Tu-16 Badger in Action

The name Badger is not actually part of the Soviet designation of the Tu-16. Badger is in fact a NATO Reporting Name; that is a name assigned to the aircraft by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Air Standards Coordinating Committee, a joint com­mittee made up of members from all NATO countries. The purpose of these reporting names is to allow rapid radio identification/reporting of Soviet aircraft types. The names arc all designed to sound different so that they will not be confused, even under con­ditions of poor radio reception. Single syllable names are used for propeller driven aircraft, while multiple syllable names are used for jet powered aircraft The name also gives the basic mission of the air­craft. Names beginning with F are for fighters, transports all begin with C, helicopters with H. and miscellaneous types (trainers, reconnaissance, etc.) begin with M. Bomber aircraft all have names beginning with B. therefore under the NATO Report­ing Name System, the Tu-16 was named Badger indicating that it is a jet powered bomber aircraft. Variants of the basic aircraft arc all identified by a suffix letter. The second Tu-16 variant identified by NATO would receive the name Badger B. the third Badger C. etc. Often this does not follow actual Soviet production. As an example, a type may actually be a third production variant, and be identified/named by NATO before the second pro­duction variant was seen by NATO observers.

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