GSP — Gusenichnii Samokhodnii Porom: The Russian name for a tracked amphibious ferry used to carry tanks and other heavy equipment across a river.
HARM — High Speed Antiradiation Missile: An air-launched missile designed to home in on enemy surveillance and guidance radars and destroy them.
Harpoon: The American-made Harpoon missile can be fired from ships, from aircraft, and even from submarines. This versatile antiship missile can carry its 500-pound warhead to targets up to 60 nautical miles away.
HARTs — Hardened Artillery Site: A type of fortification used by the North Koreans to protect artillery from attack.
HQ: Headquarters.
HUD — Heads Up Display: Projects important information onto the windscreen directly in front of the pilot’s eyes, making it possible to avoid going “heads down” to look at cockpit instruments. The HUD is a vital aid during a fast-moving air combat. The data displayed on the windscreen includes speed, altitude, weapons status, g forces, target data, and fuel status.
IFF — Identification Friend or Foe: An airplane or ship sends a coded electronic signal out to an unknown contact. A black box on an aircraft, if it receives the proper code, responds with a signal of its own, telling the observer that the aircraft is friendly. Aircraft without the proper codes are the enemy. The codes are changed daily.
Il-18 Coot: An elderly Russian four-engine airliner. Versions are used by the military and by Aeroflot, the Soviet Union’s civilian airline.
Il-76 Mainstay: Based on a large, four-engine jet transport, this radar plane has a large saucer radome on top of the fuselage. It can monitor air and sea movements up to several hundred miles away. It is the rough equivalent of the American E-3 Sentry.
INS — Inertial Navigation System: This device keeps track of the user’s position by measuring his movements in three dimensions. The result is most often displayed on a small map or as a latitude and longitude readout. When started, an INS must always be “told” where it is.
IP — Initial Point: A U.S. Air Force term that refers to the geographic location used as the start point for an approach to a target.
ITV — Improved TOW vehicle: This converted M113 armored personnel carrier mounts a two-tube launcher on top to fire TOW antitank missiles. The launcher and its attached sight can be extended several feet into the air, allowing the vehicle to stay hidden while searching for targets.
Jian-7: The Chinese designation for their copy of the Soviet MiG-21 fighter.
KA-6D tanker: A modified version of the A-6 Intruder, this plane is fitted with a hose and reel. It is launched from carriers and is used to refuel the other planes in flight after they have been launched.
KATUSA — Korean Attached to U.S. Army: Term for a South Korean soldier serving as part of an American Army unit.
KGB — Komitet Gosudatstvennoy Sigurnost: Committee for State Security. The Soviet organization responsible for the security of the Soviet state inside and outside its own borders. It deals with subversion, espionage, intelligence gathering, and other matters.
LAMPS — Light Airborne Multipurpose System: See SH-2F Sea Sprite.
LAW — Light Antitank Weapon: A 66mm rocket in a fiberglass tube, this one-shot, throwaway weapon weighs about five pounds. It has a short range and limited penetrating power, but it gives the individual soldier a powerful one-time “punch” against lightly armored vehicles, bunkers, or buildings.
LOFAR — Low Frequency Analysis: The sound signature of each submarine is subtly different, and by analyzing the sounds they make a subhunter may be able to determine the nature of his opponent. The term is also used to refer to a class of relatively inexpensive passive sonobuoys dropped from ASW aircraft to listen for enemy submarines.
LRRPs — Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols: During the Vietnam War, small detachments of soldiers were inserted deep in enemy territory, where they operated alone for extended periods of time. Specially trained, they gathered intelligence and conducted ambushes, sabotage, or assassinations.
M16: The standard U.S. Army infantry weapon, it is much lighter and smaller than its predecessor, the M14 rifle. The M16 weighs eight and a half pounds. It can be fired on semi or full automatic.
M-48 tank: This vehicle was first designed in the early 1950s. Mounting a 90mm gun and with a gasoline engine, it was used by American armored units and exported widely. Obsolete since the 1960s, many have been reworked with larger 105mm guns, diesel engines, and improved fire-control systems.
M-60 tank: The M-60 tank mounts a 105mm gun and served as the U.S. military’s main battle tank for nearly two decades. It is still in service, but is being gradually replaced in front-line units by the M-1 Abrams.
M60 machine gun: The standard U.S. Army machine gun, it is actually derived from a World War II German design, the MG 42. It weighs 23 pounds and is normally fired from a bipod.
M61 Vulcan: This revolutionary 20mm cannon revived the “Gatling gun” principle for use as an aircraft weapon. It has a rate of fire of over 3,000 rounds per minute. First appearing in the 1950s, this principle has since been applied to other calibers (see GAU-8).
M-113: An armored personnel carrier first deployed in 1960, it is little more than a thinly armored box on treads. Armed only with a. 50-caliber machine gun, it remains popular and cheap — despite its inadequate protection. It is being replaced in the U.S. Army by the M-2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
M-577: A heavily modified version of the M113 armored personnel carrier, it is equipped to serve as a mobile command post.
MAC — Military Airlift Command: Part of the U.S. Air Force, it operates their fleet of transport aircraft and is responsible for ensuring the rapid air movement of U.S. troops and equipment to trouble spots around the globe.
MAD — Magnetic Anomaly Detector: A sensor carried on Navy subhunting aircraft. It detects the distortions in the earth’s magnetic field caused by the presence of several thousand tons of steel making up a submarine’s hull.
Mark 82: One of a series of low-drag bombs used by the United States and other countries. The Mark 82 weighs 250 pounds, the Mark 83 1,000 pounds, and the Mark 84 2,000 pounds.
MiGs: “MiG” stands for “Mikoyan and Gureyivich,” whose aircraft designs have been produced since World War II. Other design bureaus have also produced fighter designs, but the MiG series has been the most famous and the most successful. All Russian aircraft have been assigned code names by NATO, since they do not give their aircraft names like “Falcon” or “Eagle.” Fighter code names always begin with F, bombers with B, and special-purpose aircraft with M.
MiG-19 UTI: A twin-engine, single-seat fighter that appeared after the Korean War, the MiG-19 Farmer is an older design that is still fairly maneuverable and has shown that it can take some punishment and still survive. The “UTI” is the Soviet abbreviation for the two-seat training version.