Verifying Military Aircraft registration

[jonessteve8]

Hi

As I'm new to this forum I just want to be sure about future accuracy of my posts. I've read in a couple of topics about reliability of registrations on various apps e.g. Flightradar 24.
I tend to get the registrations from this app or Open ADSB and occasionally tie up other ones with flight aware. This seems to be fine for civilian aircraft but I'm now less sure about military. Are there other checks I should be doing, other sources I should be checking to verify these or generally can I rely on these? This is for my own logs but was anticipating posting heads up over my area in Yorkshire on this site (If that is appropriate) as I see them ,as I spend too much time surveying the skies, but I would not want to be innocently posting registrations that were not accurate. Any clarification or advice on this would be gratefully received.

Many Thanks

Steve

[sdad]

No idea about cross reference but I should advise always quoting your source when posting and putting something like 'showing as...' if you have no verification.

You may find, if you study the forum, that it is often said that (for example) RAF Typhoons and USN P-8s are a particular problem.

[Nighthawke]

Alternatively put serial in brackets if not read off.

[Malcolm]

FYI - In general, there is no requirement for "State Registered Aircraft" to use the same ICAO hex code for every flight. "State Registered Aircraft" means military and government operated. If they wanted, they could use a different code for every flight which would make tying up serials (and even types) impossible unless someone is there to read off the aircraft when it takes off or lands.

The only thing the aircraft emits is this 6 digit hex code. It does NOT emit it's serial/registration. The serials/registrations you see on the VR sites are a lookup in a database cross referencing the emitted 6 digit hex with past reports of eyeballed aircraft using that hex. The database is only as accurate and the data put into it. Most of the data relating to military aircraft is supplied by spotters - hardly any of it is official information.

In practice, most military aircraft do get issued an ICAO hex by their state from within that countries pool of hex codes, and tend to stick to it. Types which routinely operate in civilian airspace (basically transport types C-17, A400, Voyagers, C-130's KC-135's etc) more or less have to use ADSB codes to be accepted into the civilian air traffic system. Fighter types are much more variable - if they're not in civilian controlled airspace they often don't bother with ADSB even if they are fitted with it. Several types (commonly P8's) are also known to be able to use 'alternative' hex codes (so called Tactical Hex) to disguise their identity. It's also true that when the transponder boxes are swapped from one aircraft to another for whatever reason, the code can move with the box, resulting in the second aircraft emitting the codes associated with the first.

It's up to you how much reliance you put on the serial reported on a VR site. Personally, I'm prepared to trust (most of) the transport types, but am always sceptical of fighter and recce types.

[jonessteve8]

That is really interesting! Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful!