There are different aspects in the Japanese Navy Air Service short designation system, including Carrier Fighters manufactured by Aichi (Aichi Tokei Denki and Aichi Kokuki)/North American Aviation (US), Carrier Reconnaissance by Consolidated Aircraft (US), but has Special Floatplanes in their fleet.
In the late 1920s a short designation scheme was adopted, which was similar to the 1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system. This scheme used a letter or two letters to designate a type of aircraft, a number to indicate the Navy Design Request Number in that type of aircraft, and finally a letter to designate the manufacturer. Unlike the US Navy system, the Japanese system did not have a different number series for each manufacturer, and did not omit the number "1". Thus, the Zero's type in this designation system was A6M, which meant the sixth type of carrier fighter under this designation system, and that it was built by Mitsubishi. Variants were indicated by an additional number at the end; repurposing an aircraft was indicated by a dash and then the new type letter. Sometimes two aircraft were ordered from different manufacturers to the same specification at the same time, generally as insurance against the primary design not working out. In this case, the same series number was used for both. Carrier fighters and seaplane fighters: Wind names usually ending with pu or fu () Reconnaissance: Cloud names ending in un () The "Ki" airframe designation indicates the project number (written in Arabic numerals), and was assigned in sequence to all projects regardless of manufacturer or type. Type 3 Carrier Fighter Type 90 Carrier Fighter Type 90 Training Fighter 17-shi Ko Type Carrier Fighter Type B Carrier Fighter Type G Carrier Fighter Type D Carrier Fighter Type H Carrier Fighter Type 10 Carrier Reconnaissance Aircraft Mitsubishi C1M Boeing AXB Canadian Car and Foundry AXG Dewoitine AXD Hawker AXH Type 97 Carrier Reconnaissance Aircraft Nakajima C3N Type 2 Carrier Reconnaissance Aircraft Yokosuka D4Y1-C/D4Y2-Ca Type 96 Night Reconnaissance Seaplane Type 94 Transport Seaplane Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane Kayaba Mitsubishi Kawasaki Nakajima Tachikawa Fukuda Tachikawa Kokusai Manshu Rikugun Tokyo Maeda Tokyo University Fukuda Maeda Nihon Fiat Lockheed Vultee Heinkel Focke-Wulf Junkers Messerschmitt Kawanishi 
