Ranks and insignia of NATO

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."

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".

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. The current- 7th - edition is just the cover, and the core of the standard is in set out in APersP-01 Ed. A.

Revision History

Edition/Version	Date
STANG 2116 Ed.1	no earlier than January 1971
STANG 2116 Ed.2	no data
STANG 2116 Ed.3	no later than October 1975
STANG 2116 Ed.4	June 14, 1978
STANG 2116 Ed.5	March 13, 1996
STANG 2116 Ed.6	February 25, 2010
STANG 2116 Ed.7, APersP-01 Ed.A V.1	January 13, 2021
APersP-01 Ed.A V.2	March 11, 2022
APersP-01 Ed.A V.3	June 16, 2022

Officers codes

OF-10 – OF-1 (highest to lowest rank code) are used for commissioned officers:

• OF-10 – OF-6: General officers
• OF-5 – OF-3: Senior officers
• OF-2 – OF-1: Junior officers

According to the standard, OF-10 is a national title,Template:Efn so it is not found in most of the armed forces of NATO countries, including the US Armed Forces.Template:Efn 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. There is no OF-10 in the British Royal Marines,Template:Efn in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force rank OF-10 applicable in wartime only. 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.

Other ranks codes

OR-9 – OR-1 (highest to lowest rank code) are used for other ranks (enlisted ranks and non-commissioned officers (NCO)):

• OR-9 – OR-5: Non-commissioned officers
• OR-4 – OR-1: Other ranks/enlisted ranks

For NATO purposes, NCOs are ranked OR-5 to OR-9. However, national rank structures might differentiate from this.

In the U.S. armed forces warrant officer is a separate and distinct category of officers. This officer rank and precedence is below those of officer personnel, but above that of non-officer personnel, and has a special group of codes (W-1 – W-5). In the Commonwealth tradition (for NATO the British Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces) warrant officers are the highest other ranks.

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. 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.

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.

Template:Ranks and Insignia of Non NATO Armed Forces/OF/BlankTemplate:Ranks and Insignia of NATO Armed Forces/OF/Blank

Officer ranks

Uniformed services pay grade	Special grade		O-10		O-9		O-8		O-7		O-6		O-5		O-4		O-3		O-2			O-1

Template:United States uniformed services pay grades/enlisted/blank

Other ranks

Rank group	Non-commissioned officers																						Enlisted
NATO code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4				OR-3		OR-2						OR-1

Officer rank code application

Appendix B of the APP-06 (related to STANAG 2019) standard lists 11 formation/unit groups (13 in US Armed Forces) and identifies the command level of seven of them:

	Symbol	Unit	Commander
Group 11	☓☓☓☓☓	Army group	under a designated joint force commander
Group 10	☓☓☓☓	ArmyTemplate:Efn	―Template:Efn
Group 9	☓☓☓	Corps	normally commanded by OF-8
Group 8	☓☓	Division	normally commanded by an OF-7
Group 7	☓	BrigadeTemplate:Efn	normally commanded by an OF-5 or 6
Group 6	❘ ❘ ❘	RegimentTemplate:Efn	usually commanded by an OF-4, 5 or 6
Group 5	❘ ❘	BattalionTemplate:Efn	commanded by an OF-3 or 4
Group 4	❘	CompanyTemplate:Efn	commanded by an OF-2 or 3
Group 3Template:Efn	●●●	PlatoonTemplate:Efn	commanded by an OF-1/OF-2 or OR-7/OR-8

This is a general NATO practice, which does not prevent individual branches of the armed forces, for example, the British Army, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps, from having their own approaches to the positions held by certain officers and NCOs.

Non-officer rank code criteria

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:

• 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. In Ukraine, the introduction of NATO codes for military ranks took place in two stages. Firstly in 2020, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) amended the structure of military ranks which was followed in January 2021, by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine approving the compliance of military ranks with NATO codes by order while the order had the status "For official use only".Template:Efn

Some European NATO partners such as Austria and Ireland describe their ranks in terms of NATO rank codes for comparison with NATO forces. Finland and Sweden also had a conversion table to NATO standards prior to becoming a NATO member.

Mapping to "star ranks"

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". 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. 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".

Comparative ranks of member armed forces

• Ranks and insignia of NATO member army officers
• Ranks and insignia of NATO member army enlisted
• Ranks and insignia of NATO member air force officers
• Ranks and insignia of NATO member air force enlisted
• Ranks and insignia of NATO member navy officers
• Ranks and insignia of NATO member navy enlisted

See also

• Air officer
• Comparative military ranks
• Flag officer