twin-engine fighter with the armament removed and cameras installed in the nose. Its only defense is speed.
RIO — Radar Intercept Officer: The U.S. Navy term for the flight officer in the backseat of a two-seat fighter, such as the F-14 Tomcat or F-4 Phantom II. While the pilot flies the aircraft, the RIO operates the plane’s complex weapons systems.
ROK — Republic of Korea: South Korea.
RORSAT — Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite: A Russian radar satellite that searches for ships. It can transmit information back to naval headquarters in the Soviet Union or even provide targeting data directly to surface ships or subs with long-range weapons.
RPG — Rocket-Propelled Grenade: Russian designation for a series of simple antitank weapons. The most common is the RPG-7, which is a shoulder-fired weapon with a short range.
RPK: A Russian designation for a light machine gun of mediocre performance, especially when compared to the U.S. M60 machine gun. It weighs a little over 12 pounds.
R.S.F.S.R. — Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic: The largest of the fifteen republics making up the Soviet Union. The R.S.F.S.R. contains more than half the Soviet population and three- quarters of the nation’s territory. It stretches from the Baltic Sea in the west to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the east — including all of Siberia.
RTO — Radio Telephone Operator: Any soldier assigned to carry and operate a unit’s radio. He is usually found near the officers.
S-60: The designation for a Russian-designed twin 57mm antiaircraft gun. They are normally deployed in batteries of six or regiments of twenty-four. The guns are radar-guided.
SA-2 Guideline: An elderly Soviet antiaircraft missile. The “SA” stands for “surface to air.” It is designed to engage high-altitude targets.
SA-7 Grail: A small, shoulder-fired missile with a heat-seeker. It can engage low-altitude targets at close range. A later version, the SA-14 Gremlin, has improved performance.
SA-8 Gecko: A newer, mobile antiaircraft missile, it can engage aircraft at low and medium altitude. It is completely self-sufficient, with the radar and missiles mounted on an amphibious wheeled vehicle.
SA-N-8: A naval version of the shoulder-fired SA-14 Gremlin, it is a short-range, heat- seeking antiaircraft missile.
Sabot: Technically the French word for “shoe,” it is also the name for an armor-piercing tank shell. A small superheavy tungsten alloy or depleted-uranium penetrator is fixed to a larger boot, the sabot, which is the same size as the tank’s main gun barrel. When the round is fired, the boot falls away as it leaves the barrel, freeing the penetrator for its fight to the target.
SACEUR — Supreme Allied Commander in Europe: A NATO command, the billet is occupied by a four-star general who would command all NATO forces in Europe in wartime.
SAM — Surface-to-Air Missile: A general term applied to any missile used to shoot at aircraft.
SAR — Search and Rescue: The use of aircraft and specialized rescue teams to search for and recover aircrews downed behind enemy lines.
SH-2F Sea Sprite: A small twin-engine helicopter with a crew of three. It can land and take off from the fantail of a small warship and search for ships or chase down sonar contacts. It can carry torpedoes or depth charges for use against enemy subs. It is also called the LAMPS Mark I, for “Light Airborne Multipurpose System.”
SH-60B Seahawk: A twin-engine helicopter designed to replace the SH-2F Sea Sprite. Equipped with powerful engines and advanced electronics, the Seahawk is also called the LAMPS Mark III. It can search for surface ships or submarines and attack both types of targets.
SIGINT — Signals Intelligence: Similar to ELINT, it encompasses both the collection of enemy electronic emissions and the later analysis of those emissions.
SMG: Submachine gun.
Sonobuoys: Small, air-droppable sonar devices used to detect submarines. They may be either active pinging sonars or passive listening devices. ASW aircraft and helicopters usually carry large numbers of sonobuoys.
SOP — Standard Operating Procedure: Standardized instructions covering the optimum procedures for many different types of operations — for everything from forming a convoy to attacking a bunker. Because it is supposed to be “standard” Army-wide, it allows different units to cooperate more efficiently.
Soviet submarine designations: The Soviets do not reveal their names or designations for their submarines. NATO has thus designated each class of Soviet subs with a letter of the phonetic alphabet — Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, and so on. They are not designated in sequence, so that the Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines actually appeared after the Tango class.
SQS-56 sonar: A medium-frequency sonar carried on the U.S.
SS-N-2C Styx: A Soviet-designed surface-to-surface missile. With a range of roughly 46 miles, the Styx is intended to give even small naval vessels a powerful punch. The missile has been fired in anger in a number of conflicts around the world, and it has sunk a number of warships and merchantmen. However, the Styx has proven ineffective against newer, more sophisticated missile defenses.
Su-7 Fitter: Produced by the Sukhoi design bureau, this thirty-year-old design is a single- engine, single-seat attack aircraft. It has poor range and can carry only a mediocre payload.
Su-27 Flanker: A new twin-engine, single-seat Soviet fighter. Roughly equal to the U.S. F-15 in performance, it carries a large number of radar-guided missiles.
T-55: An older Soviet tank with a relatively weak 100mm gun and many design flaws. Among other things, the ammunition is poorly protected, so that any solid hit on the tank is likely to detonate the shells.
T-62A: The successor to the T-55 tank, the T-62A first appeared in the 1960s. It mounts a 115mm gun and improved fire-control system. It has thicker armor but compares poorly with its U.S. equivalent, the M60 tank.
T-72 tank: A modern Russian design, the T-72 mounts a 125mm gun and improved armor. It has several flaws, notably its fire-control system and a cranky automatic loader. Nevertheless, the T-72’s heavy armor is still hard to penetrate, especially from the front.
TACCO — Tactical Coordinator: A Navy term for the officer on an ASW plane who controls the attack. He must coordinate the use of his plane’s weapons and sensors, and possibly those of other units as well.
TOW — Tube-launched, Optical Wire-guided missile: A large, long- range antitank missile that first saw service in Vietnam and was a spectacular success. Since then it has been improved and is now the standard U.S. heavy antitank weapon. It has a range of 3,750 meters.
Tu-16 Badger F: The Tu-16 Badger is a 1950s-vintage twin-jet bomber. It has been used in many different roles since its introduction. The “F” model is loaded with electronic sensors designed to record information on enemy transmissions.
XO — Executive Officer: A Navy term for the officer who is second-in-command of a naval vessel. He is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the ship, while the captain keeps track of the big picture.
Z: Slang for DMZ or Demilitarized Zone.
ZSU-23-4 Shilka: A Soviet tracked antiaircraft vehicle, it carries four 23mm antiaircraft cannon. It has an onboard radar and is considered a dangerous opponent.
