A standard grade scale is used by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.and its partners for the purpose of comparing military ranks across the member nations militaries. It is used for specifying posts within NATO organisation.
NATO maintains a "standard rank scale" which is also known as a "standardized reference system" in an attempt to standardize NATO codes of rank for military personnel and indicate correspondence with nations ranks. [1] It is intended to be used "by nations when preparing personnel tables, requisitions, reports and returns destined for NATO nations, organizations and commands." The NATO rank reference code categories were established in a 1978 document entitled STANAG 2116 (formally titled NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel). The current edition, the 7th dated January 13, 2021 [a] is just the cover, and the core of the standard is in set out in APersP-01 "NATO Codes For Grades Of Military Personnel" [b] [1].
The NATO codes assigned for each grade shall be based on the agreed corresponding Army grades. National equivalent for Naval, Air Forces or other shall be in accordance with national regulations. [2].
OF-1 – OF-10 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for commissioned officers: [2]
OR1–OR9 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for other ranks / enlisted ranks and non-commissioned officers (NCO) : [2]
In US armed forces the Warrant Officer is a separate and distinct category of officers. This officer rank and precedence is below those of officer personnel, but above that of non-officer personnel, therefore has a special group of codes (W-1 – W-5). [3] In the Commonwealth tradition (for NATO the British Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces in NATO) warrant officers are the highest other ranks. [4]
In the British Armed Forces senior non-commissioned officers are in OR-5 to OR-7 and junior non-commissioned officers (eg corporals) are in OR-3 and OR-4. [5] In the US military OR-5 and above are non-commissioned officers for the US Army and US Air Force but in the US Marine Corps and US Navy (both parts of the Department of the Navy), OR-4 and above are non-commissioned officers. [6] These differences show that each country has the right to have its own vision of the structure of its ranks, which must be consistent with the general vision. [c]
Appendix B of the APP-06 standard [7] lists 11 formation/unit groups (13 in US Armed Forces) and identifies the command level of seven of them:
According to Bi-Strategic Command Directive 040-002 [8] which sets out the "NATO Non-Commissioned Officer and Junior Officer Bi-Strategic Command Employment and Development Strategy" NATO rank indicators for NCOs are described as follows:
Specific roles: [9]
The numbers in the system broadly correspond to the U.S. uniformed services pay grades, with OR-x replacing E-x. The main difference is in the commissioned officer ranks, where the US system recognises two ranks at OF-1 level (O-1 and O-2), meaning that all O-x numbers after O-1 are one point higher on the US scale than they are on the NATO scale (e.g. a major is OF-3 on the NATO scale and O-4 on the US scale).
Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | Officer cadet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NATO code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | OF(D) | Student officer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uniformed services pay grade | Special grade | O-10 | O-9 | O-8 | O-7 | O-6 | O-5 | O-4 | O-3 | O-2 | O-1 | Officer candidate/ Cadet |
Rank group | Non-commissioned officers | Enlisted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NATO code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uniformed services pay grade | Special | E-9 | E-8 | E-7 | E-6 | E-5 | E-4 | E-3 | E-2 | E-1 |
Based on the intentions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine to join NATO, NATO codes for military ranks have been officially introduced in these countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a corresponding law in 2005. [10] In Ukraine, the introduction of NATO codes for military ranks took place in two stages. Firstly in 2020, the Ukrainian parliament amended the structure of military ranks [11] which was followed in January 2021, by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine approving the compliance of military ranks with NATO codes by order [12] though the order had a confidential status. [d]
Some European NATO partners such as Austria [13] and Ireland [14] [15] describe their ranks in terms of NATO rank codes for comparison with NATO forces.
NATO codes are also sometimes used to describe equivalence for countries that are not aligned with NATO. Eg in setting out commissioned officer ranks in the Israel Defense Forces with those in the US Army. [16] [17] [18] [19], because in the IDF officer ranks are not determined by the position held, but on length of service. Professor Asher Shafrir’s point of view was supported in specialized military publications, [20] [21] however, each position has its own shortcomings. [e]
Similar problems can arise when trying to match officer rank systems, such as the Soviet one, with NATO codes. [f]
Comparative military ranks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A standard grade scale is used by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.and its partners for the purpose of comparing military ranks across the member nations militaries. It is used for specifying posts within NATO organisation.
NATO maintains a "standard rank scale" which is also known as a "standardized reference system" in an attempt to standardize NATO codes of rank for military personnel and indicate correspondence with nations ranks. [1] It is intended to be used "by nations when preparing personnel tables, requisitions, reports and returns destined for NATO nations, organizations and commands." The NATO rank reference code categories were established in a 1978 document entitled STANAG 2116 (formally titled NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel). The current edition, the 7th dated January 13, 2021 [a] is just the cover, and the core of the standard is in set out in APersP-01 "NATO Codes For Grades Of Military Personnel" [b] [1].
The NATO codes assigned for each grade shall be based on the agreed corresponding Army grades. National equivalent for Naval, Air Forces or other shall be in accordance with national regulations. [2].
OF-1 – OF-10 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for commissioned officers: [2]
OR1–OR9 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for other ranks / enlisted ranks and non-commissioned officers (NCO) : [2]
In US armed forces the Warrant Officer is a separate and distinct category of officers. This officer rank and precedence is below those of officer personnel, but above that of non-officer personnel, therefore has a special group of codes (W-1 – W-5). [3] In the Commonwealth tradition (for NATO the British Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces in NATO) warrant officers are the highest other ranks. [4]
In the British Armed Forces senior non-commissioned officers are in OR-5 to OR-7 and junior non-commissioned officers (eg corporals) are in OR-3 and OR-4. [5] In the US military OR-5 and above are non-commissioned officers for the US Army and US Air Force but in the US Marine Corps and US Navy (both parts of the Department of the Navy), OR-4 and above are non-commissioned officers. [6] These differences show that each country has the right to have its own vision of the structure of its ranks, which must be consistent with the general vision. [c]
Appendix B of the APP-06 standard [7] lists 11 formation/unit groups (13 in US Armed Forces) and identifies the command level of seven of them:
According to Bi-Strategic Command Directive 040-002 [8] which sets out the "NATO Non-Commissioned Officer and Junior Officer Bi-Strategic Command Employment and Development Strategy" NATO rank indicators for NCOs are described as follows:
Specific roles: [9]
The numbers in the system broadly correspond to the U.S. uniformed services pay grades, with OR-x replacing E-x. The main difference is in the commissioned officer ranks, where the US system recognises two ranks at OF-1 level (O-1 and O-2), meaning that all O-x numbers after O-1 are one point higher on the US scale than they are on the NATO scale (e.g. a major is OF-3 on the NATO scale and O-4 on the US scale).
Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | Officer cadet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NATO code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | OF(D) | Student officer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uniformed services pay grade | Special grade | O-10 | O-9 | O-8 | O-7 | O-6 | O-5 | O-4 | O-3 | O-2 | O-1 | Officer candidate/ Cadet |
Rank group | Non-commissioned officers | Enlisted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NATO code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uniformed services pay grade | Special | E-9 | E-8 | E-7 | E-6 | E-5 | E-4 | E-3 | E-2 | E-1 |
Based on the intentions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine to join NATO, NATO codes for military ranks have been officially introduced in these countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a corresponding law in 2005. [10] In Ukraine, the introduction of NATO codes for military ranks took place in two stages. Firstly in 2020, the Ukrainian parliament amended the structure of military ranks [11] which was followed in January 2021, by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine approving the compliance of military ranks with NATO codes by order [12] though the order had a confidential status. [d]
Some European NATO partners such as Austria [13] and Ireland [14] [15] describe their ranks in terms of NATO rank codes for comparison with NATO forces.
NATO codes are also sometimes used to describe equivalence for countries that are not aligned with NATO. Eg in setting out commissioned officer ranks in the Israel Defense Forces with those in the US Army. [16] [17] [18] [19], because in the IDF officer ranks are not determined by the position held, but on length of service. Professor Asher Shafrir’s point of view was supported in specialized military publications, [20] [21] however, each position has its own shortcomings. [e]
Similar problems can arise when trying to match officer rank systems, such as the Soviet one, with NATO codes. [f]