Definition of List of nato country codes

This is the list of NATO country codes. Up to and including the seventh edition of STANAG 1059, these were two-letter codes (digrams). The eighth edition, promulgated February 19, 2004 and effective April 1, 2004, replaced all codes with new ones based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. Additional codes cover gaps in the ISO coverage, deal with the imaginary countries used for exercise purposes, and designate large geographical groupings and water bodies (ranging from oceans to rivers). It consists of two-letter codes for geographical entities, four-letter codes for subdivisions, and lists the ISO three-letter codes for reference. The digrams match the FIPS 10-4 codes with a few exceptions.