Fox? What is that? Learn about NATO brevity codes - Aeroflap (2024)

In films like Independence Day (1996) and the famous saga of electronic games Ace Combat, it is possible to hear their characters saying the word “Fox” followed by a number – 1, 2 or 3 – when firing a missile. In videos of simulator games, such as Digital Combat Simulator (DCS), the phrase can also be heard. But after all, what is Fox and what does it have to do with missiles?

Going straight to the point, the word Fox is part of the Brevity Codes of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a large military alliance led by the United States. Despite being standard in NATO, the codes are used by several countries that are not members of the organization, such as Brazil, for example. They serve to indicate some kind of action taken in combat or training.

Fox indicates the firing of an air-to-air missile, with the subsequent number indicating the type of missile fired. In the image that opens this article we can see F-15E Strike Eagle jets of the US Air Force (USAF) firing AIM-7M Sparrow missiles, whose code used to indicate its firing is Fox 1.

What is an air-to-air missile?

There are multiple types of missiles, such as cruise, anti-aircraft, anti-ship, air-to-ground, etc. In this topic we will deal with air-to-air missiles. Essentially an air-to-air missile is a type of missile fired from one aircraft at another with the primary intent of shooting it down. Nowadays, where beyond visual range (BVR) combat is one of the main aspects of air combat, the air-to-air missile has also become a tactical instrument, where it can be used to “delay” the pilot. enemy, forcing him to make a mistake or not engage an ally, for example.

Basically, we have three types of air-to-air missiles: semi-active radar guided, heat guided or active radar guided.

Fox 1

Code Fox 1 indicates the firing of a semi-active radar-guided air-to-air missile. Fox 1 missiles are already part of the beyond visual range combat, however, they need to be guided by the launch aircraft – which is “illuminating” the target with its onboard radar – until it reaches the enemy. If the target is unlocked, the missile will lose contact and be defeated by the enemy aircraft. Enemy aircraft also make use of chaffs – small pieces of metal – to defend themselves, in addition to electronic countermeasures.

Some examples are the North American AIM-7 Sparrow, the French Super 530D and the Russian R-27R. Despite still being present in air forces around the world, semi-active missiles are already being replaced by active radar-guided missiles, which we will talk about later.

Fox 2

Fox 2 indicates the firing of a heat/infrared guided missile, commonly referred to as “IR”. IR missiles guide themselves to enemy aircraft via their infrared signature, essentially “seeking their heat”. Infrared missiles are the most popular and primitive, with the US AIM-9 Sidewinder being the most widely used missile in the world, both in presence in the world's air forces and in combat.

Initially, the missiles were “rear-aspect”, that is, they could only be fired against the rear aspect of the target aircraft, due to the exhaustion of the engines. Later came the all-aspect missiles, allowing the pilot to fire from any point at the enemy aircraft, not just the rear aspect. Due to their type of guidance, Fox 2 missiles are used at close range, within the visual combat area (WVR).

The most modern missiles, such as the AIM-9X, R-73M/74, MICA-IR, IRIS-T and A-Darter already have great autonomy, high maneuverability and their sensors are less vulnerable to flares, countermeasures in the form of decoys that attract the heat-guided missile away from the defending aircraft.

Another feature is its use combined with capabilities with sights (HMS) or display (HMD) integrated. Using this type of helmet, the pilot can "lock" and fire the missile just by looking at the target, without having to maneuver the aircraft to launch the armament against the enemy. Therefore, they are also called “dogfight missiles”, which is the combat in short distances.

In the Brazilian Air Force, F-5M pilots use the Dash IV helmet, from the Israeli manufacturer Elbit, together with the Python 4 missile, while the most popular model is the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, better known by the acronym JHMCS , used by the US and its allies, and also developed by Elbit.

Read more about the weapons used by the FAB's F-5s.

Fox 3

Coming to the end of the codes for air-to-air missiles, we present the Fox 3, which indicates the firing of an active radar-guided missile. Unlike the Fox 1, Fox 3 missiles do not need to be guided by the launching aircraft until they reach the target, but up to a certain point, when it starts to use its own radar – that is, it is guiding itself – to seek and reach the aircraft. enemy. This point is called “Pitbull”.

In this way, the launching aircraft can position itself to engage another enemy, perform defensive maneuvers or any other action that is necessary at the time of combat. As with semi-active radar missiles, the enemy will use chaffs and electronic countermeasures to try to defend itself, in addition to evasive maneuvers.

The AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile), developed by the USA, is the most popular among active radar missiles, acquired by 34 countries in its various versions. Other models are the European MBDA Meteor and MICA-EM, the American AIM-54 Phoenix, the Russian R-77, the Chinese PL-15 and the Israeli Rafale Derby, the latter used by the Brazilian Air Force.

Other missiles, other codes

As stated earlier, Fox codes 1, 2 and 3 refer to launching missiles from one aircraft to another. However, there are multiple air-to-ground or air-to-surface missiles, that is, fired from an aircraft against targets on the ground or at sea, and for these missiles there are also brevity codes.

for missiles anti-ship, such as the French AM-39 Exocet, the Swedish RBS-15F, the AGM-84 Harpoon and the US AGM-119 Penguin (the latter used in the Brazilian Navy), the code used is Bruiser. For firing a missile anti radar, like the AGM-88 HARM, uses magnum, and for missiles air-to-ground with the AGM-65 Maverick, you use Rifle.

These are just some used codes available through public data on the internet. However, it is important to point out that other codes are restricted and only military personnel are aware of them.