North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (NATO)

An intergovernmental political and military alliance founded in 1949 for the collective defence of its members.

NATO provides a forum for consultation and maintains political and military structures through which member states coordinate security and defence. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty treats an armed attack against one or more members in Europe or North America as an attack against them all, subject to the treaty terms.

In maritime contexts, NATO develops doctrine, conducts exercises and operations, and standardises some procedures and terminology among allied forces. The NATO phonetic alphabet is widely used in civilian marine radio, but the alphabet is not a definition of the alliance itself.