A NATO standard grade scale is used by the NATO and its partners for the purpose of comparing military ranks across the member nations militaries, as well as for a number of administrative tasks.
Rank codes
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 indicated correspondence with nations ranks. NATO's standardized reference system is intended to be used "by nations when preparing personnel tables, requisitions, reports and returns destined for NATO nations, organizations and commands."[1]
The NATO codes assigned for each grade are based on the agreed corresponding army grades with the naval and air forces grades determined from them by "national regulations".[1]
The NATO rank reference code categories were established in STANAG 2116 (formally titled NATO Codes for Grades of Military Personnel). It is known for certain that STANAG 2116 was ratified by Denmark on 19 January 1971 and that the 3rd edition of STANAG 2116 was adopted no later than October 1975.[2] The current- 7th - edition is just the cover, and the core of the standard is in set out in APersP-01 Ed. A.[3]
According to the standard, OF-10 is a national title,[a] so it is not found in most of the armed forces of NATO countries, including the US Armed Forces.[b] For example, in the French Armed Forces OF-10 is not a rank but a title, which corresponds moreover to a high position in the state.[6] There is no OF-10 in the British Royal Marines,[c] in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force rank OF-10 applicable in wartime only.[7] The armed forces of Albania, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg also lack the OF-9 rank.
In the Latvian Armed Forces the officer rank Lieutenant is identified by the Code OF-0.[8]
In the British Armed Forces senior non-commissioned officers (e.g. sergeants) are in OR-5 to OR-7 and junior non-commissioned officers (eg corporals) are in OR-3 and OR-4.[11] In the U.S. military OR-5 and above are non-commissioned officers for the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force but in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy (both parts of the Department of the Navy), OR-4 and above are non-commissioned officers.[12]
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 recognizes two grades 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). For warrant officers, NATO codes and U.S. uniformed services pay grades are equivalent.[13]
Annex B to APP-06 (related to STANAG 2019[14]) standard lists 11 formation/unit groups (13 in U.S. Armed Forces from 0 to 12) and identifies the command level of some of them:[15]
The Bilateral Strategic Command Directive 040-002 "NATO Non-Commissioned Officer and Junior Officer Bi-Strategic Command Employment and Development Strategy" (19 December 2023), describes the NATO rank indicators for NCOs:[19]
OR-1 — OR-3: "These are the basic entry ranks into the military structure."
OR-4: "The first level of leadership within the NATO NCO ranks."
OR-5: "The OR-5 is the first NATO designated NCO grade and the level of leadership with the greatest impact on subordinate ranks."
OR-6: "This is the first grade at which OR should be considered for Staff NCO duties at NATO higher headquarters employment. As such some NATO nations may recognize OR-6 through OR-9 as Senior NCOs (SNCO) or Warrant Officers (WO)."
OR-7: "The OR-7 is empowered and considered a key element within the command structure. At this level, SNCOs are expected to be able to provide sound advice to their leadership. While no formal mandate exists, this is the level at which, when consistent with their national authorities, SNCOs start to provide mentorship/assistance for Junior Officers (OF-1/OF-2)."
OR-8: "Uses enhanced leadership skills and broad operational experience to advise unit/element leaders and commanders on organizational effectiveness. OR-8s are expected to merge subordinates talents, skills, and resources with other NATO cross functional team(s) and organization(s) to implement planning and management processes for collective mission accomplishment."
OR-9: "The most experienced SNCO within the NATO NCO structure. This grade is normally utilized in an advisory capacity when assigned to a higher headquarters."
Non-NATO use of NATO rank codes
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.[20] In Ukraine, the introduction of NATO codes for military ranks took place in several stages, including:
on October 17, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) adopted the Law of Ukraine No. 205-IX (came into force on October 1, 2020, together with the amendments made by the Law of Ukraine No. 680-IX[21]) which introduced a new scale of military ranks that correspond to the equivalent column of the NATO Code according to STANAG 2116 (the structure of genaral officer and non-officer ranks was changed)[22]
on September 7, 2020, the Order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine No. 317 approved the List of full-time positions of privates, sergeants and foremen and the corresponding military ranks and tariff categories of positions, which came into force on January 1, 2021 [23]
on January 6, 2021, the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported that "By order of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, the List of NATO military rank codes is being implemented according to the NATO standard STANAG 2116" [24][25][26]
General officer grades are usually defined by the number of stars they ‘wear’. In the third edition of the STANAG 2116, OF-6 to OF-10 were described as "to be used for one to five star ranks or equivalents respectively".[31] In the fourth through sixth editions of the standard, the term 'four star' was used for the OF-9 of the Italian and Portuguese armed forces.[32] APersP-01 Ed. A clarified that in the French forces the OF-9 "is the highest rank in the hierarchy … therefore, carry the 4 stars and 5 stars rank marks".[7]
^Captain General Royal Marines is the title of the ceremonial head of the Royal Marines. The uniform and insignia currently worn by the Captain General are those of a Field Marshal (OF-10).
^the largest tactical and administrative formation of armed forces
