelligence assessments that enable the Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space to command and control space forces by providing worldwide space effects and theater support to combatant commanders.
The 428th Fighter Squadron is part of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. Currently, it operates F-15SG Strike Eagle aircraft conducting formal training missions to qualify Republic of Singapore Air Force crew in the F-15SG in a program titled Peace Carvin V.
The 363d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing is a United States Air Force unit. The wing is assigned to the United States Air Force Sixteenth Air Force, stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.