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Shortcut WP:CATMVWP:CATMV

This page in a nutshell: categorize articles about military vehicles by the type of vehicle (e.g. tank), its country of origin, and the year it entered service.

This guidance covers thecategorization of military ground vehicles (e.g. tanks, military motorcycles andunmanned ground combat vehicles). This guide is intended to assist with categorizing articles consistently whilst avoiding articles being placed in a large number of categories.

This guidance is not intended to apply to the following:

• Articles abouthovercraft (categorized as ships), aircraft (seeWP:AIR/C) ortrains.
• Articles about generic classes of vehicles (e.g.Tank).
• Articles aboutindividual vehicles (e.g.Tiger 131).

When categorizing an article about a type ofmilitary vehicle the following characteristics of the vehicle should be considered:

• Type - e.g.tank,armoured personnel carrier,mortar carrier,military light utility vehicle,military motorcycle ormilitary truck. Where a vehicle type has variants adapted for several roles it should only be categorized by the main role for which it was designed - e.g. an APC that has variants used as command vehicles, ambulances etc should be categorized only as an APC.
• Country of origin. This categorization is by the country that developed the type - not by operators of the type.^[1] If the type was developed by collaboration between several countries then it should be categorized by each such country.^[2][3]
• Period of introduction - e.g.before World War I,World War I,interwar,World War II,Cold War,post–Cold War. This is by date of entry into service, or (for types that were cancelled) the date of cancellation. Vehicles should not be categorized by the wars/conflicts that they have been used in (such a categorization scheme would cause some vehicles to be in many categories); lists should be used for this purpose (e.g.List of military equipment used in the Korean War#Vehicles).
• Decade of introduction - e.g.1970s. This is by date of entry into service, or (for types that were cancelled) the date of cancellation.
• Mobility - e.g.wheeled,tracked,amphibious and/orairborne. An article should only be placed in such a category if all/most of the vehicles covered by the article had the characteristic.^[4] Articles may also be placed in categories such asCategory:All-wheel-drive vehicles andCategory:Off-road vehicles.
• Manufacturer - e.g.Volkswagen orRheinmetall. Only the original designer/manufacturer should be so categorized - not any other organizations that have manufactured the vehicle under licence.

Many categories cover intersections of the characteristics listed above.

Every article about a military vehicle type should be categorized based on the first four characteristics listed above. This can be achieved using the categories of the types listed below. In this list (which is in approximate order of decreasing importance) links are to example categories.

• A type category - "<Type>" or "<Type> of <country>" or "<Period> <type> of <country>"
• A country category - "Military vehicles of <country>" or "<Type> of <country>" or "<Period> <type> of <country>"
• A period category - "Military vehicles of <period>" or "<Type> of <period>" or "<Period> <type> of <country>"
• A decade category - "Military vehicles <decade>"

Note: Not every type category has a by-country breakdown. So, for example, an article about a tank transporter from Germany should be categorized inCategory:Tank transporters, but as that category does not (currently) have a by-country breakdown the article should also be placed inCategory:Military trucks of Germany.^[5]

In addition the article may be in categories of the types listed below (links are to examples).

• "<Mobility> <type>" or "<Mobility> military vehicles" or "<Mobility> vehicles"
• "<Manufacturer>". Note: Asortkey should be used to remove the manufacturers name from the indexing (e.g. theVolkswagen Iltis is categorized using "[[Category:Volkswagen vehicles|Iltis]]").
• "Vehicles introduced in <year>"
• Category:Cab over vehicles etc

Other combinations of characteristics should not be used - e.g. don't combine mobility characteristics with country-of-origin.^[6] Vehicle articles should generally not be placed in weapons categories (the exception being vehicles such asself-propelled artillery).

Some aspects of this categorization scheme are aligned with related categories (e.g. aircraft, cars andweapons) to enable the categories to mesh together.

• Wikipedia essays
• Wikipedia categorization (transport)
• Wikipedia essays about categorization
• WikiProject Military history essays