CINCSPACECOM — Commander in Chief, Space Command; the four-star Air Force officer responsible for all North American space activity including space surveillance, satellites, and rocket launches
COBRA DANE — long-range radar system designed to provide technical information on Soviet and Chinese ballistic missiles, especially impact points of warheads
COMSUBFLT — Commander, Submarine Fleet, the four-star Navy officer responsible for all American submarines
DARPA — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an office of the Department of Defense responsible for new weapon and aircraft research
DC-10 — wide-body cargo and passenger carrier made by McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Co.
DCI — Director of Central Intelligence, responsible for all intelligence-gathering activities in the U.S.
DEFCON — Defense Condition; ranges from 5 (peace, no advanced readiness) to 1 (all-out war); denotes worldwide readiness of U.S. military forces
Defense Satellite Program (DSP) — name of agency that operates all military reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering satellites
DF — direction-finder, a radio beacon that allows other DF-equipped units to locate it
DR — dead reckoning; estimating position by best-known heading and speed information
Dreamland — unclassified nickname for military research area in south-central Nevada
DSCS — Defense Satellite Communications System, a network of voice and data satellites to connect military and civilian defense agencies all over the world
Durandal — French-made runway-cratering bomb that uses a rocket engine to burrow deep under a runway surface before detonating its high-explosive warhead
E-2 Hawkeye — naval carrier-based airborne radar plane used to monitor friendly aircraft and search for enemy aircraft and vessels
E-3 — Sentry airborne radar plane (see AW ACS)
E-4B NEACP — (pronounced “kneecap”); National Emergency Airborne Command Post, a heavily modified Boeing 747 airliner used as a communications plane for the President of the United States and other high-ranking government officials in wartime
EB-52 — (F) modified B-52 bomber with air defense and defense suppression weapons and equipment EC-18 — next-generation electronic intelligence aircraft operated by the Strategic Air Command
EC-135C strategic communications aircraft — current-generation communications relay and electronic intelligence aircraft, operated by Strategic Air Command ECM — electronic countermeasures
ELT — emergency locator transmitter, a radio that transmits a beacon signal on special search and rescue frequencies to facilitate rescue operations
EMP — electromagnetic pulse, the high burst of energy from a nuclear explosion that can disrupt communications and electronic circuitry for long distances and for long periods of time
ETA — estimated time of arrival
ETE — estimated time en route
F-4E Phantom — current two-seat fighter-bomber built by McDonnell-Douglas
F-16 ADF Fighting Falcon — lightweight fighter built by General Dynamics; ADF (air defense fighter) model specially modified to intercept unidentified bomber aircraft at long range
F-23 Wildcat — (fictional, but X-23 is actual) next-generation fighter built by Northrop and McDonnell-Douglas
Fei Lung-7 — Chinese ship-launched medium-range antiship missile
Fei Lung-9 — (F) Chinese ship-launched long-range antiship missile with nuclear warhead
FIE — fighter-intercept exercise, where fighters practice finding, identifying, intercepting, and attacking bombers
FOREST GREEN — Defense Department program developed to detect and measure nuclear explosions on Earth or in the atmosphere
Form 781 — standard aircraft maintenance log
Fox Three — in an air intercept, a code meaning the aircraft’s machine gun or cannon is being employed
GCI — Ground Controlled Intercept, ground radar station that controls fighters to intercept unidentified aircraft
Global Positioning System (GPS) — constellation of satellites in Earth orbit that provide very precise time, position, and ground-speed information to aircraft and vessels
GUARD — 121.5 or 243.0 megahertz, the international emergency radio frequencies
HADES — (F) BLU-96 fuel-air explosive bomb
Harpoon — U.S.-made AGM-84 long-range antiship missile
HAVE NAP — AGM-142 Israeli-made long-range air-launched attack missile
HAVE QUICK — secure antieavesdrop air-to-air radio used by friendly fighters
HAWC — (F) High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center, a secret U.S. Air Force research facility in Dreamland that conducts flight-test experiments on new and modified aircraft and new weapon systems
HDTV — high-definition television
Hong Qian-61 — short-range antiaircraft missile system deployed on medium-size Chinese warships
Hong Qian-91 — medium-range antiaircraft missile system deployed on large Chinese naval vessels
Hornet — F/A-18 carrier-based fighter-bomber built by McDonnell-Douglas
HUD — heads-up display, a system that projects flight and weapons information in front of a pilot’s field of view to allow him to read important flight information without looking back down inside the cockpit at his instrument panel during critical phases of flight, such as air combat
ICBM — intercontinental ballistic missile, very long-range nuclear-tipped attack missiles
IFF — Identification Friend or Foe, a radio system that broadcasts coded identification information to other aircraft or radar systems
IN — instructor navigator
IRSTS — infrared search and track system, an electronic weapon system for fighters that detects heat energy and can transmit azimuth (bearing to the target) data to the fighter’s fire-control weapon system
ISAR — Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, a radar system that uses the motion of the object being tracked to sharpen and define the radar image; commonly used to identify ships by naval reconnaissance aircraft
J-2 — part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff joint staff, J-2 is the JCS directorate of intelligence
JCS — Joint Chiefs of Staff, the commanders of the five main branches of the American military that serve as the interface between the National Command Authority (President and Secretary of Defense) and the military forces. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the NCA’s primary uniformed military adviser.
KA-6 — aerial refueling tanker version of the A-6 Intruder carrier-based attack aircraft
KC-10 — aerial refueling tanker version of the McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 airliner
KC-135 — aerial refueling tanker version of the C-135 transport plane
KH — Keyhole series of photographic reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence-gathering satellites; produces very high-resolution photographs; the code name KEYHOLE refers to overhead photographic imaging systems, including aircraft and satellites