buttcrack. Cipher Wiki

NATO phonetic alphabet

From the Buttcrack Cipher Wiki — the free field guide to classical ciphers

NATO phonetic alphabet — One spelling-alphabet word per letter: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie.

One spelling-alphabet word per letter (Alfa Bravo Charlie ...).

A worked example§

Encrypting a sample with the cipher itself, at build time:

MEET ME BY THE OLD CLOCK TOWER AT DAWN

No key — the transformation is fixed.

produces the ciphertext

Mike Echo Echo Tango Mike Echo Bravo Yankee Tango Hotel Echo Oscar Lima Delta Charlie Lima Oscar Charlie Kilo Tango Oscar Whiskey Echo Romeo Alfa Tango Delta Alfa Whiskey November

This example is generated by running the cipher when the page is built, and the round trip is checked, so it always matches what the solver does.

How it is broken§

Vocabulary. It is a code table, and the words announce themselves.

History and context§

Adopted by NATO and ICAO in 1956 after testing which words survive a bad radio link. Alfa and Juliett are spelled oddly on purpose, for speakers who would not pronounce 'ph' or a final 't'.

See also§

Morse code · Bacon cipher · Bacon (letter case) · A1Z26 (numbered alphabet) · Polybius square · Tap code

Browse every cipher in the Codes and alphabets family, read the history of codebreaking, or return to the wiki main page.

Frequently asked questions§

How is the NATO phonetic alphabet broken?

Vocabulary. It is a code table, and the words announce themselves.

What key does the NATO phonetic alphabet use?

none. There are 1 possible keys.

How much ciphertext do I need?

At least 10 characters for this solver to attempt it; short messages can be readable and still not be proof.

Can I break a NATO phonetic alphabet on this page?

Not with the browser build, which targets the common puzzle families. The desktop version searches it: see the Windows app page.

Categories: Codes and alphabets | Full-version ciphers | Cipher wiki
The facts in this article are generated from buttcrack's cipher registry when the site is built, so they describe the implementation you can run on this page. Registry-generated content is checked against the code; the history is editorial.

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