Sources and Abbreviations

Canon Sources (see Canon page for more detail).

Star Wars

1. The 5 Star Wars movies ("absolute canon" according to Lucasfilm, ie- indisputable):

2. Official movie literature ("canon" according to Lucasfilm, ie- only disputable via direct contradiction with absolute canon):

3. Extended Universe literature ("quasi-canon" according to Lucasfilm, ie- official but "apocryphal" data, treated more like a written history than direct evidence):

Star Trek

1. The Star Trek movies and TV shows which Gene Roddenberry personally approved ("It ain't Star Trek until I say it's Star Trek"). These sources are almost universally agreed to be canon:

2. The Star Trek movies and TV shows (still "canon" according to Paramount, but lacking Gene Roddenberry's participation or approval). These sources are generally agreed to be canon by the majority of Star Trek fans:

3. Diputed sources ("canon" according to Paramount, but disputed by a significant fraction of the fanbase):

4. The Star Trek official publications (no real status according to Paramount, but many fans still give them credence anyway):

Other Common Star Wars and Star Trek Abbreviations

Abbrev

Expansion

BOP

Bird of Prey.

BTM

Star Wars: Behind The Magic.

CSA

Corporate Sector Authority.

DE/DE2

Dark Empire/Dark Empire 2 (a very popular set of Star Wars comics which is noteworthy for the fact that George Lucas himself once gave them out as gifts).

DFR

Dark Force Rising (a Zahn Trilogy novel).

DS1/DS2

Death Star #1 (from ANH) and Death Star #2 (from ROTJ) respectively.

EGWT

Star Wars Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology

EGPM

Star Wars Essential Guide to Planets and Moons

EGVV

Star Wars Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels

GCS

Galaxy Class Starship.

GL

George Lucas.

HTTE

Heir To The Empire (a Zahn Trilogy novel).

LF/LFL

Lucasfilm/Lucasfilm Ltd.

ISD1

Imperator-I Star Destroyer (an older model which was seen in orbit around Tatooine in ANH). It mounts four very heavy 2-gun turrets on each side of its topside superstructure.

ISD2

Imperator-II Star Destroyer (a newer model which was seen in TESB and ROTJ). It mounts four heavy 8-gun turrets on each side of its topside superstructure.

KDY

Kuat Drive Yards (manufacturer of the Nebulon-B frigate, the Imperator-class Star Destroyer, the Executor-class Star Destroyer, and the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer).

KJA

Kevin J. Anderson (widely reviled as the worst SW novel author out there; his IG-88 stories are the epitome of fan-wankery and he was reponsible for the idiotic claim that the construction of the Executor "nearly bankrupted the Empire" despite being a miniscule fraction of the size of either Death Star).

NDF

Nuclear Disruption Force.

NR

New Republic.

OR

Old Republic.

SOTP

Spectre Of The Past (#1 of 2 books in the Zahn "Hand of Thrawn" duology).

SSD

Super Star Destroyer.

TDiC

The Die is Cast (DS9 episode).

TFN

TheForce.Net (a very large fan-operated board whose forums are infested with morons; we are talking about rabid EU fanboys who believe the books override the movies).

TL

Turbolaser.

TLC

The Last Command (a Zahn Trilogy novel).

VOTF

Vision of the Future (#2 of 2 books in the Zahn "Hand of Thrawn" duology).

VSD

Victory-class Star Destroyer.

WEG

WEG: West-End Games. This was an RPG game retailer that dominated early SW literature publishing. Unfortunately, their interest was in making an RPG rather than staying true to the source material, so they created a lot of serious errors in the official literature. Many of their moronic mistakes (such as the 8km long Executor) are still defended by rabid adherents to their material, some of whom appear to have influence within LucasFilm itself.

WOTC

WOTC: Wizards Of The Coast. This is a new group which is handling a new RPG. Hopefully their work will not be as abysmally destructive to the official continuity as WEG's material was.

Go visit the Acronyms and Abbreviations thread on our forums for even more obscure SW acronyms.

Common Real-life Acronyms and Abbrevations

Abbrev

Expansion

AAA

Anti-Aircraft Artillery

AAM

Air to Air Missile

AFV

Armoured Fighting Vehicle

AKA

Also Known As

APC

Armoured Personnel Carrier

APFSDS

Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot round

ARM

Anti-Radiation Missile (aka HARM)

ASAP

As Soon As Possible

ASM

Air to Ship Missile

ASROC

Anti-Submarine ROCket

ATGM

Anti-Tank Guided Missile

ATGW

Anti-Tank Guided Weapon

AU

Astronomical Unit (150 million km- the distance from the Sun to Earth).

AWOL

Absent WithOut Leave

CAS

Close Air Support

CASREP

CASualty REPort

CBU

Cluster Bomb Unit

CG

Coast Guard

CINC

Commander IN Chief

CIWS

Close-In Weapon System

CQB

Close Quarters Combat

ECM

Electronic Counter-Measures.

ECCM

Electronic Counter Counter-Measures

ELINT

ELectronic INTelligence

EM

Electro-Magnetic

FAE

Fuel-Air Explosive (aka thermobaric bomb)

FIBUA

Fighting In Built-Up Areas

FIFO

First In, First Out

FLIR

Forward Looking Infrared Receiver

FUBAR

Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition

G's

Acceleration G-force, expressed as a multiple of 1G, which is Earth sea-level gravitational acceleration of approximately 9.806 m/s². For example, an acceleration of 30 m/s² would be approximately 3 G's.

GBU

Guided Bomb Unit

GIGO

Garbage In, Garbage Out

GPMG

General Purpose Machine Gun

GPS

Global Positioning System

HALO

High Altitude Low Opening (parachute jump)

HE

High Explosive

HEAT

High Explosive Anti-Tank round

HE-FRAG

High Explosive FRAGmentation

HEP

High Explosive Plastic

HMG

Heavy Machine Gun

HMMWV

High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (aka Humvee)

HVM

Hyper-Velocity Missile

ICBM

InterContinental Ballistic Missile

IFF

Identification Friend-or-Foe

IR

InfraRed

LAV

Light Armoured Vehicle

LAW

Light anti-Armour Weapon

LGB

Laser-Guided Bomb

LMG

Light Machine Gun

KIA

Killed In Action (also the very poorly chosen name of a Korean automobile company)

MG

Machine Gun

MIA

Missing In Action

MIRV

Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles

MOUT

Military Operations in Urbanized Terrain

MRE

Meals Ready to Eat

NBC

Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical

OPFOR

Opposing Force

OPSEC

Operational Security

PDW

Personal Defense Weapon

POW

Prisoner Of War

RADAR

RAdiation Detection And Ranging

ROE

Rules of Engagement

ROTC

Reserve Officer Training Corps

SAM

Surface to Air Missile

SAR

Search And Rescue

SAW

Squad Automatic Weapon

SEAL

SEa/Air/Land

SITREP

SITuation REPort

SMG

Sub-Machine Gun

SNAFU

Situation Normal, All Fucked Up

SOL

Shit Outta Luck

SONAR

SOund Navigation And Ranging

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure

SRBM

Short-Range Ballistic Missile

TASM

Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile

TLAM

Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile

TOW

Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided missile

VTOL

Vertical Take-Off and Landing

Standard Military Phonetic Alphabet

Letter

Phonetic Version

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-Ray
Yankee
Zulu