Military Time Zones: The Letters from Alfa to Zulu
The 25 military time zones, what each letter means, the time in each right now, and how the letters work with daylight time and half-hour zones.
The military names each time zone with a letter, said with its code word: Z is “Zulu”, R is “Romeo”. Zulu time is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and the other letters count from it: A to M (skipping J) are one to twelve hours ahead of UTC, and N to Y are one to twelve hours behind.
The letters, and the time in each now
| Letter | Code word | Offset | Time there now | Where, for example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z | Zulu | UTC±0 | — | UTC. Iceland, and the UK and Portugal in winter |
| A | Alfa | UTC+1 | — | Central Europe in winter (Paris, Berlin, Rome) |
| B | Bravo | UTC+2 | — | Eastern Europe in winter, Central Europe in summer |
| C | Charlie | UTC+3 | — | Moscow, Istanbul, Nairobi |
| D | Delta | UTC+4 | — | Dubai, Abu Dhabi |
| E | Echo | UTC+5 | — | Pakistan, Uzbekistan |
| F | Foxtrot | UTC+6 | — | Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan |
| G | Golf | UTC+7 | — | Thailand, Vietnam, western Indonesia |
| H | Hotel | UTC+8 | — | China, Singapore, Western Australia, Philippines |
| I | India | UTC+9 | — | Japan, South Korea |
| K | Kilo | UTC+10 | — | Guam; Brisbane, Australia |
| L | Lima | UTC+11 | — | Solomon Islands, New Caledonia |
| M | Mike | UTC+12 | — | Fiji, Marshall Islands |
| N | November | UTC−1 | — | Azores in winter, Cape Verde |
| O | Oscar | UTC−2 | — | South Georgia, Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) |
| P | Papa | UTC−3 | — | Argentina; São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Q | Quebec | UTC−4 | — | US Eastern Daylight Time; Puerto Rico all year |
| R | Romeo | UTC−5 | — | US Eastern Standard Time, Central Daylight Time |
| S | Sierra | UTC−6 | — | US Central Standard Time, Mountain Daylight Time |
| T | Tango | UTC−7 | — | US Mountain Standard Time (most of Arizona all year), Pacific Daylight Time |
| U | Uniform | UTC−8 | — | US Pacific Standard Time, Alaska Daylight Time |
| V | Victor | UTC−9 | — | Alaska Standard Time |
| W | Whiskey | UTC−10 | — | Hawaii (all year) |
| X | X-ray | UTC−11 | — | American Samoa, Niue |
| Y | Yankee | UTC−12 | — | No inhabited land: ships at sea between 172½° W and 180° |
| J | Juliett | Local time | Your own clock | Local time, wherever the writer is (Army manual ATP 6-02.70) |
How a zone letter is used
- The letter goes right after the time: 1535Z. With the day of the month in front, it makes a date-time group: 271630Z is the 27th at 1630 Zulu.
- The letter follows the clock, so it changes with daylight time. Washington, D.C. is R (Romeo, UTC−5) in winter and Q (Quebec, UTC−4) in summer; US Central time is S (Sierra) in winter and R (Romeo) in summer.
- Zulu never changes: UTC is not adjusted for daylight saving time.
J for local time
One Army manual (ATP 6-02.70) writes local time with the letter J, Juliett: 0900J is 9:00 AM wherever the writer is. The Army’s orders manual (FM 5-0) and Allied message rules (ACP 121) use the local zone’s own letter instead, such as S for US Central Standard Time. And L is not “local”: it is Lima, UTC+11, as FM 5-0 points out.
Half-hour zones
Places such as India (UTC+5:30), Afghanistan (UTC+4:30) and Newfoundland (UTC−3:30) fall between two letters. Army style marks such a time with an asterisk after the letter of its whole hours: its example is 0430D*, for a zone four and a half hours ahead of UTC. Allied message rules use both letters instead.
Zulu time in US time zones
To turn any Zulu time into US time, use Zulu time now: type a time and it shows it in each US time zone, in summer and in winter.
Spelling
The code words are those of the NATO phonetic alphabet. Documents spell a few of them differently: Alfa or Alpha, Juliett or Juliet, X-ray or Xray.
Sources
- Combined Communications-Electronics Board, ACP 121(I), Communication Instructions General (2010), Annex A to chapter 3, “Table of time zones, zone description and designation letters”, and paragraphs 326 to 328.
- U.S. Army, ATP 6-02.70, Techniques for Spectrum Management Operations (2015), Appendix E, “Military Time Zone Designators”.
- U.S. Army, FM 5-0, Planning and Orders Production (2024), Appendix D, “Expressing Time”.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), “How is UTC(NIST) related to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) International Atomic Time (TAI), Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), USNO time, GPS time and Zulu time?”
- The places in each zone: the IANA Time Zone Database; zone Y: ACP 121.
All read October 26 and 27, 2026.