NATO Phonetic Alphabet Chart and Translator

The NATO phonetic alphabet is the list of code words soldiers use to spell things over a radio, from callsigns to grid letters. For the wider vocabulary, see our Army slang guide. PPT Ranger is an unofficial humor site; the translator is a plain lookup of published tables and is not an Army product.

The alphabet and numerals

The full letter and digit tables sit under the translator above, with the pronunciation each source prints. Remember the spellings: Alfa (not Alpha), Juliett (two t’s), Whiskey and X-ray, the way NATO and the FAA write them.

How to say numbers

Digits are said one at a time. The FAA table gives a special pronunciation for several: three is TREE, five is FIFE, nine is NIN-ER, and its examples write nine as NINER. Whole hundreds and thousands may be said as HUNDRED or THOUSAND (5,000 is FIVE THOUSAND). The UK CAA rule says a decimal point is said DECIMAL. For times, say the four digits separately; see our guide to reading and saying 24-hour times.

Translator

The translator above takes any text. Letters become code words, digits become digit words, a space becomes a slash, and other characters (such as hyphens or punctuation) are skipped and listed so nothing disappears silently.

Rule: for each character c in the text, output word(c) from the table; a space outputs a break.

Example: type “Army 7” and you get ALFA ROMEO MIKE YANKEE / SEVEN. Each letter of “Army” gets its own word, the space becomes a slash, and the digit becomes its digit word.

History

NATO’s history page traces the alphabet through several steps:

• 1927 and 1932: the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) alphabets, mostly place names such as Amsterdam and Baltimore.
• 1941: the U.S. Joint Army/Navy “Able Baker” alphabet.
• 1951: the IATA alphabet for civil aviation, with words such as Alfa and Juliett.
• 1956: NATO’s revised list, which ICAO approved with November as the code word for N, was made effective in NATO on 1 March 1956.

Radio procedure

Procedure rules are for the unit’s radio training, but the published aviation rules show the pattern: say each digit separately, use HUNDRED and THOUSAND for whole hundreds and thousands, say DECIMAL for a point, and say times as four separate digits. Our worked example: the callsign “A7N” is said ALFA SEVEN NOVEMBER. Military ground radio procedure is taught by unit and is not covered by these sources.

Assumptions and limits

• Words and pronunciations come from FAA Order JO 7110.10EE, paragraph 2-3-3, read 2026-11-14, and match NATO’s page for the letters.
• Only letters and digits are translated.
• This is a lookup tool, not a radio procedure manual. Follow your unit’s procedure.