Standard Abbreviations
- a.m. - ante meridien (time before 12 noon, counting from 12 midnight or 0000 hours)
- A/1c - Airman First Class (military rank)
- A/2c - Airman Second Class (military rank)
- A/3c - Airman Third Class (military rank)
- AACS - Airways and Air Communications Service
- AAF - U.S. Army Air Forces (became USAF Sept. 18, 1947)
- AARO - All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
- AATIP - Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program - Successor: UAPTF, Formation: 2007
- AAWSAP - Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program - Initial name of AATIP Program
- ACW - USAF Aircraft Control & Warning radar site
- ACWRON - USAF Aircraft Control & Warning Radar Observation Network, Air (later Aerospace) Defense Command
- ADC - USAF Air (later Aerospace) Defense Command (now subsumed under US Strategic Command and NORAD)
- ADT - Atlantic Daylight [Saving] Time (ADT + 3 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- AEC - U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
- AESS - U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (now Dept. of Energy) Atomic Energy Security Service
- AEW&C - USAF Airborne Early Warning & Control airborne radar system
- AFB - USAF Air Force Base
- AFPAA - Air Force Public Affairs Agency - 1978
- AFOSI - USAF Office of Special Investigations
- AFS - USAF Air Force Station (typically a radar site)
- AHST - Alaska-Hawaii Standard Time (AHST + 10 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- AMC - USAF Air Materiel Command, Wright Field later Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio
- approx. - approximately
- APRO - Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, Tucson, Ariz. (defunct 1988)
- arcmin - arc minute (angular unit of measurement = 1/60 of a degree)
- Asst. - Assistant
- AST - Atlantic Standard Time (AST + 4 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- ATIC - Advanced Technical Intelligence Center - U.S. Air Force - Wright-Patterson Air Force Base - 1951
- BAASS - Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies
- BB - USAF Project Blue Book, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio
- Bet. - Between
- BOAC - British Overseas Airways Corp.
- CAA - U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration (now Federal Aviation Administartion)
- CAP - USAF auxiliary Civil Air Patrol
- Capt. - Captain (military or naval rank)
- Cdr. - USN Commander (naval rank)
- CDT - Central Daylight [Saving] Time (CDT + 5 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- cf. - confrere (compare) (typically used here to indicate a source used in addition to the Berliner list entry, or a discrepant account)
- CFS - Canadian Forces Station
- CIA - U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
- CIC - U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps
- Co. - Company
- Col. - Colonel (military rank)
- Corp. - Corporation
- Cpl. - Corporal (military rank)
- CPO - Chief Petty Officer (naval rank)
- CST - Central Standard Time (CST + 6 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- CUFON - Computer UFO Network
- CUFOS - J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Ill.
- DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - Formed 1958 (originally named ARPA)
- Dept. - Department
- Det. - Detachment
- DIA - Defense Intelligence Agency
- DoD - U.S. Department of Defense
- Dr. - Doctor
- DST - Daylight Saving Time
- E - East (azimuth 90°)
- ECM - Electronic Counter Measures
- EDT - Eastern Daylight [Saving] Time (EDT + 4 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- ELINT - Electronic Intelligence
- EM - Electro Magnetic effects
- ENE - East North East (azimuth 67.5°)
- equiv - equivalent
- ESE - East South East (azimuth 112.5°)
- EST - Eastern Standard Time (EST + 5 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- FAA - Federal Aviation Administration
- FBI - U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations
- FEAF - USAF Far East Air Force
- FI - Fighter Interception (squadron or wing)
- FO - First Officer
- FOIA - U.S. Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S. Code 552)
- ft - feet (or foot) linear unit of measurement (= 0.3048 meter or 30.48 cm)
- g - unit of gravitational acceleration at earth's surface (= 32.2 ft/sec2 or 9.8 m/sec2 approx.)
- G-2 - U.S. Army intelligence division (of a given command or unit or staff)
- GCA - Ground Control (or Controlled) Approach (radar system for air traffic control)
- GCI - Ground Controlled Intercept (air defense radar)
- GMT - Greenwich Mean Time (now generally UTC, Coordinated Universal Time; U.S. military terminology Z or Zebra - or Zulu time)
- GOC - U.S. Ground Observer Corps (auxiliary of USAF Air Defense Command)
- GPS - Global Positioning System
- HEO - High Earth orbit
- HEO - Highly elliptical orbit
- hr - hour (time unit of measurement)
- Hwy - Highway
- IAC - U.S. National Security Council Intelligence Advisory Committee (now National Foreign Intelligence Board)
- IAS - Indicated Air Speed (conversion to true air speed depends on altitude, temperature, pressure)
- ICBM - Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
- IFF - Identification Friend or Foe encrypted radar transponder system
- IFO - Identified Flying Object
- JCS - U.S. Defense Department Joint Chiefs of Staff
- jg - junior grade (part of military rank) (also JG)
- knots - knots (unit of speed measurement =1.150779 mph)
- lb. - pound (unit of weight = 0.454 kilogram mass, approx., under standard gravity)
- LEO - Low Earth Orbit
- Lt - Col. Lieutenant Colonel (military rank)
- Lt. - Lieutenant (military rank)
- M/Sgt. - Master Sergeant (military rank)
- MAC - USAF Military Airlift Command (formerly MATS now Air Mobility Command)
- Mag - Magnetic (compass bearing or aircraft heading)
- Maint. - Maintenance
- Maj. - Major (military rank)
- MATS - USAF Military Air Transport Service (now Air Mobility Command)
- MCAS - USMC Marine Corps Air Station
- MDT - Mountain Daylight [Saving] Time (MDT + 6 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- MEO - Medium Earth orbit
- min - minute (time unit of measurement)
- mph - miles per hour (unit of speed measurement = 1.609344 km/hr or 1.46667 ft/sec approx., in statute miles of 5,280 feet)
- MST - Mountain Standard Time (MST + 7 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- Mtn. - Mountain
- N - North (azimuth 0° or 360°)
- NACA - U.S. National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (now NASA)
- NAS - USN Naval Air Station
- NE - North East (azimuth 45°)
- NICAP - National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena website
- NIDS - National Institute for Discovery Science
- N.M. - New Mexico (see elsewhere for complete list of U.S. state abbreviations)
- n.mi. - nautical miles
- NNE - North North East (azimuth 22.5°)
- NNW - North North West (azimuth 337.5°)
- NORAD - North American Aerospace Defense Command (U.S. Air Force-Canadian Air joint command)
- NW - North West (azimuth 315°)
- NYC - New York City
- Ofcr. - Officer
- OPC - Office of Policy Coordination (CIA covert action office, 1948-52)
- Ops - Operations
- p.m. - post meridien (time after 12 noon)
- PDT - Pacific Daylight [Saving] Time (PDT + 7 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- PFC - Private First Class (military rank)
- PST - Pacific Standard Time (PST + 8 hours = UTC-GMT-Z time)
- Pvt. - Private (military rank)
- RAAF - Royal Air Force (U.K.)
- RAAF - Roswell Army Air Field
- RAF - Royal Australian Air Force
- RAPCON - Radar Approach Control
- RCAF - Royal Canadian Air Force
- Recon - Reconnaissance
- re-eval - re-evaluation
- Ret. - Retired
- RPAS - Remotely Piloted Aircraft System
- RPAV - Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicle
- Rpt - Report
- Rt. - Route
- RV - Radar-Visual (Hynek UFO Classification)
- S - South (azimuth 180°)
- SAC - USAF Strategic Air Command (now U.S. Strategic Command)
- SE - South East (azimuth 135°)
- sec - second (time unit of measurement)
- SFC - Sergeant First Class (military rank)
- Sgt. - Sergeant (military rank)
- SIGINT - Signals Intelligence
- s/n - serial number
- Sq - Squadron
- SSE - South South East (azimuth 157.5°)
- S/Sgt - Staff Sergeant (military rank)
- SSW - South South West (azimuth 202.5°)
- Supv. - Supervisor
- SW - South West (azimuth 225°)
- TAS - True Air Speed (IAS corrected for altitude, temperature, pressure)
- T/Sgt. - Technical Sergeant (military rank)
- TWA - Trans World Airlines
- UAPTF - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force - Formation: 2020
- UAS - Unmanned Aerial Systems
- UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
- UFO - Unidentified Flying Object
- UK - United Kingdom
- USAF - U.S. Air Force
- USMC - U.S. Marine Corps
- USN - U.S. Navy
- USO - Unidentified Submerged Object
- USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (now Russia)
- W - West (azimuth 270°)
- WNW - West North West (azimuth 292.5°)
- WSW - West South West (azimuth 247.5°)