Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 03 (3 page)

           
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

           
LACROSSE—new generation of
high-resolution radar imaging satellites; transmits intelligence data to Earth
by data link

           
LSD—large-screen display; main
processed radar data display of the Aegis naval battle group air defense
system; also Landing Ship, Dock, an amphibious assault ship that carries large
floating dock pieces to offload supply ships during beach assaults

           
M61A1—standard 20-millimeter cannon
of many American fighter aircraft

           
MAC—Military Airlift Command, the
Air Force organization responsible for most American military transport duties

           
MAJCOM—Major Command, the main
organizations directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Command
Authority; divided into specified (single-service) or unified (joint-service)
commands

           
Megafortress
—(F)
unclassified nickname of the EB-52 strategic “battleship” escort aircraft

           
MEU—Marine Expeditionary Unit, the
smallest and most responsive of the U.S. Marine Corps’ air-ground task forces;
usually made up of two thousand Marines and Navy personnel and usually deployed
with Navy fleets

           
MFD—multi-function display, an
instrument screen in a modern aircraft cockpit that displays different data and
performs different functions, depending on the selected mode

           
Mk 82—standard five-hundred-pound
general-purpose high-explosive bomb

           
MNP—Moro National Party, the
pro-Islamic political organization active in the southern
Philippines

     
      
MOA—Military Operating Area, a piece of
airspace set aside for high-performance fighter activity; the military is
responsible for aircraft separation

           
Murene NTL-90—French-made
air-launched torpedo

           
MUTES—Multiple Target Emitter Site,
a mobile electronic threat complex used in training missions by the Strategic
Air Command; simulates many different types of enemy radar-guided air-defense
weapons

           
MV-22A—Marine Corps amphibious
assault version of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft

           
Nansha Dao—Chinese name for the
Spratly Islands National Security Advisor—coordinates activities of the
National Security Council and reports directly to the President

           
National Security Council—principal
advisory group to the President on defense matters; composed of the Vice
President, Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Defense, the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Director of Central Intelligence

           
NAVSTAR—unclassified nickname of
the Global Positioning System of navigation satellites

           
NCA—National Command Authority,
composed of the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense,
who command all combat forces through the operational chain of command

           
New People’s Army—the Communist
guerrilla forces of the National Democratic Front, a major antigovemment force
in the
Philippines

           
New Philippine Army—the name of the
reorganized Philippine defense forces

           
NIRTSat—(F) Need It Right This
Second satellites, a series of lightweight communications, intelligence, and
reconnaissance satellites launched by small, quick-response space boosters such
as ALARM .

           
NMCC—
National
Military
Command
Center
, the main command- control-communications
facility for senior Pentagon commanders

           
NORAD—North American Aerospace
Defense Command, the joint multi-service U.S. and Canadian organization
responsible for surveillance and air-defense operations of North America;
located within Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

           
NSA—National Security Agency, the
agency responsible for interpreting and disseminating intelligence information

           
NSC—National Security Council

           
OPLAN—Operations Plan, generally
referring to the pre-planned series of military responses drawn for various
parts of the world

           
OSO—Offensive Systems Officer, the
navigator-bombardier on a B-l strategic bomber

           
PACAF—Pacific Air Forces, the major
Air Force command responsible for all air operations from the U.S. West Coast
to Africa

           
PACER SKY—(F) a satellite-based
reconnaissance system that transmits real-time infrared, visual, and radar
satellite data to a ground or airborne terminal to provide aircrews or
commanders with up-to-the-minute information on enemy troop positions
Palawan—the westernmost island province of the Philippines; very sparsely settled
and remote

           
PCS—permanent change of station;
generally any military assignment lasting more than 180 days

           
Phalanx CIWS—CIWS, or Close-In
Weapon System; Phalanx is a radar-guided 30-millimeter Gatling gun used by many
classes of naval vessels for last-ditch defense against antiship missiles

           
Powder River—a MOA (Military
Operating Area) covering parts of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota, part of
the Strategic Training Range Complex of the Strategic Air Command; used as a
fighter-intercept area and bombing range

           
PRC—People’s Republic of
China

           
PRF—pulse repetition frequency, the
rate at which a radar system transmits electronic signals; faster PRF rates
usually denote very high-precision radar tracking, as for gun or missile
control

           
PT—physical training

           
Puerto Princesa—the main city and
capital of the island
province
of
Palawan
in the
Philippines

           
RC-135X—a version of the Strategic
Air Command’s series of strategic reconnaissance aircraft, specifically
designed to locate, classify, and target enemy surface-to-air missile sites

           
RCS—radar cross-section, the
apparent size of a target on a radar, referring to the ability of a radar to
detect a target at a given range; mostly a function of the size and structural
composition of the target

           
RED FLAG—a large-scale tactical air
war game exercise held several times a year at Nellis Air Force Base in
southern
Nevada
, involving hundreds of aircraft from all
over the world

           
RHAWS—Radar Heading and Warning
System, a display in many modern fighter aircraft that warns of the presence,
direction, and type of enemy radars

           
RIO
—Radar Intercept Officer, the “backseater”
in an F-14 Tomcat carrier-based fighter responsible for locating enemy targets

           
RK-55—standard twenty-kiloton
tactical nuclear warhead designed in the
Soviet Union
and used extensively by many Soviet client
countries

           
ROE—Rules of Engagement, the set of
orders briefed to military personnel (usually fighter pilots) on when they may
attack enemy forces; designed so that commanders may have strict control of a
situation at all times, but also to provide maximum protection for crew members
on the scene

           
RON—Remain Overnight; usually
referring to an unplanned diversion

           
RPG—rocket-propelled grenade, usually
an antitank weapon carried by infantry RTB—Return To Base

           
SA-2—Soviet long-range
surface-to-air missile system; older system, capable only against high-altitude
targets

           
SA-11—Soviet medium-range,
high-performance surface-to-air missile system

           
SAC—Strategic Air Command, primary
long-range air offensive military organization in the United States,
responsible for land- based strategic bombers, long-range land-based nuclear
missiles, aerial refueling tankers, and long-range strategic reconnaissance and
communications aircraft

           
SATCOM—Satellite Communications
System, the U.S. Air Force’s primary satellite communications system

           
SCARAB—(F), Self Contained Air
Relocatable Alert Booster, a highly transportable small space booster system
designed to quickly launch lightweight satellites into Earth orbit from any
location

           
Sea Ray—small, inexpensive
air-launched antiship missile, usually carried by helicopters based on naval
vessels

           
SECDEF—Secretary of Defense, a
member of the President’s Cabinet who makes the day-to-day decisions in all
defense matters

           
Shuihong-5—principal Chinese
amphibious patrol and attack aircraft

           
SIOP—Single Integrated Operations
Plan, the multi-service attack plan for all American military forces for the
conduct of a strategic nuclear war

           
SITREP—Situation Report; usually
refers to a request for a quick summary of a battle or the status of forces
involved in a battle

           
SLAM—Standoff Land Attack Missile,
the TV-guided version of the AGM-84 Harpoon missile

           
SM-2—Standard Missile, the primary
surface-to-air missile on large Navy warships

           
SMFD—Super Multi Function Display, a
large aircraft instrument computer display that presents flight information in
a pictorial icon-based format instead of alphanumerics

           
SPACECOM—Space Command, the Air
Force major command responsible for all military space activities

           
SPO—Senior Project Officer, the
director of a particular weapon- development project

           
Spratly Islands—a chain of small
islands, atolls, and coral reefs in the South China Sea between the Philippines
and Vietnam, long contested by several nations because of its strategic
position and because of its natural resources

           
SPY-1—primary three-dimensional
radar system of the Aegis battle group air-defense system

           
SR-71—“Blackbird” strategic
reconnaissance aircraft, the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft ever built;
retired in 1989 from the Strategic Air Command

           
SRAM—Short Range Attack Missile, a
nuclear-armed inertially guided attack missile carried by B-52, B-l, FB-111A,
and B-2 bombers

           
SS-25—Primary Soviet-made
nuclear-armed mobile intercontinental ballistic missile

           
START—Strategic Arms Reduction
Treaty, a proposed treaty between the
U.S.
and the
USSR
to limit the number of long-range strategic
nuclear weapons by both sides

           
STRATFOR—Strategic Forces group, a
team of Strategic Air Command commanders deployed ahead of a combat group to
establish a headquarters team and set up support operations for combat aircraft

           
STRC—Strategic Training Range
Complex, an extensive series of low-level navigation corridors, radar
bomb-scoring sites, live bombing ranges, and fighter-intercept exercise areas
in the north- central United States, operated by the Strategic Air Command for
bomber aircrew training

           
STS—Shuttle Transportation System,
the official name of the Space Shuttle program