ultraviolet imagery — That imagery produced as a result of sensing ultraviolet radiations
reflected from a given target surface.

unaccounted for — An inclusive term (not a casualty status) applicable to personnel whose
person or remains are not recovered or otherwise accounted for following hostile
action. Commonly used when referring to personnel who are killed in action and
whose bodies are not recovered. See also casualty; casualty category; casualty
status; casualty type.

unanticipated target — A target of opportunity that was unknown or not expected to exist
in the operational environment. See also target of opportunity. See also operational
area; target; target of opportunity. (JP 3-60)

unauthorized commitment — An agreement that is not binding solely because the United
States Government representative who made it lacked the authority to enter into that
agreement on behalf of the Unites States Government. See also ratification. (JP 4-10)

uncertain environment — Operational environment in which host government forces,
whether opposed to or receptive to operations that a unit intends to conduct, do not
have totally effective control of the territory and population in the intended operational
area. (JP 3-0)

uncharged demolition target — (*) A demolition target for which charges have been
calculated, prepared, and stored in a safe place, and for which execution procedures
have been established. See also demolition target.

unclassified matter — (*) Official matter which does not require the application of
security safeguards, but the disclosure of which may be subject to control for other
reasons. See also classified matter.

unconventional assisted recovery — Nonconventional assisted recovery conducted by
special operations forces. Also called UAR. See also authenticate; evader; recovery.
(JP 3-50)

unconventional assisted recovery coordination cell — A compartmented special
operations forces facility, established by the joint force special operations component
commander, staffed on a continuous basis by supervisory personnel and tactical
planners to coordinate, synchronize, and de-conflict nonconventional assisted recovery
operations within the operational area assigned to the joint force commander. Also
called UARCC. See also joint operations center; joint personnel recovery center;
special operations forces; unconventional assisted recovery. (JP 3-50)

unconventional assisted recovery mechanism — A recovery mechanism developed and
managed by special operations forces. Also called UARM. See also recovery;
unconventional assisted recovery. (JP 3-50)

unconventional assisted recovery team — A designated special operations forces
unconventional warfare ground or maritime force capable of conducting
unconventional assisted recovery with indigenous or surrogate forces. Also called
UART. (JP 3-50)

unconventional warfare — A broad spectrum of military and paramilitary operations,
normally of long duration, predominantly conducted through, with, or by indigenous or
surrogate forces who are organized, trained, equipped, supported, and directed in
varying degrees by an external source. It includes, but is not limited to, guerrilla
warfare, subversion, sabotage, intelligence activities, and unconventional assisted
recovery. Also called UW. (JP 3-05)

unconventional warfare forces — US forces having an existing unconventional warfare
capability.

under sea warfare — Operations conducted to establish and maintain control of the
underwater environment by denying an opposing force the effective use of underwater
systems and weapons. It includes offensive and defensive submarine, antisubmarine,
and mine warfare operations. Also called USW. See also antisubmarine warfare;
mine warfare. (JP 3-32 CH1)

understowed cargo — See flatted cargo.

underwater demolition — (*) The destruction or neutralization of underwater obstacles;
this is normally accomplished by underwater demolition teams.

underwater demolition team — A group of officers and enlisted specially trained and
equipped for making hydrographic reconnaissance of approaches to prospective
landing beaches; for effecting demolition of obstacles and clearing mines in certain
areas; locating, improving, and marking of useable channels; channel and harbor
clearance; acquisition of pertinent data during pre-assault operations, including military
information; observing the hinterland to gain information useful to the landing force;
and for performing miscellaneous underwater and surface tasks within their
capabilities. Also called UDT.

underway replenishment — See replenishment at sea.

underway replenishment force — (*) A task force of fleet auxiliaries (consisting of oilers,
ammunition ships, stores issue ships, etc.) adequately protected by escorts furnished by
the responsible operational commander. The function of this force is to provide
underway logistic support for naval forces. See also force.

underway replenishment group — A task group configured to provide logistic
replenishment of ships underway by transfer-at-sea methods.

unexploded explosive ordnance — (*) Explosive ordnance which has been primed, fused,
armed or otherwise prepared for action, and which has been fired, dropped, launched,
projected, or placed in such a manner as to constitute a hazard to operations,
installations, personnel, or material and remains unexploded either by malfunction or
design or for any other cause. Also called UXO. See also explosive ordnance.
(JP 3-15)

unified action — The synchronization, coordination, and/or integration of the activities of
governmental and nongovernmental entities with military operations to achieve unity of
effort. (JP 1)

unified combatant command — See unified command. (JP 1)

unified command — A command with a broad continuing mission under a single
commander and composed of significant assigned components of two or more Military
Departments that is established and so designated by the President, through the
Secretary of Defense with the advice and assistance of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Also called unified combatant command. See also combatant command;
subordinate unified command. (JP 1)

Unified Command Plan — The document, approved by the President, that sets forth basic
guidance to all unified combatant commanders; establishes their missions,
responsibilities, and force structure; delineates the general geographical area of
responsibility for geographic combatant commanders; and specifies functional
responsibilities for functional combatant commanders. Also called UCP. See also
combatant command; combatant commander. (JP 1)

uniformed services — The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Public Health Services. See also
Military Department; Military Service.

unilateral arms control measure — An arms control course of action taken by a nation
without any compensating concession being required of other nations.

unintentional radiation exploitation — Exploitation for operational purposes of
noninformation-bearing elements of electromagnetic energy unintentionally emanated
by targets of interest.

unintentional radiation intelligence — Intelligence derived from the collection and
analysis of noninformation-bearing elements extracted from the electromagnetic energy
unintentionally emanated by foreign devices, equipment, and systems, excluding those
generated by the detonation of nuclear weapons. Also called RINT. See also
intelligence. (JP 2-0)

uni-Service command — A command comprised of forces of a single Service.

unit — 1. Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such
as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organization. 2. An
organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force. 3. A standard or basic
quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued, or used. In this meaning, also
called unit of issue. 4. With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces,
denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to
serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit.
Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units.

unit aircraft — Those aircraft provided an aircraft unit for the performance of a flying
mission. See also aircraft.

unit combat readiness — See combat readiness.

unit commitment status — (*) The degree of commitment of any unit designated and
categorized as a force allocated to NATO.

unit designation list — A list of actual units by unit identification code designated to fulfill
requirements of a force list.

United States — Includes the land area, internal waters, territorial sea, and airspace of the
United States, including the following: a. US territories, possessions, and
commonwealths; and b. Other areas over which the US Government has complete
jurisdiction and control or has exclusive authority or defense responsibility.

United States Armed Forces — Used to denote collectively only the regular components
of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. See also Armed
Forces of the United States.

United States Civilian Internee Information Center — The national center of
information in the United States for enemy and US civilian internees.

United States controlled shipping — That shipping under US flag and selected ships under
foreign flag considered to be under “effective US control,” i.e., that can reasonably be
expected to be made available to the United States in time of national emergency. See
also effective US controlled ships.

United States message text format — A program designed to enhance joint and combined
combat effectiveness through standardization of message formats, data elements, and
information exchange procedures. Standard message formats with standard
information content provides all tactical commanders at the joint interface with a
common playing field and a common language. Also called USMTF.

United States Military Service-funded foreign training — Training that is provided to
foreign nationals in United States Military Service schools and installations under
authority other than the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

United States Naval Ship — A public vessel of the United States that is in the custody of
the Navy and is: a. Operated by the Military Sealift Command and manned by a civil
service crew; or b. Operated by a commercial company under contract to the Military
Sealift Command and manned by a merchant marine crew. Also called USNS. See
also Military Sealift Command. (JP 3-02.2)

United States Prisoner of War Information Center — The national center of information
in the United States for enemy and US prisoners of war.

United States Signals Intelligence System — The unified organization of signals
intelligence activities under the direction of the Director, National Security
Agency/Chief, Central Security Service. It consists of the National Security
Agency/Central Security Service, the components of the Military Services authorized to
conduct signals intelligence, and such other entities (other than the Federal Bureau of
Investigation) authorized by the National Security Council or the Secretary of Defense
to conduct signals intelligence activities. Also called USSS. See also
counterintelligence. (JP 2-01.2)

United States Transportation Command — The unified command with the mission to
provide strategic air, land, and sea transportation and common-user port management
for the Department of Defense across the range of military operations. Also called
USTRANSCOM. See also global transportation network; single port manager;
transportation component command; unified command. (JP 4-01)

unit identification code — A six-character, alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies each
Active, Reserve, and National Guard unit of the Armed Forces. Also called UIC.

unitized load — A single item or a number of items packaged, packed, or arranged in a
specified manner and capable of being handled as a unit. Unitization may be
accomplished by placing the item or items in a container or by banding them securely
together. See also palletized unit load.

unit line number — A seven-character alphanumeric code that describes a unique
increment of a unit deployment, i.e., advance party, main body, equipment by sea and
air, reception team, or trail party, in a Joint Operation Planning and Execution System
time-phased force and deployment data. Also called ULN.

unit loading — (*) The loading of troop units with their equipment and supplies in the
same vessels, aircraft, or land vehicles. See also loading.

unit movement control center — A temporary organization activated by major subordinate
commands and subordinate units during deployment to control and manage marshalling
and movement. Also called UMCC. See also deployment; marshaling; unit.
(JP 3-35)

unit of issue — In its special storage meaning, refers to the quantity of an item; as each
number, dozen, gallon, pair, pound, ream, set, yard. Usually termed unit of issue to
distinguish from “unit price.” See also unit.

unit movement data — A unit equipment and/or supply listing containing corresponding
transportability data. Tailored unit movement data has been modified to reflect a
specific movement requirement. Also called UMD.

unit personnel and tonnage table — A table included in the loading plan of a combatloaded
ship as a recapitulation of totals of personnel and cargo by type, listing cubic
measurements and weight. Also called UP&TT.

unit price — The cost or price of an item of supply based on the unit of issue.

unit readiness — See readiness.

unit-related equipment and supplies — All equipment and supplies that are assigned to a
specific unit or that are designated as accompanying supplies. The logistic dimensions
of these items are contained in the type unit characteristics file standard.

unit reserves — Prescribed quantities of supplies carried by a unit as a reserve to cover
emergencies. See also reserve supplies.

unit training assembly — An authorized and scheduled period of unit inactive duty
training of a prescribed length of time.

unit type code — A Joint Chiefs of Staff developed and assigned code, consisting of five
characters that uniquely identify a “type unit.”

unity of effort — Coordination and cooperation toward common objectives, even if the
participants are not necessarily part of the same command or organization - the product
of successful unified action. (JP 1)

Universal Joint Task List — A menu of capabilities (mission-derived tasks with associated
conditions and standards, i.e., the tools) that may be selected by a joint force
commander to accomplish the assigned mission. Once identified as essential to mission
accomplishment, the tasks are reflected within the command joint mission essential
task list. Also called UJTL. (JP 3-33)

universal polar stereographic grid — A military grid prescribed for joint use in operations
in limited areas and used for operations requiring precise position reporting. It covers
areas between the 80 degree parallels and the poles.

Universal Postal Union — A worldwide postal organization to which the United States and
most other countries are members. The exchange of mail, except parcel post, between
the United States and other nations is governed by the provisions of the Universal
Postal Union convention. Also called UPU.

Universal Time — A measure of time that conforms, within a close approximation, to the
mean diurnal rotation of the Earth and serves as the basis of civil timekeeping.
Universal Time (UT1) is determined from observations of the stars, radio sources, and
also from ranging observations of the moon and artificial Earth satellites. The scale
determined directly from such observations is designated Universal Time Observed
(UTO); it is slightly dependent on the place of observation. When UTO is corrected for
the shift in longitude of the observing station caused by polar motion, the time scale
UT1 is obtained. When an accuracy better than one second is not required, Universal
Time can be used to mean Coordinated Universal Time. Also called ZULU time.
Formerly called Greenwich Mean Time.

universal transverse mercator grid — (*) A grid coordinate system based on the
transverse mercator projection, applied to maps of the Earth’s surface extending to 84
degrees N and 80 degrees S latitudes. Also called UTM grid.

unknown — 1. A code meaning “information not available.” 2. An unidentified target. An
aircraft or ship that has not been determined to be hostile, friendly, or neutral using
identification friend or foe and other techniques, but that must be tracked by air defense
or naval engagement systems. 3. An identity applied to an evaluated track that has not
been identified. See also assumed friend; friend; hostile; neutral; suspect.

unlimited war — Not to be used. See general war.

unmanned aircraft — An aircraft or balloon that does not carry a human operator and is
capable of flight under remote control or autonomous programming. Also called UA.

unmanned aircraft system — That system whose components include the necessary
equipment, network, and personnel to control an unmanned aircraft. Also called UAS.

unmanned aerial vehicle — A powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human
operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be
piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal
payload. Ballistic or semiballistic vehicles, cruise missiles, and artillery projectiles are
not considered unmanned aerial vehicles. Also called UAV. (JP 3-52)

unplanned target — A target of opportunity that is known to exist in the operational
environment. See also operational area; target; target of opportunity. (JP 3-60)
unpremeditated expansion of a war — Not to be used. See escalation.

unscheduled convoy phase — (*) The period in the early days of war when convoys are
instituted on an ad hoc basis before the introduction of convoy schedules in the regular
convoy phase.

unstable patient — A patient whose physiological status is in fluctuation. Emergent,
treatment and/or surgical intervention are anticipated during the evacuation. An
unstable patient’s rapidly changing status and requirements are beyond the standard en
route care capability and requires medical/surgical augmentation. (JP 4-02)

unstuffing — The removal of cargo from a container. Also called stripping.

unwanted cargo — (*) A cargo loaded in peacetime which is not required by the
consignee country in wartime.

unwarned exposed — (*) The vulnerability of friendly forces to nuclear weapon effects.
In this condition, personnel are assumed to be standing in the open at burst time, but
have dropped to a prone position by the time the blast wave arrives. They are expected
to have areas of bare skin exposed to direct thermal radiation, and some personnel may
suffer dazzle. See also warned exposed; warned protected.

urban triad — The three distinguishing characteristics of urban areas: complex manmade
physical terrain, a population of significant size and density, and an infrastructure upon
which the area depends. See also infrastructure; joint urban operations. (JP 3-06)

urgent mining — (*) In naval mine warfare, the laying of mines with correct spacing but
not in the ordered or planned positions. The mines may be laid either inside or outside
the allowed area in such positions that they will hamper the movements of the enemy
more than those of our own forces.

urgent priority — A category of immediate mission request that is lower than emergency
priority but takes precedence over ordinary priority; e.g., enemy artillery or mortar fire
that is falling on friendly troops and causing casualties or enemy troops or mechanized
units moving up in such force as to threaten a breakthrough. See also immediate
mission request; priority of immediate mission requests.

US commercial assets — US commercial aircraft, spacecraft, flag shipping, offshore, and
land-based assets located landward of the outer limit of the continental shelf of the
United States, its territories, and possessions, and excluding those privately owned oil
rigs operating under foreign license in disputed offshore areas.

use of force policy — Policy guidance issued by the Commandant, US Coast Guard, on the
use of force and weapons.

US Defense Representative — A senior US officer in a foreign country representing the
Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commander of
the unified command that coordinates the security matters regarding in-country, nonAs
combat Department of Defense (DOD) elements (i.e., DOD personnel and
organizations under the command of a combatant commander but not assigned to, or
attached to, the combatant commander). Also called USDR.

US forces — All Armed Forces (including the Coast Guard) of the United States, any
person in the Armed Forces of the United States, and all equipment of any description
that either belongs to the US Armed Forces or is being used (including Type I and II
Military Sealift Command vessels), escorted, or conveyed by the US Armed Forces.

US national — US citizen and US permanent and temporary legal resident aliens.

US person — For intelligence purposes, a US person is defined as one of the following: (1)
a US citizen; (2) an alien known by the intelligence agency concerned to be a
permanent resident alien; (3) an unincorporated association substantially composed of
US citizens or permanent resident aliens; or (4) a corporation incorporated in the
United States, except for those directed and controlled by a foreign government or
governments. (JP 2-01.2)

US Transportation Command coordinating instructions — Instructions of the US
Transportation Command that establish suspense dates for selected members of the
joint planning and execution community to complete updates to the operation plan
database. Instructions will ensure that the target date movement requirements will be
validated and available for scheduling.