design office, then sequential numbers, sometimes with odd numbers for fighters (e.g. Yak-3, MiG-15, Su-27...) and even numbers for other types (e.g. Il-2, Tu-16, Su-34, Tu-154...). However, this latter rule was not always applied, especially for helicopters. Contrary to western sources, official Soviet designations did not include constructors' names (e.g. Yakovlev Yak-1), only abbreviations (i.e. Yak-1) however initially full names like Yakovlev-1 were occasionally used. Numerical designations were assigned individually for each developer to aircraft when they entered service. Aircraft also frequently had development designations used within design bureaus, like aircraft 105, or ANT-105 that led to the Tu-22, or T-6 for Su-24, and an industry production name assigned to the facility where production was undertaken. The NATO Air Standardization Coordinating Committee reporting name system (used because designations of new types were often unknown to NATO) was based on an initial letter indicating type of aircraft (B = bomber, C = cargo, F = fighter, H = helicopter, M = miscellaneous) or missile, and 1 syllable if propeller-driven or 2 if jet- or rocket-powered. Design Office Prefixes An (Ан): Antonov Ar (Ар): Archangelski BI (БИ): Berezniak-Isaev Be (Бе): Beriev Che (Че): Chetverikov Gu (Гу): Gudkov Il (Ил): Ilyushin Ka (Ка): Kamov La (Ла): Lavochkin LaG (ЛаГ): Lavochkin-Gorbunov LaGG (ЛаГГ): Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov Li (Ли): Lisunov M (М): Myasishchev Mi (Ми): Mil MiG (МиГ): Mikoyan-Gurevich, until the death of Artem Mikoyan in 1970, then just Mikoyan Pe (Пе): Petlyakov Po (По): Polikarpov Su (Су): Sukhoi Sh (Ш): Shavrov Shche (Ще): Shcherbakov Ta (Та): Tairov Ts (Ц): Tsybin Tu (Ту): Tupolev (bureau designation was ANT) Yak (Як): Yakovlev (bureau designation was AIR) Yer (Ер): Yermolayev See also List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS References External links List of aircraft names at aviation.ru Soviet Air Force Military aircraft designation systems