What determines mil. aircraft callsigns?

[oilcanbland]

I fly out of HUF, where there is an F-16 guard unit. I was just wondering, what determines the aircraft callsigns? It seems that ATC is calling them something different everytime they go up. For instance, the name of the unit is the Racers. However, they don't always go by racers. Sometimes they use "Thrust", "Judge", "Apex", "Hogman", "Sniper", and many others. Why is this? Does it have something to do with the mission they are simulating?

Also, while I'm on the subject....what do you fighters do every time you go up? The F-16s here go up about twice a day, usually down to Red Hills MOA. Do you practice dog fighting, drop bombs?

Thanks.

 

[Weasel Keeper]

Sometimes they use "Thrust", "Judge", "Apex", "Hogman", "Sniper", and many others.

These sound like pilot's personal callsigns to me although I'm not sure why they'd be telling ATC this. Do they make their calls with "Racer" included? Here in FWA we have IN's other F-16 Guard Unit...the 122FW Blacksnakes. I think they just go by "Snake". They also fly about twice a day and they usually head out to the range for dogfighting and bombing training.

 

[riceowl63]

I heard somewhere that sometimes the call sign used with ATC is the call sign of the flight lead. For example, if there were two planes going up and the flight leader had a call sign of "Judge" and the other pilot was "Apex", the flight would be called "Judge Flight" with the two planes being "Judge 1" and "Judge 2" respectively. An actual military pilot could probably give you better information though.

 

[oilcanbland]

No, they're not their personal callsigns, this is what their flight callsign is. For example...."Thrust one, clear for takeoff, change to departure." And sometimes it's the other names. Sometimes they'll actually use "Racer" as their callsign. It seems like every time they fly, they use a different name. They usually fly in flights of four or two. When they're in formation flight, ATC refers to them as just "Racer one" but when they split up such as to do individual approaches, they'll actually talk to them individually, such as "Racer two", "Racer three." Lots of times there'll be more than one flight when they go up. For instance, four of them will take off at a time, then ten minutes later, maybe two more will take off together. Each of them having a different callsign for their flight. Just wondering how they determine what their callsign is for each flight. I assume that it might have something to do with the specific training mission they are conducting or something similar to this.

 

[HueyPilot]

callsigns

Personal "callsigns" are not used to designate aircraft callsigns or flight callsigns.

Callsigns vary, depending upon the mission, and often some units have several different callsigns so that various flights in the MOA can tell one from the other.

For example, at Laughlin AFB, the T-37s from the 85th FTS on local training sorties were called TIGER, while the 84th used ROCKY. Cross-country callsigns for T-37s at Laughlin included SCAT and RASTA. Formations used AMMO, COLT and a few others. The T-1s on local trainers used RAKE for active-duty IPs and MAZE for reservist IPs.

At our C-21 unit, we have a training callsign (PACER), and operational callsigns. If we're flying a JOSAC mission, our callsign is JOSA. If it's a cargo mission for AMC, we're REACH. If we're carrying the commander of a particular command, they may have a callsign that we use (ex., REACH 01 for AMC/CC, SPACE 01 for AFSPC/CC, SPUR 01 for AETC/CC, etc.). Other C-21 units have different training callsigns (ie, Scott C-21s are SWIFT, Randolph C-21s are CLOVER, etc).

A unit doesn't necessarily have just one callsign they can use.

Anyways, as for the F-16s, aircraft that fly formation often have different formation callsigns so that when two or more different formations head out to a MOA, they don't get confused (imagine having to filter out THRUST 11 Flight, THRUST 31 Flight, and THRUST 51 flight). Instead it's better to launch with different callsigns so comm is easier and less confusing.

That's my .02 cents on why there are different callsigns...just based upon what I've seen. There could be other explanations that an F-16 pilot could expound upon.

 

[Toro]

I was just wondering, what determines the aircraft callsigns? It seems that ATC is calling them something different everytime they go up

Every unit or squadron has a list of call signs that is assigned to them. How these are distributed within depends on that particular squadron - some will have each pilot maintain a particular call sign, others may assign a call sign based off take-off time. For the squarons whose pilots each have their own call sign, they sometimes "Buy" that callsign from other guys who are either leaving or willing to give it up

the name of the unit is the Racers. However, they don't always go by racers

If you hear the unit name in the callsign, the squadron commander is most likely in the formation somewhere.

Does it have something to do with the mission they are simulating?

To some extent. Cross country and FCF (functional check flight) sorties usually have their own call signs. In exercises and combat operations, jets maintain call signs based on their role - DCA role would have the same call sign whether it was F-15s or F-16s. In day-to-day operational basis, I've never seen that done, though.

Personal "callsigns" are not used to designate aircraft callsigns or flight callsigns.

They can be...I don't know exactly how the process works in the states or who you have to deal with to get a call sign that isn't designated to your unit, but it is possible to get one that matches your personal call sign. Here in the UK, the Ministry of Defence maintains a list of all the call signs on the island. If there is a call sign that isn't on that list, you coordinate with them and the OSS to have it added. For example, I could ask them to throw "Toro" on the list. We've got 6-9 guys on base whose flight call signs are the same as their personal call signs.

 

[Weasel Keeper]

I asked an AF pilot friend of mine in email and here's his reply:

It must be different in different places. For example, in the MA ANG where I flew for many years in the 90's, we were assigned about a dozen callsigns for our use, varying from day to day without any mission significance for the PAA's (F-15's). Exception: all missions by the OSA (C-12, C-26) were assigned the callsign Cape, so ATC always knew these were slow-movers.

On the other hand, out at the Klamath Falls RTU, all mission callsigns were assigned according to the IP's own callsign. It helped to keep the students together with the IP.

Changing callsigns from day to day is an interesting canary-in-the-coalmine phenomenon. I always observed that one of the first indicators of degraded performance (ie, from task saturation, fatigue, illness, whatever) is missing a radio call, as in "Wazzat for ME? Who am I today, Olds, Buick...?").

 

[Mud Eagle]

The even bigger picture on this is that the DoD produces a big document annually called the VCSL -- the Voice Call Sign Listing.

This is the document that "officially" assigns flight callsigns to the various DoD units. By flight callsign, I mean the 5-letter name on the DD1801 or DD175 flight plan, and not the name some throttle-jockey responds to at the squadron bar.

Anyhow, the VCSL assigns big blocks of flight callsigns to a certain organizational level -- for the Air Force, it goes by Wings generally. The names themselves are (or used to be) randomly generated and randomly distrbuted to organizations. One thing that is not random is how the callsigns are deconflicted. What I mean is that they make sure that the same callsign is not given to two units in the same geographic area, such that ARTCC doesn't have to deal with two "TRAIN 51" flights that originate from different places at the same time, for example. I have heard that the callsigns are deconflicted by ARTCC, but I don't know that for sure.

That being said, it means that the same callsign can be used by several different units all over the country.

Once the list of assigned call signs gets to the Wing (again, for the AF), it's up to that organization to distribute the callsigns to the squadrons that will use them. In the Air Force it's the OSS (probably the current ops shop) that farms out callsigns to the squadrons. Then, when each squadron gets their list, it's up to them how they utilize them.

I've been in squadrons that assigned certain flight leads a specific callsign, and other squadrons that assigned a callsign to a certain line on the flight schedule (so the first flight of the day might always be "ZOOM" flight, the second line was always "DECOY" flight, and so on).

One last thing which is often done echoes something Toro mentioned above -- that many squadrons try and obtain the flight callsign which is their squadron name. There is an official process to request callsigns, and again, this is done by the OSS generally. I think you'll find, however, that there are many units that are using bootlegged callsigns that are not "owned" by them in the VCSL. Many people get attached to their flight callsign and I've seen more than one try and "bring" one with them when they PCS in...

 

[Live4flyng]

If we're flying a JOSAC mission, our callsign is JOSA.

I've never heard of JOSA, but generally on a JOSAC mission, the callsign begins with PAT (Priority Air Transport).

If you happen to be flying a real mission as opposed to a training flight, the callsign will be secret. For example, if you are flying a reconnaissance mission over Iraq, the callsign will change with each flight, and it will be classified as "Secret" and assigned just prior to that flight.