ICU — Intensive Care Unit.
IFF — Identification Friend or Foe. A radio system that broadcasts specific bits of data “on demand” by compatible radar-radio systems that properly “interrogate” the system. The data are usually identification, altitude and airspeed data. Used by civilian and military agencies.
ILS — Instrument Landing System. Precise glide path (heading) and glideslope (altitude) radio beam system, widely used by civilian and military aircraft to line up with a runway for landing in bad weather. The bombing computers of military strike aircraft can sometimes simulate an ILS when no ground-based ILS is available.
ILYVsuIN-76 — NATO reporting name MAINSTAY. Soviet version of the American E-3 Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) radar plane.
IMMELMANN — Air combat maneuver where an aircraft can change or reverse direction rapidly without a wide, sweeping turn. Usually made by executing a steep climb, rolling inverted into the desired direction, then rolling upright.
INS — Inertial Navigation System. Precise navigation unit that uses accelerometers (precise electronic pendulums) to detect and quantify all aircraft motion and compute exact position and speed.
IR — Infrared (heat) energy.
IRSTS — Infrared Search and Track System. Used by the Soviet Union on fighter aircraft in conjunction with GCI search radar to collect attack information to launch air-to-air missiles from long range without transmitting radar information that can be detected.
JP-4 — Standard U.S. military jet fuel.
JUDY — Code word to ground or airborne controllers from fighter pilots that a designated target has been detected (either by radar or visually) and that the fighter pilot is continuing the attack alone.
KC-10 EXTENDER — McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 airliners modified for inflight refueling and heavy cargo transport. Able to carry all the men and equipment of an entire deployed fighter squadron for five thousand miles, including non-stop inflight refueling for the unit’s fighters.
KC-135 — Boeing 707 airliner modified for inflight refueling and light to medium cargo duties.
KGB — Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for Internal Security). The intelligence-gathering unit and secret police of the Soviet Union.
KOLLEGIYA — The main military council of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, responsible for military implementation of the policies of the Politburo and the Communist Party.
LLUYKA TANKS — Specialized fuel tanks carried by non-air-refuelable aircraft that are fitted with retractable refueling probes to give these aircraft the ability to refuel inflight.
M-16/M203 — Standard U.S. infantry automatic rifle. The M-203 is a lightweight forty-millimeter grenade launcher fitted under the barrel of the M-16 rifle that can fire high-explosive rounds out to twelve hundred feet without impeding use of the rifle itself.
MAW — Mission-Adaptive Wings. Wings that can change the shape of their upper, leading and trailing edge surfaces to improve performance without the use of “hanging” devices such as flaps and slats.
MFD — Multi-Function Display. A series of computer monitors in an aircraft that replace or augment conventional aircraft instruments. Most MFDs can be programmed to display a wide variety of information in text or graphic form.
MIKOYAN-GUREYVICH — MiG. One of the many government aircraft design bureaus of the Soviet Union. Others are Sukhoi (Su), Ilyushin (Il), Yakovlev (Yak), Tupolev (TL), Beriev (Be), Antonov (An), and Mil (Mi).
MIL — Military power throttle setting. Usually one hundred percent or more of an engine’s rated thrust.
MODES AND CODES — An aircraft properly displaying coded IFF data that are being received by a ground or airborne surveillance controller able to scan for these signals.
NRTS — Near-Room-Temperature Superconductors. A specially designed composite material able to demonstrate unusually high rates of electrical conductivity at normal “room” or operational temperatures. Most materials exhibit superconducting capabilities only at super-cold temperature levels. NRTS devices can transmit high amounts of energy without relying on large or bulky power generators or large environmental units.
NSC — National Security Council. A group that advises the President of the United States on a wide range of national security matters.
POLITBURO — Politicheskoye Buro (Political Bureau). The key policy-making body of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, directing the work of the Party between plenums (biannual meetings) of the Central Committee. Composed of not more than fifteen persons, they are chosen by the 307 voting and 107 candidate (non-voting) members of the Central Committee.
PULSE-DOPPLER — Long-range radar tracking system that detects changes in relative motion of a target.
RAMENSKOYE — Chief aircraft design and test center of the Soviet Union, located in west-central Asia near Moscow.
RAPIER — British-built surface-to-air missile air-defense system, developed by British Aerospace Dynamics. Self-contained, mobile, low- and medium-altitude capable to a range of five miles.
ROE — Rules of Engagement. Set of rules established before an air-to-air engagement that spells out exactly when and how a fighter pilot can begin and carry out an attack.
SA-7 — NATO code name “Grail.” Soviet shoulder-launched heat-seeking missile used mainly against helicopters and slow, low-flying jets. Range eighty- to five-thousand-foot altitude, five to six miles, speed of missile Mach one point five.
SA-8 — NATO code name “Gecko.” Soviet short-range surface-to-air missile. Highly mobile, all-weather capability from one hundred to twenty thousand feet, out to eight miles range. Missile speed Mach two.
SA-10 — NATO code name “Grumble.” Strategic (fixed-base) high-performance Soviet surface-to-air missile. All-altitude, all-weather capability. Can intercept aircraft, cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles and some intercontinental strategic missile warheads.
SA-15 — Highly mobile improved version of the SA-8 surface-to-air missile.
SAC — Strategic Air Command. U.S. Air Force major command responsible for strategic nuclear, refueling, and reconnaissance forces (aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles).
SATCOM — Satellite Communications. A radio data-link network that sends coded information to a time-sharing relay satellite for rebroadcast to Earth stations. High-speed, secure global communications capability.
SCISSORS — An air combat maneuver designed to prevent an unintentional overrun of a pursued aircraft. When an aircraft being pursued begins to slow or make sharp maneuvers to cause a pursuing aircraft to overshoot, the pursuer can begin several wide side-to-side turns to avoid overtaking the pursued aircraft without decreasing power.
SMG — Submachine Gun.
SMTD — STOL/Maneuverability Technology Demonstrator. A program developed to explore new technologies for advanced fighter aircraft to decrease takeoff and landing distances and increase maneuverability by the use of canards, mission-adaptive wings, vectored-thrust engines, computers and improved performance engines. The F-15 SMTD was one of the first high-tech fighter aircraft (precursor of the Cheetah). See STOL.