All US military electronic equipment are assigned an identifying alphanumeric designation that can be used to determine the platform the equipment was designed to operate on, the type of equipment, and the function of the equipment.  This system is commonly called the AN designation system, although its formal name is the Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS).  The letters AN preceding the equipment indicators formerly meant Army/Navy, but are now considered to be an exclusive letter set that can only be used to indicate formally designated DOD equipment.

Letters following the AN designation numbers provide added information about the equipment. Suffixes, A, B, C, etc., indicated the latest modification.  AN/ALR-67B would indicate the second modification to the system.  The letter (V) indicates variable configurations are available.  The letter (X) indicates developmental status.  A double parenthesis ( ) indicates a generic system that has not yet received a formal designation, i.e., AN/ALQ-( ), or AN/ALQ-165( ).

The equipment indicators are listed in the tables below.  An example follows the tables.

Platform Installation

Equipment Type

Equipment Function or Purpose

Example of Assignment

AN/ALQ-165(V)

AN

    A formally designated military system (DOD designation)

A

   Mounted on a piloted aircraft (Platform Installation)

L

    A countermeasures set (Equipment Type)

Q

    Special or combination of purposes (Equipment function or purpose)

165

    165th model of this type designated (Model number)

(V)

    Variable Configurations (Suffix)