Allied Procedural Publication 6A (APP-6A) Military Symbols for Land Based Systems was the NATO standard for military map marking symbols. APP-6A was promulgated in December 1999. The NATO standardization agreement that covers APP-6A is STANAG 2019 (edition 4), promulgated in December 2000. APP-6A replaced APP-6 (last version, July 1986), which had been promulgated in November 1984 (edition 3 of STANAG 2019 covered APP-6), and was replaced in turn by APP-6B in 2008 and APP-6C in 2011. The U.S. is the current custodian of APP-6A. The initialism APP (pronounced "a-pee-pee") stands for Allied Procedural Publication.
APP-6A's American equivalent standard is MIL-STD-2525A, Common Warfighting Symbology; the contents are essentially identical, but MIL-STD-2525 has been evolving faster than NATO's APP-6. MIL-STD-2525 was issued in September 1994, MIL-STD-2525A in December 1996, MIL-STD-2525A Change 1 in July 1997, MIL-STD-2525B in January 1999, MIL-STD-2525B Change 1 in July 2005, MIL-STD-2525B Change 2 in March 2007, and MIL-STD-2525C in November 2008. APP-6A is considerably different from APP-6, while the successive versions of MIL-STD-2525 more or less maintain continuity. APP-6B seems to be a subset of MIL-STD-2525C.
The APP-6A standard provides common operational symbology along with details on their display and plotting to ensure the compatibility, and to the greatest extent possible, the interoperability of NATO Land Component Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) systems, development, operations, and training. APP-6A addresses the efficient transmission of symbology information through the use of a standard methodology for symbol hierarchy, information taxonomy, and symbol identifiers.
These symbols are designed to enhance NATO’s joint interoperability by providing a standard set of common symbols. APP-6A constitutes a single system of joint military symbology for land based formations and units, which can be displayed for either automated map display systems or for manual map marking. It covers all of the joint services and can be used by them.
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APP-6A recognises five broad sets of symbols, each set using its own SIDC (Symbol identification coding) scheme:
Units, Equipment, and Installations consist of icons, generally framed, associated with a single point on the map. All sorts of graphical and textual modifiers may surround them, specifying categories, quantities, dates, direction of movement, etc.
Tactical graphics represent operational information that cannot be presented via icon-based symbols alone: unit boundaries, special area designations, and other unique markings related to battlespace geometry and necessary for battlefield planning and management. There are point, line and area symbols in this category.
Meteorological and oceanographic symbology is the only set not under the standard's control: rather, they are imported from the symbology established by the World Meteorological Organization.
The Signals Intelligence and Military Operations Other Than War symbology sets stand apart from Units, Equipment, and Installations although they obey the same conventions (i.e., they consist of framed symbols associated to points on the map). They do not appear in APP-6A proper, having been introduced by MIL-STD-2525B.
Most of the symbols designate specific points, and consist of a frame (a geometric border), a fill, a constituent icon, and optional symbol modifiers. The latter are optional text fields or graphic indicators that provide additional information.
The frame provides a visual indication of the affiliation, battle dimension, and status of an operational object. The use of shape and colour is redundant, allowing the symbology to be used under less-than-ideal conditions such as a monochrome red display to preserve the operator's night vision. Nearly all symbols are highly stylised and can be drawn by persons almost entirely lacking in artistic skill; this allows one to draw a symbolic representation (a GRAPHREP, Graphical report) using tools as rudimentary as plain paper and pencil.
The frame serves as the base to which other symbol components and modifiers are added. In most cases a frame surrounds an icon. One major exception is equipment, which may be represented by icons alone (in which case the icons are coloured as the frame would be).
The fill is the area within a symbol. If the fill is assigned a colour, it provides an enhanced (redundant) presentation of information about the affiliation of the object. If colour is not used, the fill is transparent. A very few icons have fills of their own, which are not affected by affiliation.
The icons themselves, finally, can be understood as combinations of elementary glyphs that use simple composition rules, in a manner reminiscent of some ideographic writing systems such as Chinese. The standard, however, still attempts to provide an "exhaustive" listing of possible icons instead of laying out a dictionary of component glyphs. This causes operational problems when the need for an unforeseen symbol arises (particularly in MOOTW), a problem exacerbated by the administratively centralised maintenance of the symbology sets.
The icon is the innermost part of a symbol which, when displayed, provides an abstract pictorial or alphanumeric representation of an operational object. The icon portrays the role or mission performed by the object. APP-6A distinguishes between icons that must be framed or unframed and icons where framing is optional.
| Unit symbol | Unit type |
|---|---|
| Air Defence | |
| Ammunition | |
| Anti-tank | |
| Armour (Stylized tank treads) | |
| Field artillery (Simplified version of the Artillery insignia, a cannonball) | |
| Aviation (rotary wing) | |
| Aviation (fixed wing) | |
| Bridging | |
| Combat Service Support | |
| Engineer | |
| Electronic Warfare | |
| Explosive Ordnance Disposal | |
| Fuel (POL: Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants) | |
| Hospital (personnel) | |
| HQ | |
| Infantry (evocative of the crossed bandoliers of Napoleonic infantry) | |
| Maintenance | |
| Medical | |
| Meteorological | |
| Missile | |
| Mortar | |
| Military Police (or "SP" for Shore Patrol) | |
| Navy | |
| NBC Defence | |
| Ordnance | |
| Radar | |
| Psychological Operations | |
| Reconnaissance (or cavalry; inspired by the cavalry's sabre strap) | |
| Signals | |
| Special Forces | |
| Special Operations Forces | |
| Supply | |
| Topographical | |
| Transportation | |
| Unmanned Air Vehicle |
Equipment icons are "frame optional".
| Equipment symbol (framed) | (unframed) | Equipment type |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge (e.g. AVLB) |
| Installation symbol | Installation type |
|---|---|
| Bridge production |
These unit type symbols can be combined, for example to represent armoured infantry units. There are also symbols that can be used to modify other unit symbols (they cannot appear by themselves):
| Modifier symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Airborne (including Air Assault and Paratrooper forces) | |
| Paratrooper | |
| Airmobile | |
| Airmobile with organic lift | |
| Amphibious | |
| Motorized | |
| Mountain | |
| Rocket | |
| Wheeled |
Some of the most common combinations are:
Above the unit symbol, a symbol representing the size of the unit can be displayed:
| Symbol | Name | Typical no. of personnel | No. of subordinate units | Typical rank of leader (Commonwealth and USA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XXXXXX | Region or Theatre (very rare in peacetime) | 250,000+ | Several army groups | Commonwealth:Field Marshal US:General of the Army |
| XXXXX | Army Group (rare in peacetime) | 120,000+ | Several armies | Commonwealth:Field Marshal US:General of the Army |
| XXXX | Army | 100,000 | Nominally several corps, typically 5–10 Divisions | General |
| XXX | Corps | 30,000–60,000 | Several divisions | Lieutenant General |
| XX | Division | 10,000–20,000 | Nominally several Brigades, typically ~10 Battalions plus support units | Major General |
| X | Brigade or Commonwealth Regiment [Administrative] | 2,000–5,000 U.S, 4,000–20,000 Commonwealth | Several U.S. Battalions or 2–50 Commonwealth tactical (field) Regiments. Largest permanent grouping for Commonwealth units | Commonwealth: Brigadier or Major General US: Colonel |
| III | Group or Commonwealth Regiment [Tactical] | 500–2,000 | 3–7 Battalions or Wings. | Colonel or Commonwealth Group Captain |
| II | Battalion or equivalent, e.g. Commonwealth Regiment (some countries/arms only) & Wing or U.S. Cavalry Squadron | 300–1,000 | 2–6 Companies, Batteries, U.S. Troops, or Commonwealth Squadrons | Lieutenant colonel or Commonwealth Wing Commander |
| I | Company or equivalent, e.g. Commonwealth Squadron or U.S. Artillery Battery & Cavalry Troop | 60–250 | Several U.S. Platoons or Commonwealth Platoons/Troops/Flights | Captain or Squadron Leader assisted by a First Lieutenant or Flight Lieutenant Also assisted by a Company Sergeant Major, Master Aircrew/Warrant Officer (Commonwealth) or by a First Sergeant (US) |
| ••• | Platoon or equivalent, e.g. Commonwealth Flight & Troop (certain corps/armies only) or French Army Section | 25–40 | Several squads, sections, or vehicles | Commonwealth: Lieutenant or Flight Lieutenant assisted by a Staff Sergeant, Colour Sergeant or Flight Sergeant US: Second Lieutenant assisted by a Sergeant First Class (or Staff Sergeant in USMC) |
| •• | Section or Squad [implies inherent light machine gun] | 7–13 | 2–3 Fireteams | Commonwealth: Corporal or Sergeant US: Sergeant or Staff Sergeant |
| • | Crew or Patrol [implies absence of light machine gun] | 5–10 | 1–2 Fireteams | Commonwealth: Corporal or sergeant US: Sergeant or Staff Sergeant |
| Ø | Fireteam | 3–5 | n/a | Commonwealth: Lance Corporal or Corporal US: Corporal or Sergeant |
| ø | Fire and maneuver team | 2 | n/a | n/a |
The status of a symbol refers to whether a warfighting object exists at the location identified (i.e., status is "present") or will in the future reside at that location (i.e., status is "planned, anticipated, suspected," or "on order"). Regardless of affiliation, present status is indicated by a solid line and planned status by a dashed line. The frame is solid or dashed, unless the symbol icon is unframed, in which case the icon itself is drawn dashed. Planned status cannot be shown if the symbol is an unframed filled icon.
Affiliation refers to your relationship to the operational object being represented. The basic affiliation categories are Unknown, Friend, Neutral, and Hostile. In the ground unit domain, a yellow quatrefoil frame is used to denote unknown affiliation, a blue rectangle frame to denote friendly affiliation, a green square frame to denote neutral affiliation, and a red diamond frame to denote hostile affiliation. In the other domains (air and space, sea surface and subsurface, etc.), the same color scheme is used.
| Unknown | Friend | Neutral | Hostile |
|---|---|---|---|
The full set of affiliations is:
There are no "Assumed Neutral" and "Exercise Assumed Neutral" affiliations.
Battle dimension defines the primary mission area for the operational object within the battlespace. An object can have a mission area above the Earth's surface (i.e., in the air or outer space), on it, or below it. If the mission area of an object is on the surface, it can be either on land or sea. The subsurface dimension concerns those objects whose mission area is below the sea surface (e.g., submarines and sea mines). Some cases require adjudication; for example, an Army or Marine helicopter unit is a manoeuvring unit (i.e., a unit whose ground support assets are included) and is thus represented in the land dimension. Likewise, a landing craft whose primary mission is ferrying personnel or equipment to and from shore is a maritime unit and is represented in the sea surface dimension. A landing craft whose primary mission is to fight on land, on the other hand, is a ground asset and is represented in the land dimension.
Closed frames are used to denote the land and sea surface dimensions, frames open at the bottom denote the air/space dimension, and frames open at the top denote the subsurface dimension.
| Air and Space | Ground | Sea surface | Subsurface |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friend | |||
| Neutral | |||
| Hostile | |||
| Unknown | |||
An unknown battle dimension is possible; for example, some electronic warfare signatures (e.g., radar systems) are common to several battle dimensions and would therefore be assigned an "Unknown" battle dimension until further discrimination becomes possible.
The full set of battle dimensions is:
The letter in parentheses is used by the Symbol identification coding (SIDC) scheme —strings of 15 characters used to transmit symbols.
The Space and Air battle dimensions share a single frame shape. In the Ground battle dimension, two different frames are used for the Friendly (and Assumed Friendly) affiliations in order to distinguish between units and equipment. The SOF (Special Operations Forces) are assigned their own battle dimension because they typically can operate across several domains (air, ground, sea surface and subsurface) in the course of a single mission; the frames are the same as for the Ground (unit) battle dimension. The Other battle dimension, finally, seems to be reserved for future use (there are no instances of its use as of 2525B Change 1).
APP-6A stops with field AB. MIL-STD-2525B and 2525B Change 1 add a number of other modifiers.
| Feint/Dummy | Installations | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeled (limited cross-country) |
Wheeled cross-country |
Tracked | Half-tracked | Towed | Railway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snowmobile | Sled | Pack animals | Barge | Amphibious | |
| Short towed array (typ. sonar) | Long towed array (typ. sonar) | ||||
On the lower left of the unit symbol, the name of the unit can be displayed; on the lower right, the name of the unit it is part of can be displayed (if applicable).
For example, the symbol for A Company of the (friendly) 42nd Armored Infantry Battalion would look like this:
A hostile Motorised Anti-Tank Division would look like this:
APP-6 organization chart of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF):