Ranks and insignia of NATO

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Ranks and insignia of NATO affiliated nations are combined military ranks and insignia used by the member countries (and other affiliated nations) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Contents

The rank scale is used for specifying posts within NATO.

Rank codes

NATO maintains a "standard rank scale" which is also known as a "standardized reference system" in an attempt to match every member country's military ranks to corresponding ranks used by the other members. [1] The NATO rank reference code categories were established in a 1978 document entitled STANAG 2116 (formally titled NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel). NATO rank codes are not the same as military ranks (US Army examples: Private, Corporal, Warrant Officer 1, Chief Warrant Officer 5, Captain, Major, Colonel, etc.) and military pay grades (US military examples: E-1, W-1, CW-5, O-1, O-1e, O-10, etc.). They are rank codes that allow for interoperability among NATO member nations.

Officer rank codes

OF-1 – OF-10 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for commissioned officers: [1]

Other rank codes

OR1–OR9 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for other ranks: [1]

Comparison to US system

The numbers in the system broadly correspond to the U.S. uniformed services pay grades, with OR-x replacing E-x. The main difference is in the commissioned officer ranks, where the US system recognises two ranks at OF-1 level (O-1 and O-2), meaning that all O-x numbers after O-1 are one point higher on the US scale than they are on the NATO scale (e.g. a major is OF-3 on the NATO scale and O-4 on the US scale).

Officer ranks
Rank groupGeneral / flag officersSenior officersJunior officersOfficer cadet
NATO codeOF-10OF-9OF-8OF-7OF-6OF-5OF-4OF-3OF-2OF-1 OF(D) Student officer
Uniformed services pay grade Special gradeO-10O-9O-8O-7O-6O-5O-4O-3O-2O-1 Officer candidate/Cadet
Other ranks
Rank groupNon-commissioned officersEnlisted
NATO rank scale OR-9OR-8OR-7OR-6OR-5OR-4OR-3OR-2OR-1
Uniformed services pay grade SpecialE-9E-8E-7E-6E-5E-4E-3E-2E-1

Ranks and insignia of member armed forces

Army

Air Force

Navy

See also

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References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 NATO 2021, p. 1-1.

Sources

  • NATO (2021). STANAG 2116 NATO (7th ed.). Brussels, Belgium: NATO Standardization Agency.
  • "NATO CODES FOR GRADES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL. STANAG 2116. (Edition No. 4) NAVY/ARMY/AIR" (PDF). Royal Navy . Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  • "STANAG 2116 (Edition 5)". Latvian National Armed Forces . Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  • "person-type-rank-code". Multilateral Interoperability Programme. 13 December 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  • "NATO Rank Comparison". Canadian Forces . Retrieved 2009-06-24.
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