Ranks and insignia of NATO: Difference between revisions

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Ranks and insignia of NATO affiliated nations are combined military ranks and insignia used by the member countries (and other affiliated nations) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The rank scale is used for specifying posts within NATO.

Rank codes

NATO maintains a "standard rank scale" which is also known as a "standardized reference system" in an attempt to match every member country's military ranks to corresponding ranks used by the other members.^[1] The NATO rank reference code categories were established in a 1978 document entitled STANAG 2116 (formally titled NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel).

NATO rank codes are not the same as military ranks (US Army examples: Private, Corporal, Warrant Officer 1, Chief Warrant Officer 5, Captain, Major, Colonel, etc.) and military pay grades (US military examples: E-1, W-1, CW-5, O-1, O-1e, O-10, etc.). They are rank codes that allow for interoperability among NATO member nations.

Officer rank codes

OF-1 – OF-10 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for commissioned officers:^[1]

OF-6 – OF-10: Flag officers, general officers, or air officers
OF-3 – OF-5: Senior officers
OF-1 – OF-2: Junior officers

In US 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. Warrant Officer grades are as follows:^[2]

W-5: Chief Warrant Officer 5 (US Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy)
W-4: Chief Warrant Officer 4 (US Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy)
W-3: Chief Warrant Officer 3 (US Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy)
W-2: Chief Warrant Officer 2 (US Army, US Marine Corps, US Navy)
W-1: Warrant Officer 1 (US Army, US Marine Corps; no longer used in US Navy)

The warrant officers are the highest other ranks in British Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces.^[3]

Other rank codes

OR1–OR9 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for other ranks:^[1]

OR-5 – OR-9: Non-commissioned officers (for NATO purposes)
OR-1 – OR-4: Enlisted ranks (usually)

At the same time, there are exceptions, for example:

Non-Commissioned officers in British Armed Forces are called Senior Non-Commissioned Officers in OR-5 to OR-7 inclusive and Junior Non-Commissioned Officers in OR-3 and OR-4.^[4]

This is not a new feature: it was present in previous editions of STANAG 2116, but was sometimes overlooked.

Comparison to US system

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).

Officer ranks
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

Other ranks
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

Ranks and insignia of member armed forces

Army

Air Force

Navy

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c NATO 2021, p. 1-1.
^ NATO 2022, p. А-10.
^ NATO 2022, p. D-1, D-3.
^ NATO 2022, p. D-8, Е-7, F-7.

Sources

NATO (13 January 2021). STANAG 2116 (7th ed.). Brussels, Belgium: NATO Standardization Agency.
NATO (16 June 2022). APersP-01 Еd.A Ver.3. Brussels, Belgium: NATO Standardization Agency.
NATO (11 October 2023). APP-06 Еd.E Ver.1. Brussels, Belgium: NATO Standardization Agency.

External links

"NATO Standard STANAG 2116 / APersP-01, NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel". nso.nato.int. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
"NATO Standard STANAG 2019 / APP-06, NATO Joint Military Symbology". nso.nato.int. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
"Bi-SC Directive 040-002, NATO Non-Commissioned Officer and Junior Officer Bi-Strategic Command Employment and Development Strategy" (PDF). shape.nato.int. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 2024-06-24.

[FOOTNOTENATO20211-1-1] NATO 2021, p. 1-1.

[FOOTNOTENATO2022А-10-2] NATO 2022, p. А-10.

[FOOTNOTENATO2022D-1,_D-3-3] NATO 2022, p. D-1, D-3.

[FOOTNOTENATO2022D-8,_Е-7,_F-7-4] NATO 2022, p. D-8, Е-7, F-7.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{Military ranks|state=uncollapsed}}
-'''Ranks and insignia of NATO''' are combined military insignia used by the member countries of the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]].
+'''Ranks and insignia of NATO affiliated nations''' are combined military ranks and insignia used by the member countries (and other affiliated nations) of the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]].
 The rank scale is used for specifying posts within NATO.
-==Definitions==
+== Rank codes ==
-NATO maintains a "standard rank scale" in an attempt to match every member country's military rank to corresponding ranks used by the other members. The rank categories were established in a 1978 document entitled [[STANAG]] 2116 (formally titled ''NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel'').
+NATO maintains a "standard rank scale" which is also known as a "standardized reference system" in an attempt to match every member country's military ranks to corresponding ranks used by the other members.{{sfn|NATO|2021|p=1-1}} The NATO rank reference code categories were established in a 1978 document entitled [[STANAG]] 2116 (formally titled ''NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel'').
+NATO rank codes are not the same as military ranks (US Army examples: Private, Corporal, Warrant Officer 1, Chief Warrant Officer 5, Captain, Major, Colonel, etc.) and military pay grades (US military examples: E-1, W-1, CW-5, O-1, O-1e, O-10, etc.). They are rank codes that allow for interoperability among NATO member nations.
-There are two scales, though not all member countries use all the points on the NATO scales and some have more than one rank at some points. For example, many forces have two ranks at OF-1, usually [[lieutenant]]s.
-===Officer ranks===
+=== Officer rank codes ===
+OF-1 – OF-10 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for [[commissioned officer]]s:{{sfn|NATO|2021|p=1-1}}
-* OF1–OF10 (bottom to top) are used for [[commissioned officer]]s ("officer / officier").<ref name="NATO1">{{cite book |title=NATO glossary of abbreviations used in NATO documents and publications / Glossaire OTAN des abréviations utilisées dans les documents et publications OTAN |year=2010 |page=235 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a534294.pdf}}</ref>
+* OF-6 – OF-10: [[Flag officer]]s, [[general officer]]s, or [[air officer]]s
+* OF-3 – OF-5: [[Field officer|Senior officer]]s
+* OF-1 – OF-2: [[Junior officer]]s
+In [[US 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. Warrant Officer grades are as follows:{{sfn|NATO|2022|p=А-10}}
-===Warrant officers===
+* W-5: Chief Warrant Officer 5 ([[US Army]], [[US Marine Corps]], [[US Navy]])
-* Most countries do not have an intermediate tier of ranks between officers and other ranks (see below). The exception is the United States, and the NATO warrant officer grades of WO1–WO5 (bottom to top) are used only for [[Warrant officer (United States)|warrant officer ranks of the US military]]. In other countries with "warrant officer" ranks, they are considered part of other ranks. For example, a British Army [[Warrant officer (United Kingdom)|WO1]] has the NATO code OR-9.
+* W-4: Chief Warrant Officer 4 ([[US Army]], [[US Marine Corps]], [[US Navy]])
+* W-3: Chief Warrant Officer 3 ([[US Army]], [[US Marine Corps]], [[US Navy]])
+* W-2: Chief Warrant Officer 2 ([[US Army]], [[US Marine Corps]], [[US Navy]])
+* W-1: Warrant Officer 1 ([[US Army]], [[US Marine Corps]]; no longer used in [[US Navy]])
+The [[warrant officer]]s are the highest other ranks in [[British Armed Forces]] and [[Canadian Armed Forces]].{{sfn|NATO|2022|p=D-1, D-3}}
-===Other ranks===<!-- Other ranks (NATO) redirects here -->
-{{sectstub|date=January 2017}}
+=== Other rank codes ===<!-- Other ranks (NATO) redirects here -->
-* OR1–OR9 (bottom to top) are used for all other ranks ("other ranks/''sous-officiers et militaires du rang''"),<ref name="NATO2">{{cite book |title=NATO glossary of abbreviations used in NATO documents and publications / Glossaire OTAN des abréviations utilisées dans les documents et publications OTAN |year=2010 |page=238 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a534294.pdf}}</ref> including [[non-commissioned officers]] and [[Private (rank)|privates]].
+OR1–OR9 (lowest rank code to highest) are used for other ranks:{{sfn|NATO|2021|p=1-1}}
+* OR-5 – OR-9: [[Non-commissioned officer]]s (for NATO purposes)
+* OR-1 – OR-4: [[Enlisted rank]]s (usually)
+At the same time, there are exceptions, for example:
-==Comparison to US system==
+* Non-Commissioned officers in [[British Armed Forces]] are called Senior Non-Commissioned Officers in OR-5 to OR-7 inclusive and Junior Non-Commissioned Officers in OR-3 and OR-4.{{sfn|NATO|2022|p=D-8, Е-7, F-7}}
-The numbers in the system broadly correspond to the [[U.S. uniformed services pay grades]], with OR-x replacing E-x and WO-x replacing W-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 (rank)|major]] is OF-3 on the NATO scale and O-4 on the US scale).
+This is not a new feature: it was present in previous editions of STANAG 2116, but was sometimes overlooked.
+== Comparison to US system ==
+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 (rank)|major]] is OF-3 on the NATO scale and O-4 on the US scale).
 {| class="wikitable"
 |+Officer ranks
 |-
+{{Ranks and Insignia of Non NATO Armed Forces/OF/Blank}}
 {{Ranks and Insignia of NATO Armed Forces/OF/Blank}}
 {{United States uniformed services pay grades/officer/blank}}
@@ Line 34: / Line 49: @@
 {| class="wikitable"
 |+Other ranks
+|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC; text-align:center;"
-|-
+! Rank group
+! colspan=22| Non-commissioned officers
+! colspan=14| Enlisted
 {{Ranks and Insignia of NATO Armies/OR/Blank}}
 {{United States uniformed services pay grades/enlisted/blank}}
 |}
-==Ranks and insignia of member armed forces==
+== Ranks and insignia of member armed forces ==
 '''Army'''
 * [[Ranks and insignia of NATO armies officers|Ranks and insignia of NATO member army officers]]
-* [[Ranks and insignia of NATO armies enlisted|Ranks and insignia of NATO army enlisted]]
+* [[Ranks and insignia of NATO armies enlisted|Ranks and insignia of NATO member army enlisted]]
 '''Air Force'''
@@ Line 49: / Line 67: @@
 '''Navy'''
-* [[Ranks and insignia of NATO navies officers|Ranks and insignia of NATO member navy officers]]
+* [[Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers|Ranks and insignia of NATO member navy officers]]
 * [[Ranks and insignia of NATO navies enlisted|Ranks and insignia of NATO member navy enlisted]]
-==See also==
+== See also ==
 * [[list of comparative military ranks|Comparative military ranks]]
@@ Line 61: / Line 79: @@
 === Sources ===
 {{refbegin}}
+* {{cite book |author1=NATO |title=STANAG 2116 |date=13 January 2021  |publisher=NATO Standardization Agency |edition=7th |location=Brussels, Belgium}}
-* {{cite web
+* {{cite book |author1=NATO |title=APersP-01 Еd.A Ver.3 |date=16 June 2022  |publisher=NATO Standardization Agency |location=Brussels, Belgium}}
- | url = https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/documents/reference-library/br-2/BRd%202%20-%20Book/an03a.pdf
+* {{cite book |author1=NATO |title=APP-06 Еd.E Ver.1 |date=11 October 2023  |publisher=NATO Standardization Agency  |location=Brussels, Belgium}}
- | title = NATO CODES FOR GRADES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL. STANAG 2116. (Edition No. 4) NAVY/ARMY/AIR
- | publisher=[[Royal Navy]]
- | access-date=2017-11-08
- }}
-*{{cite web
- | url = http://www.militaria.lv/stanag.htm
- | title=STANAG 2116 (Edition 5)
- | publisher=[[Latvian National Armed Forces]]
- | access-date=2017-11-08
- }}
-* {{cite web
- | url = http://www.mip-site.org/publicsite/04-Baseline_3.0/JC3IEDM-Joint_C3_Information_Exchange_Data_Model/HTML-Browser/domains/person-type-rank-code.html
- | title=person-type-rank-code
- | publisher=[[Multilateral Interoperability Programme]]
- | date=13 December 2007
- | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110727085908/http://www.mip-site.org/publicsite/04-Baseline_3.0/JC3IEDM-Joint_C3_Information_Exchange_Data_Model/HTML-Browser/domains/person-type-rank-code.html
- | access-date=2015-05-13
- | archive-date=2011-07-27
- }}
-* {{cite web | url = http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/NATO_Rank_Comparison | title=NATO Rank Comparison | publisher=[[Canadian Forces]] | access-date=2009-06-24 }}
 {{refend}}
+== External links ==
+* {{cite web |url=https://nso.nato.int/nso/nsdd/main/standards/ap-details/3319/EN |title=NATO Standard STANAG 2116 / APersP-01, NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel |website=nso.nato.int |access-date=2024-06-24 }}
+* {{cite web |url=https://nso.nato.int/nso/nsdd/main/standards/ap-details/3169/EN |title=NATO Standard STANAG 2019 / APP-06, NATO Joint Military Symbology |website=nso.nato.int |access-date=2024-06-24 }}
+* {{cite web |url=https://shape.nato.int/resources/site7234/General/BISCD040-002%20NATO%20NCO_JO%20Employment%20and%20Development%20Strat.pdf |title=Bi-SC Directive 040-002, NATO Non-Commissioned Officer and Junior Officer Bi-Strategic Command Employment and Development Strategy |website=shape.nato.int |date=19 December 2023 |access-date=2024-06-24 }}
 {{-}}

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