Lexical Index

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Military language is full of abbreviations, near-abbreviations, and acronyms. The word “Steal” for instance, comes from the military acronym for “Supplies Taken in Excess of Authorised Listing”.

To assist you on your travels through Tanks Encyclopedia, we have formulated this categorized alphabetical list:

Ammunitions

Note: Almost all of these ammo types may have a Tracer variant, this is identified in most cases as a “-T”. “AP-T, Armor-Piercing, Tracer” for instance.

AP	Armor-Piercing
AP-I	Armor-Piercing, Incendiary
APBC	Armor-Piercing Ballistic Capped
APC	Armor-Piercing Capped
APCBC	Armor-Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped
APCR	Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid
APCNR	Armor-Piercing Composite Non-Rigid
APDS	Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot
APFSDS	Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot
APHE	Armor-Piercing High-Explosive
ATGM	Anti-Tank Guided Missiles
HE	High-Explosive
HEP	High-Explosive, Plastic (American designation for HESH)
HESH	High-Explosive Squash-Head
HEAT	High Explosive Anti-Tank
HEAT-FS	High-Explosive Anti-Tank Fin-Stabilised
HVAP	High-Velocity Armor-Piercing
KEP	Kenetic Energy Penetrator
SAPHE	Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive
SVDS	Super-Velocity Discarding-Sabot (Another name for APDS)
WP	White Phosphorus, sometimes known as “Willy Pete”

Vehicle Designations

AFV	Armored Fighting Vehicle
APC	Armored Personnel Carrier
ARV	Armored Recovery Vehicle
ASV	Armored Security Vehicle
AVLB	Armored Vehicle-Launched Bridge
BARV	Beach Armored Recovery Vehicle
CEV	Combat Engineering Vehicle
DD	Duplex Drive (As in Sherman DD, amphibious mod)
IFV	Infantry Fighting Vehicle
LAV	Land Artillery Vehicle
LPPV	Light Protected Patrol Vehicle
MBT	Main Battle Tank
MICV	Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle
MRAP	Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
SPAAG	Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun
SP	Self-Propelled
SPAT	Self-Propelled Anti-Tank
SPG	Self-Propelled Gun
SPH	Self-Propelled Howitzer
SPRG	Self-Propelled Recoiless Gun
TME	Tactical Missile Erector
TEL	Transporter Erector Launcher (missile)
Country Specific Names
Germany, WW2:
JgPz	Jagdpanzer (Means “hunting tank”. Tank destroyer)
PzKpfw	Panzerkampfwagen (Tank)
Sd.Kfz	Sonderkraftfahrzeug (“special purpose vehicle”)

Crew and Personel

Cdr/TC	Commander/Tank Commander
Ldr	Loader (Traditionally, the Loader is known as the Cannonier, but this term is used extremly rarely)
Gnr	Gunner

Tanker Jargon

Ass	Tanks and armored vehicles
Driver’s Hole	A name given to the Drivers position
Frog’s Eyes	A name given to the stereoscopic range finders found on tanks like the M47, M48 Medium tanks, and M103 Heavy Tank
Grunt Phone	The infantry telephone mounted on the back of tanks that allows infantry to comunicate with the tank crew
Gun Crutch	British Term for the external gun Travel Lock
Hull Monster	The voids in the engine bay that has a habbit of swallowing the mechanic’s tools, nuts and bolts, etc.
Little Joe	The large wrench used to adjust track tension on US tanks such as the M3 Lee, M4 Sherman and M10 Wolverine.
Ma Deuce	The famous Browning M2HB .50 Cal. heavy machine gun.
Pigiron	(Pig-Iron) USMC slang for Tank
Tank Bite	An injury sustained by getting one’s fingers caught and pinches in flaps, hatches or panels.
Tanker Bar	Long bar tapering to a wedge on one end used to open panels and assist in general maintenance.
Turret Monster	The void between the turret and hull that has a habbit of swallowing pens maps and other equipment.
Wobble Stick	The joy stick used to control speed and steer on tanks such as the M47 Patton.

Measurments

ft	Feet
hp	Horsepower
hp/t	Horsepower per ton, the measurement used in Power-to-Weight Ratios.
kph	Kilometers per hour
kw	Kilowatts
m	Meter(s)
mm	Millimeters
mph	Miles per hour
p/w	power-to-weight (engine ratio)
rpm	Revolutions Per Minute (engine)
RPM	Rounds Per Minute

Other

AA	Anti-Air
AAA	Anti-Aircraft Artillery
BII	Basic Issue Items
CBRN	Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear
CDP	Canadian Dry Pin tracks
ERA	Explosive Reactive Armor
FCS	Fire Control System
FFE	Fire For Effect
FLIR	Forward looking Infra-red
GPMG	General Purpose Machine Gun
HMG	Heavy Machine-gun
IFCS	Improved Fire Control System (ballistic computer with laser rangefinder)
IFF	Identification Friend or Foe
IINF	Image Intensifying Night Fighting
IR	Infra-red
IRNF	Infra-Red Night Fighting
gas	Gasoline (engine)
LR	Laser Rangefinder
LWR	Laser Warning Reciever
MG	Machine-gun
NBC	Nuclear, Biological, Chemical
Pdr	Pounder (As in 25, 17 or 6 Pounder gun)
POL	Petrolium, Oil and Lubricants (Commonly known as Class 3s in today’s Armed Forces)
rf	Rifled barrel (main gun)
RHA	Rolled Homogeneous Armour
ROF	Rate of Fire
SAM	Surface-to-Air Missile
sb	Smooth bore barrel (main gun)
TI	Thermal Imaging

Nations

GBR, UK	Great Britain/United Kingdom
Services:
RAF	Royal Air Force
RAC	Royal Armored Corps
REME	Royal Electrical Mechanical Egineers
RTC	Royal Tank Corps
RTR	Royal Tank Regiment
Departments:
WD	War Department
MOD	Ministery Of Defense
JPN	Japan
Services, Imperial:
IJA	Imperial Japanese Army
IJAAF	Imperial Japanese Army Air Force
IJN	Imperial Japanese Navy
Services, Modern:
JSDF	Japanses Self Defence Force
JGSDF	Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force
JASDF	Japanese Air Self-Defence Force
JMSDF	Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force
RoC	Republic of China
PRC	People’s Republic of China
USA, US	United States of America, United States
Services:
USA	United States Army
USAF	United States Air Force
USMC	United States Marine Corps
USSR	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics