JTFEX Joint Task Force Exercise.
KC-10 Extender Heavy tanker/transport based on Douglas DC-10 wide-body commercial airliner. Fifty-nine aircraft in service, some modified with drogue refueling hose reel as well as tail boom. Three CF6 turbofan engines. Maximum takeoff weight 590,000 lbs.
Kevlar Dupont trademark name for a high-strength synthetic material used to manufacture helmets and body armor.
Knot Nautical miles per hour. Often used by U.S. Air Force and Navy to measure aircraft speeds, particularly in the subsonic range. One knot equals one nautical mile per hour.
LANTIRN Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night. A pair of electronic pods mounted on F-15E and certain F-16 fighter aircraft. Built by Lockheed Martin.
LAPES Low Altitude Precision Extraction System. Use of a small drogue parachute to extract a cargo pallet or vehicle from the ramp of a cargo aircraft skimming just above a runway. Visually impressive, but rarely used, since it is risky and requires highly trained crews and loadmasters.
LAW M72 Light Antitank Weapon. Single-shot disposable rocket launcher, now obsolete.
LGB Laser-Guided Bomb.
LGOP Little Groups of Paratroops. Airborne-style of small-unit tactics, deriving from WWII experience, when combat jumps resulted in severe scattering and intermixing of units.
LIC Low Intensity Combat. Army jargon for “small war.” A term rarely used by the people actually doing the fighting.
LMSLR Program designation (Logistic Military Sealift Long-Range) for conversion of 50,000-ton fast container ships for prepositioning Army equipment in the Western Pacific (Saipan).
LOSAT Line of Sight Antitank. A big (177 lb/ 80.4 kg) high-velocity unguided rocket that relies on kinetic energy to destroy armored targets. Originally intended for mounting on a (now cancelled) light armored vehicle chassis, program status in 1996 was uncertain.
LPI/LPD Low Probability of Interception/Low Probability of Detection. What you want in your combat electronic systems.
LZ Landing Zone. Designated area for tactical landing of gliders or helicopters.
M1 Abrams U.S. Main Battle Tank since 1981. First mass-produced tank with a gas turbine engine. The Al variant has heavier armor and a 120mm gun, while the A2 has been equipped with digital control, monitoring, and communications gear.
M9 Beretta 9mm automatic pistol, standard handgun of U.S. Armed Forces.
M16A2 5.56mm automatic rifle, standard U.S. Army infantry weapon.
M551 Sheridan Sheridan light tank. Over 1,500 produced 1965-70. Complex 152mm gun/missile launcher plagued by problems.
Maverick AGM-65 family of air-to-surface missiles, produced since 1971 by Hughes and Raytheon with a variety of guidance and warhead configurations.
MBT Main Battle Tank. A tracked, heavily armored vehicle mounting a large-caliber gun in a rotating turret.
MFD Multi-Function Display. A small video monitor or flat panel display on an aircraft control panel that allows the operator to display and manipulate different kinds of sensor information, status indications, warnings, and system diagnostic data.
MID Mechanized Infantry Division. A “heavy” division equipped with tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled artillery.
MIL-STD-1553 U.S. Military Standard that defines cable specifications, connectors and data formats for a digital data-bus, or high-speed network for aircraft, naval or ground-based electronic systems. One of the most successful standards in aviation history.
MILES Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System. Realistic but safe simulation used in Army field training exercises. Coded pulsed lasers are fitted to weapons; vehicles and personnel are rigged with laser detectors to register hits.
Mk. 19 40mm automatic grenade launcher, used by heavy weapons units, also mounted on vehicles and combat vessels.
MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System. A twelve-round 227mm artillery rocket system mounted on a tracked armored carrier. Nicknamed “Steel Rain.” A truck-mounted six-round launcher is under development for light forces.
MOS Military Occupational Specialty. Alphanumeric code used to designate the primary “job” of enlisted personnel. The infantry MOS is 11B, pronounced “eleven-bravo.”
MOPP Mission Oriented Protective Posture. Military term for wearing nuclear, biological, and chemical protective gear, including gas masks. There are four levels of protection, depending on the immediacy of the threat. MOPP-IV is the highest.
MPF Maritime Prepositioning Force.
MPS Maritime Prepositioning Ship.
MPSRON Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron.
MRC Major Regional Contingency. Current Pentagon euphemism for small war or crisis requiring intervention of U.S. military forces as directed by the President.
MRE Meals, Ready to Eat. Military field ration in individual serving packs. Eaten by personnel in the field until regular dining facilities can be deployed. Humorously known as “Meals Rejected by Ethiopians.”
MSC Military Sealift Command. Navy component of U.S. Transportation Command, responsible for operating, maintaining, or chartering shipping to transport military personnel and equipment.
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization. An alliance of sixteen nations that has preserved peace in Europe since 1949. NATO agreements standardize the specifications for a wide variety of ammunition types.
Nautical mile 6,076 feet. Not to be confused with Statute Mile, which is 5,280 feet.
NBC Nuclear, Biological, Chemical. General term for weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear bombs or weapons designed to disperse radioactive material, toxic gases, liquids or powders, infectious microorganisms, or biological toxins. Forbidden by many nations and treaties.
NCO Noncommissioned Officer. Includes ranks ranging from E-3 (sergeant) to E-9 (command sergeant major). NCOs are enlisted personnel with supervisory or technical responsibilities.
NEO Noncombatant Evacuation Operations.
NRO National Reconnaissance Office. Formerly super-secret intelligence agency established in late 1950s within the Department of Defense, but not officially acknowledged to exist until 1990s. Responsible for procurement, operation, and management of various reconnaissance satellite systems.
NVG Night Vision Goggles.
O/C Observer/Controllers. The “referees” in military exercises.
OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Army Kiowa Warrior light scout and attack helicopter.
O&M Operations and Maintenance. A major budget category for most military units.
OOTW Operations Other Than War. Military jargon for peacekeeping, humanitarian relief and similar adventures.
OPFOR Opposing Force. Units designated to play the enemy in military exercises. Usually depicted in red on maps.
Optempo Operational Tempo. Subjective measure of the intensity of military operations. In combat high optempo can overwhelm the enemy’s ability to respond, at the risk of burning out your own forces. In peacetime a high optempo can adversely affect morale and readiness.
Ordnance Weapons, ammunition, mines or other consumable armament.
PAA Primary Aircraft Authorized. The number of planes allocated to a unit for the performance of its operational mission. PAA is the basis for budgeting manpower, support equipment and flying hours.
