Turkestani Aircraft Naming Conventions

Airships

Military airships of the State of Turkestan bear the designation E.S., for Ellik Samağı ("National Airship"). Large airships are usually named after great heroes, legendary or real, for example the flagship aeroplane carrier E.S. Tamırıs (named after a legendary Scythian warrior queen), her sister airship E.S. Jahangır Xan, or the air frigate E.S. Mahmud Ğulam Xan. There appears to be a marked preference for "nomad" names for carriers and "sart" or "tajik" names for air frigates.

Smaller airships and aeroscrafts are usually named after cities and towns (eg E.S. Samarqand, E.S. Bişkek, E.S. Taraz etc). Dedicated paratrooper dropships are usually named after wild animals, for example the E.S. Bars ("Snow Leopard") or the E.S. Qulan ("Asiatic Wild Ass"). Airships whose primary role is as radar platforms sometimes bear the names of weapons: E.S. Çoğboru ("Mace"), E.S. Quls ("Sword"), etc., though these are much more variable, and equally likely to be named for cities, atmospheric phenomena and the like. Tactical transport airships have other names, without any clear system in use.

It should be noted that this is a general observation, not a hard-and-fast rule.

Aeroplanes

Turkestani military terminology does not make the fighter/bomber distinction of some languages. Combat aeroplanes, whether fighter/interceptor type or bomber/strike aircraft type, are all designated Tulpar uçaq, ("winged-steed aeroplanes"), and those locally designed and built use T-number designations.

It has become a tradition that combat aeroplanes are given "bird of prey" names. Examples of this are the T-5 Çagaltaı ("Hobby", Falco subbuteo) fighter, the T-7 Şıkra ("Shikra", Accipiter badius) fighter-bomber and the old T-1 Bürküt ("Eagle", Aquila spp).

The T-9 jet fighter-bomber breaks this tradition, or perhaps establishes a new one for jet aircraft, being named the Boran ("Blizzard"). It is anticipated that the planned locally-developed single-engined jet fighter will be called the Davul ("Thunderstorm").

Autogiros

Military autogiros (Sarbazlı Havagırlar) produced by the State of Turkestan theoretically use H-number designations similar to those used by combat aeroplanes, however, Turkestan is not a great producer of autogiros, and has historically bought most of its autogiros, both military and civilian, from foreign sources. Russia, of course, has been the primary supplier for Turkestan, though since the fall of the SNOR the Turkestani Air Force has begun to import military autogiros from Persia and Turkey.

Russian autogiros, which most of Turkestan's military autogiros are, use A-number designations (for "avtogir"; Rus. автогирь), and Persian and Turkish autogiro manufacturers use other designations. In general, Turkestan keeps whatever designation number assigned by the manufacturer, as it does with aeroplanes. The single domestically-produced combat autogiro is known as the H-1 Otyılan ("Fire Snake").

Other aircraft

Turkestan currently buys all of its Ekranoplans and flying-boat aircraft from Russia and Turkey. However, the Turkestani Air Force and Guards formerly flew a locally-produced single-engined flying boat fighter known as the T-2 Kutan ("Heron").