What does Z mean in military time?

Zulu: Coordinated Universal Time, UTC. 1200Z is noon UTC. Aviation, shipping and the services use Zulu so that a time means the same instant everywhere.

Why is there no J time zone?

The letter J is held back from the zone list so that it can mean local time. 0600J is six in the morning wherever you are. The zones run A to I and K to Z.

Which military time zone is Eastern time?

Romeo (R, UTC-5) at standard time, which is most of the winter. During daylight saving, Eastern time is UTC-4, which is Quebec (Q). The same shift applies to every US zone that observes daylight saving: Central standard is Sierra and Central daylight is Romeo. Each moves one letter toward Zulu in summer.

What are the US time zones in military letters?

At standard time: Eastern is Romeo (R, UTC-5), Central is Sierra (S, UTC-6), Mountain is Tango (T, UTC-7), Pacific is Uniform (U, UTC-8), Alaska is Victor (V, UTC-9) and Hawaii is Whiskey (W, UTC-10). In summer each one except Hawaii and Arizona shifts one letter toward Zulu.

What is Mike star and Mike dagger?

Extensions past Mike (UTC+12) for the few islands that keep UTC+13 and UTC+14: Tonga and Samoa at Mike star, Kiritimati at Mike dagger. They are written M* and M† and are rarely needed outside the Pacific.

How do I convert 1430Z to my time?

Add your zone's offset. On the US West Coast in winter (Uniform, UTC-8) it is 0630, which is 6:30 AM. Use the converter if you want the 12-hour form.

Military Time Zones

Right now----:00(--:-- --)your device's clock

All the zone letters

28 rows: Zulu, the twelve eastern zones plus the two Pacific extensions, the twelve western zones, and Juliet.

Reference
Letter	Name	Offset	Example places at standard time
Z	Zulu	UTC	UTC; London and Dublin in winter; Reykjavik; Accra

East of UTC
Letter	Name	Offset	Example places at standard time
A	Alpha	UTC+1	Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid in winter; Lagos
B	Bravo	UTC+2	Athens, Cairo, Johannesburg, Kyiv in winter
C	Charlie	UTC+3	Moscow, Istanbul, Riyadh, Nairobi
D	Delta	UTC+4	Dubai, Baku, Mauritius
E	Echo	UTC+5	Karachi, Tashkent, the Maldives
F	Foxtrot	UTC+6	Dhaka, Almaty
G	Golf	UTC+7	Bangkok, Jakarta, Hanoi
H	Hotel	UTC+8	Beijing, Singapore, Manila, Perth
I	India	UTC+9	Tokyo, Seoul
K	Kilo	UTC+10	Sydney and Brisbane in standard time; Port Moresby; Guam
L	Lima	UTC+11	Solomon Islands, Noumea
M	Mike	UTC+12	Auckland and Fiji in standard time; Marshall Islands
M*	Mike star	UTC+13	Tonga, Samoa, Tokelau
M†	Mike dagger	UTC+14	Kiritimati and the Line Islands

West of UTC
Letter	Name	Offset	Example places at standard time
N	November	UTC-1	Azores, Cape Verde
O	Oscar	UTC-2	South Georgia; Fernando de Noronha
P	Papa	UTC-3	Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Montevideo
Q	Quebec	UTC-4	Halifax in standard time; Santiago; Caracas; New York in summer
R	Romeo	UTC-5	New York, Toronto, Bogota (Eastern standard time)
S	Sierra	UTC-6	Chicago, Mexico City (Central standard time)
T	Tango	UTC-7	Denver, Phoenix (Mountain standard time)
U	Uniform	UTC-8	Los Angeles, Vancouver (Pacific standard time)
V	Victor	UTC-9	Anchorage in standard time
W	Whiskey	UTC-10	Honolulu
X	X-ray	UTC-11	Pago Pago, Niue
Y	Yankee	UTC-12	Baker and Howland Islands (uninhabited)

Local
Letter	Name	Offset	Example places at standard time
J	Juliet	local	The observer's own local time; not a fixed zone

Reading a time with a letter

The letter is the zone the time is written in. 1430Z is 14:30 in Zulu. To get it in another zone, add that zone's offset: Romeo is minus five, so 1430Z is 0930R. Going the other way, subtract the offset to get back to Zulu. A message timed in Zulu means the same instant to everyone who reads it, which is why it is used across time zones.

The United States in letters

At standard time, Eastern is Romeo (R), Central is Sierra (S), Mountain is Tango (T), Pacific is Uniform (U), Alaska is Victor (V) and Hawaii is Whiskey (W). When daylight saving is on, each zone that observes it moves one letter toward Zulu: Eastern daylight time is Quebec (Q), Pacific daylight is Tango (T). Arizona and Hawaii do not change. This is why a place can appear under two letters in the year.

Juliet, and the missing J

The alphabet runs A to I, then K to Z. J is skipped so that it can stand for local time: 0600J is six in the morning wherever the reader happens to be. Orders written in Juliet are carried out at local time at each location rather than at a single instant.

For the 24-hour clock itself, use the military time converter, which also links to a page for each hour.

Military time is written with a letter after it when the zone matters: 1430Z is 2:30 PM at UTC, and 1430R is 2:30 PM Eastern standard time. Each letter is a whole-hour offset from UTC, named with the phonetic alphabet. The table below lists all of them, with the places that keep each offset at standard time.

Worked examples

Reading a Zulu time: 1430Z means 14:30 UTC. On the US East Coast in winter that is 0930R, which is 9:30 AM Eastern. Subtract the zone's offset from Zulu to get local time; Romeo is minus 5.
Converting between two zones: A call at 1800H in Singapore (UTC+8) is 1000Z. New York in summer is Quebec (UTC-4), so the call is at 0600Q, which is 6:00 AM Eastern daylight time.
Juliet: J has no offset. 0700J means 7 AM wherever the reader is. Orders written in Juliet apply at local time at each location.

How it is calculated

Zulu time = local time minus the zone offset. Local time = Zulu time plus the zone offset. East of UTC the offset is positive (Alpha +1 to Mike +12); west it is negative (November -1 to Yankee -12). J is skipped so that it can mean the observer's local time.

Questions people ask

What does Z mean in military time?: Zulu: Coordinated Universal Time, UTC. 1200Z is noon UTC. Aviation, shipping and the services use Zulu so that a time means the same instant everywhere.
Why is there no J time zone?: The letter J is held back from the zone list so that it can mean local time. 0600J is six in the morning wherever you are. The zones run A to I and K to Z.
Which military time zone is Eastern time?: Romeo (R, UTC-5) at standard time, which is most of the winter. During daylight saving, Eastern time is UTC-4, which is Quebec (Q). The same shift applies to every US zone that observes daylight saving: Central standard is Sierra and Central daylight is Romeo. Each moves one letter toward Zulu in summer.
What are the US time zones in military letters?: At standard time: Eastern is Romeo (R, UTC-5), Central is Sierra (S, UTC-6), Mountain is Tango (T, UTC-7), Pacific is Uniform (U, UTC-8), Alaska is Victor (V, UTC-9) and Hawaii is Whiskey (W, UTC-10). In summer each one except Hawaii and Arizona shifts one letter toward Zulu.
What is Mike star and Mike dagger?: Extensions past Mike (UTC+12) for the few islands that keep UTC+13 and UTC+14: Tonga and Samoa at Mike star, Kiritimati at Mike dagger. They are written M* and M† and are rarely needed outside the Pacific.
How do I convert 1430Z to my time?: Add your zone's offset. On the US West Coast in winter (Uniform, UTC-8) it is 0630, which is 6:30 AM. Use the converter if you want the 12-hour form.

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