Republic of Zhenia Defense Forces Designation Scheme

The Republic of Zhenia Defense Forces, since 1955, uses a system of designation schemes for all of its military equipment in order to allow for quick, intuitive identification of military hardware and its role. Valentian acronyms have also been applied in designations and are used in tandem with the Zhenian version.

Basic Principles

Since 1955, the Republic of Zhenia Defense Forces has put away with assigning designation numbers to weapons by the year of their manufacturing, and instead systematically assign numbers according to the weapon category and the order of which the given military hardware was introduced to the Defense Forces. With this principle in mind, most Zhenian hardware, with the exception of aircraft and auxiliary systems, normally consist of three Valentian characters forming an acronym followed a designation number that can be up to four digits. Each of the three Valentian characters forming the acronym contain meaning regarding the category, role and purpose of the hardware: the first character defines the scale of the hardware, the second specifies the role of the hardware and the third character can vary by role, while the numbers are often assigned by the order or year in which such weapons were procured. These are regarded as formal designation codes and appear in all formal military and logistic documents to refer to such hardware.

For instance, the IDS-104, a line of combat rifles introduced to GEUDEF service in 2004, was assigned the designation IDS-104, with I meaning 'infantry', D (standing for Damokjeok) meaning 'multipurpose/general' and S (standing for Sochong) meaning 'rifle'. Its designation number is 104, in reference to the year 2004 when it was introduced into GEUDEF service.

In addition to such formal designation codes, most military hardware are also given reporting names that can be used in less formal circumstances, such as on-site combat radio transmissions. Such designations are nicknames also used for publicity purposes, specifically when they are released to the public or are vouched for export to foreign armed forces. For instance, the IDS-104 from above is also referred to as the Infantry Combat Rifle (ICR), a less formal designation stemming from the name of its development project.

Infantry Weapons

The formal designation code for all infantry weapons start with 'I', signifying that it is used mostly at the infantry level (although some weapons can be vehicle-mounted). Infantry weapons, however, differ in their second and third characters of their designation code, as well as their numbers.

Second Letter - Role

The second letter of the designation codes signify the role of the given infantry weapon. There are the following roles assigned to Zhenian infantry weapons, signified by the designation code's second letter:

Letter	Meaning	Description
C	대차량; Dae-charyang	Anti-vehicle (surface)
G	대공; Dae-gong	Anti-air
H	휴대용; Hyudaeyong	Portable
I	대인; Dae-in	Anti-infantry
L	대물; Dae-mul	Anti-Material
M	다목적; Damokjeok	Multi-Purpose/General Purpose

Third Letter - Type

The third letter of the designation codes, although they vary by role, symbolize the type of weapon the given military hardware - for instance, the 'S' on the IDS-104 signify that it is a rifle (Zhenian: 소총; Sochong). There are the following types assigned to Zhenian infantry weapons:

Letter	Meaning	Description
B	발사관; Balsagwan	Launcher
C	산탄총; Santanchong	Shotgun
G	기관총; Gigwanchong	Machine gun
M	미사일; Missile	Missile
N	유탄; Utan	Grenade
P	박격포; Bakgyeokpo	Mortar gun
R	지뢰; Jirwae	Land mine
S	소총; Sochong	Rifle
T	탄환; Tanhwan	Ammunition (guns)
U	유탄발사기; Utan-balsagi	Grenade launcher
W	권총; Gwonchong	Handgun, Pistol
Y	유도탄; Yudotan	Missile

Ground Vehicles

Ground vehicles within service of the Republic of Zhenia Defense Forces include not only self-propelled vehicles but also towed ones with limited or no power to move autonomously, which brings items such as towed artillery guns into the category. Other than that, their designation codes generally follow the same rules as infantry vehicles, although their numbering scheme may not always reflect the year of introduction into service.

First Letter - Scale

Letter	Meaning	Description
G	견인; Gyeon-in	Towed (lacking autonomous propulsion)
J	자주; Jaju	Self-propelled (having autonomous propulsion)
K	기갑; Kigap	Armored vehicle

Second Letter - Role and Type

While the second letter of the designation code normally refers to the role of said military hardware in GEUDEF service, the second letter can also specify the type of the vehicle, as illustrated below:

Letter	Meaning	Description
B	박격포; Bakgyeokpo	Mortar cannon
C	대전차/차량; Daejeoncha/charyang	Anti-tank/Anti-vehicle weapon
D	대공포; Daegongpo	Anti-Air Gun
G	공병차량; Gongbyeong-charyang	Engineer/recovery vehicle
J	보병전투차; Bobyeong Jeontu-cha	Infantry fighting vehicle
K	곡사포; Koksapo	Howitzer
M	다목적 차량; Damokjeok charyang	General-purpose/multipurpose vehicle
S	수송차; Susong-cha	Transport vehicle
Z	주력전차; Zhuryeok-Jeoncha	Main Battle Tank

Third Letter - Size

In the case of ground vehicles, the third letter, while in principle can specify the type of said vehicle, can also indicate the size tier of the vehicle. This is evident in the GEUDEF designation scheme for ground vehicles, as illustrated below:

Letter	Meaning	Description
C	초경; Chogyeong	Ultra-Light
G	경; Gyeong	Light
J	중; Joong	Heavy
Z	초중; Chozhung	Ultra-Heavy

Additional designations

While most vehicle designations would just consist of three letters and up to three digits of numbers, it has been suggested that such methods do not accurately reflect the parts commonality of different vehicles that are variants of one vehicle, such as the variants of the KMG-94 Baekho. To augment the situation, vehicles with the role 'general purpose/multipurpose' on their second letter of designation can often have an extra alphabet after their number segment specifying their role. These include the following:

Letter	Meaning	Description
C	대전차; Daejeoncha	Anti-tank
D	대공포; Daegongpo	Anti-Air Gun
E	응급후송차량; Eungup Husong-charyang	MEDEVAC
G	공병차량; Gongbyeong-charyang	Engineer/recovery vehicle
H	화력지원차량; Hwaryeok jiwon-charyang	Fire support vehicle
J	지휘차량; Jiwhi-charyang	Command vehicle
N	정찰차량; Jeongchal-charyang	Reconnaissance vehicle
S	수송차; Susong-cha	Transport vehicle

Missiles and Ordnance

Missiles, munitions and other ordnance within service of the Republic of Zhenia Defense Forces follow a similar designation format with infantry and ground weapons, consisting of a three-letter designation alphabet followed by up to three digits of numbers. While these numbers can coincide with the year of introduction, the numbers given to most munitions can be rather arbitrary.

See Also

• Republic of Zhenia Defense Forces