The practice of the United States and NATO in giving code names to Soviet, Russian and Chinese aircraft has long been controversial, and most of these codes are derogatory or even derogatory. Recently, they officially named China's J-20 fighter "fagin", taken from "Orphan of the Fog", and its meaning is obviously derogatory. In contrast, China's domestic name for the J-20 is even stronger, claiming to be "Weilong", and even more domineering than the American F-22 "Raptor".
In the actions of the United States and NATO in naming Russian and Chinese aircraft, the praise contained in the names is relatively rare. Perhaps the most well-known is the Su-27 series, known as the "Flanker". Others, such as the MiG-21 and J-7 series, are dubbed "fishbed", while the Chinese J-8 is known as the "finback fin whale". Although these names have a pejorative connotation, if you look at the J-8's **, you will find that its appearance is quite similar to that of a small-winged fin whale. The J-10 is called a "Raptor" by China and "Firebird" by NATO, a relatively neutral code name that is in line with the naming of some American cars and missiles.
The United States and NATO follow certain rules for naming aircraft, such as fighter jets that usually start with the letter "F", such as the MiG-25 is called "Foxbat", the MiG-23 is "Flogger", the Su-24 is called "fencer", and the Su-34 is named "Fullback". China's J-11, J-15 and J-16 are collectively referred to as "Flankers" and belong to the Su-27 series. Bombers usually start with the letter "B", as shown in the Tu-22 called "Blindfold", Tu-22M3 is "Backfire", Tu-160 is crowned with the "Pirate Flag", and Tu-95 is named "Bear", these code names are both neutral and derogatory. Transport aircraft usually begin with the letter "C", similar to the US military's C-series transport aircraft. For example, the An-124, known in Russia as "Ruslan", is a legendary hero created by Pushkin, but in the West it is called "condor", alluding to the carrion-eating and ugly bird of prey.
Despite the existence of these rules, in fact, from the code name, we can get a glimpse of the West's attitude towards the threat level and technological level of Russia and China. For example, the J-7, MiG-21, MiG-23 and other technologies are relatively backward compared with the West and the United States, so they are often given sarcastic or even derogatory names, emphasizing a dismissive attitude. The self-proclaimed eagle, falcon and tomcat became a fish nest and a farmer in Western countries. The **, which has acceptable performance but has a certain gap with the United States, is often given a neutral name, such as the Su-27 and Tu-22M3 mentioned above.
However, when ** reached the advanced level and even aroused the alarm of the United States, the code name brought a completely different derogatory and derogatory meaning. For example, the aforementioned An-124, which was originally synonymous with legendary heroes, has become an ugly giant bird that eats scavengers. Another example is the MiG-25's "Flying Fox", which may sound fine, but in Western culture, the Fox is often seen as a fraudster, a clear disparagement of the aircraft that once put the United States under pressure. And the "pirate flag" is even more straightforward to indicate the accusations against the Soviet Union.
For the new generation fighter, the Su-57 was dubbed a "heavy criminal", and although it was a fifth-generation fighter, it made the United States feel in crisis and was therefore belittled. The J-20 is known as the "instigator", a super fighter that sets another design trend, but is directly called a criminal, classifying the advanced fighters of the two main rivals as villains. In fact, the NATO code name also reflects the ** war that the United States and even the entire West have consistently emphasized against Russia and China, and Western propaganda has always gone in the opposite direction, regardless of the actual situation.
It is conceivable that a young military enthusiast in Europe and the United States will inevitably cast a negative image on these two countries when he learns that his own aircraft are called Raptors and Hawks, British planes are called Typhoons, and French planes are called Rafale, while Russian and Chinese planes are called "heavy criminals" and "instigators." However, this simple and seemingly boring approach has had an unexpected effect, which is the fundamental reason why the United States and the West have long been fond of reversing black and white.