Military Symbol Form: Textual Amplifiers

Textual amplifiers are extra labels you can attach to a military symbol (for example a unit designation, an altitude, or a date-time group). Only the amplifiers relevant to the current symbol are shown. Fields appear and disappear as you change the symbol set.

This guide describes each field, how to fill it in, and what to expect when your input is outside the accepted format.

Field reference

Additional Information

Type: text
Limit: up to 20 characters
Example: Last seen 12:00

Altitude / Depth

Type: text (entered in upper case)
Accepted formats:
- MSL or GL - mean sea level / ground level
- FL followed by up to 3 digits - flight level (for example, FL250)
- A height (up to 6 digits) followed by a unit and a reference point:
  - units: FT, M, KM, SM
  - references: AGL, AMSL, BMSL, HAE
Examples: MSL, FL250, 1200 FT AGL, 500 M AMSL

Combat Effectiveness

Type: dropdown

Common Identifier

Type: text
Limit: up to 12 characters

Country

Type: dropdown

Date-Time Group (DTG)

Type: text (entered in upper case)
Accepted formats:
- O/O - on order
- DDHHMM[SS]Z<MMM><YYYY> - day, hour, minutes, optional seconds, timezone letter, three-letter month, four-digit year
Examples: O/O, 121830ZJUL2025, 12183045ZJUL2025

Equipment Teardown Time

Type: number
Limit: 1–3 digits

Evaluation Rating

Type: text
Format: a single letter A–F followed by a digit 0–6
Length: exactly 2 characters
Examples: B2, F6

Engagement Bar The engagement bar is made up of four sub-fields entered together as a row.

Type - dropdown (required)
Stage Code - dropdown
Weapon - dropdown
Number of Engagements - number

How the fields combine:

If Type is empty, the entire engagement bar is dropped.
If Stage Code is empty, only the Type is kept.
If Stage Code is MLT, the Weapon field is ignored and the first two digits of Number of Engagements are used in its place.

Guarded Unit

Type: checkbox

Headquarters Element

Type: text
Limit: up to 8 characters

Higher Formation

Type: text
Limit: up to 21 characters

IFF / SIF Two coupled inputs: a Code dropdown and a Value text field. The chosen code controls what characters the value will accept and how long it can be.

Code	Length	Accepted characters
MODE1	2	first digit 0–7, second digit 0–3
MODE2, MODE3	up to 4	digits 0–7
MODE5	up to 4	first digit 0–3, then hex digits 0–9/A–F
EMODE1, EMODE2, EMODE3	up to 4	digits 0–7, last digit 0–3
EMODE5	up to 4	first digit 0–3, then digits 0–7
MODESOCT	up to 8	digits 0–7
IMO	up to 7	digits 0–9

How the fields combine: if no Code is selected, the value is ignored.

Installation Composition

Type: dropdown

Location

Type: text

Platform Type

Type: dropdown

Quantity

Type: text
Format: a number (not starting with zero) optionally followed by a space and letters
Limits: up to 9 digits and up to 10 letters
Examples: 123, 5 MEN, 42 TANKS

Reinforced / Reduced

Type: dropdown

Signature Equipment

Type: checkbox

Special Designator

Type: dropdown

Special Headquarters

Type: text
Limit: up to 9 characters

Speed Two coupled inputs: a numeric Speed value and a Speed Unit dropdown.

Speed limit: up to 9 digits, minimum 1

How the fields combine: if the speed value is missing or invalid, the speed amplifier is dropped entirely (the unit on its own is not shown).

Staff Comments

Type: text
Limit: up to 20 characters

Type

Type: text
Limit: up to 24 characters

Unique Designation

Type: text
Limit: up to 30 characters

General precedence rules

These rules apply to every textual amplifier:

Symbol-set support. Only amplifiers that the current symbol supports are shown. Switching symbol sets can hide fields you have already filled in; those values are simply omitted from the output until you switch back.
Lenient validation. Most fields accept partial input as you type. When the symbol is finalized, any characters past the field's accepted format are truncated rather than rejecting the whole value.
Composite fields. Engagement Bar, IFF / SIF, and Speed are made up of several inputs. If the leading driver field (Type / Code / Speed value) is empty, the whole composite amplifier is dropped, even if the other parts are filled in.

Render-position precedence

Some textual amplifiers share the same physical position on the rendered symbol. When more than one amplifier in a group has a value, only the highest-priority one is drawn; the others are hidden from the symbol even though they remain in the form.

The groups depend on the symbol's standard (APP-6 vs MILSTD-2525E) and the symbol set. In every group below the fields are listed in order of priority: the first one with a value wins, and the rest are suppressed.

MILSTD-2525E

Air (01)

Type → Common Identifier
Altitude/Depth → Speed
Staff Comments → Additional Information

Space (05)

Altitude/Depth → Speed
Staff Comments → Additional Information

Land Unit (10) and Civilian Unit (11)

Special Designator → Date-Time Group
Altitude/Depth → Location
Type → Platform Type → Equipment Teardown Time
Reinforced/Reduced → Country
Additional Information → Common Identifier
Evaluation Rating → Combat Effectiveness → IFF/SIF

Land Equipment (15)

Altitude/Depth → Location
Type → Platform Type → Equipment Teardown Time
Staff Comments → Guarded Unit
Additional Information → Common Identifier
Evaluation Rating → Combat Effectiveness → Signature Equipment → Higher Formation → IFF/SIF

Land Installation (20)

Altitude/Depth → Location
Staff Comments → Guarded Unit
Evaluation Rating → Combat Effectiveness → IFF/SIF

Dismounted Individual (27)

Altitude/Depth → Location
Type → Common Identifier
Evaluation Rating → Combat Effectiveness → IFF/SIF

Sea Surface (30)

Guarded Unit → Special Designator
Staff Comments → Additional Information
Location → Speed

Sea Subsurface (35)

Staff Comments → Additional Information
Location → Speed

APP-6

Air (01) and Space (05)

Unique Designation → Country
Speed → Altitude/Depth
Staff Comments → Additional Information