Military time around the world
Most countries don't have "military time", because the 24-hour clock is simply how they write the time. The name is mainly American: in the US, civilians use the 12-hour clock with AM and PM, so the 24-hour clock became known by the people who use it most, the armed forces. What armies around the world really share is something else: lettered time zones and a common way to write dates and times.
12-hour or 24-hour? How countries write and say the time
| Country | Written | Spoken | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 12-hour (8:30 PM) | 12-hour | 24-hour in the military, hospitals, aviation and emergency services, where it's called "military time". |
| Canada | 12-hour in English; 24-hour in Quebec (20 h 30) | 12-hour | 24-hour on train timetables and in official French usage. |
| United Kingdom | Both; 24-hour on timetables and tickets | 12-hour ("half eight") | The armed forces use the 24-hour clock with Zulu time. |
| Ireland | Both | 12-hour | |
| Australia | Both; 12-hour common day to day | 12-hour | 24-hour in defence, aviation and many timetables. |
| India | Both; 24-hour on railway timetables | 12-hour | |
| Philippines | 12-hour | 12-hour | |
| Mexico | 24-hour officially, 12-hour common | 12-hour ("8 de la noche") | |
| Brazil | 24-hour (20h30) | Often 12-hour ("oito da noite") | |
| France | 24-hour (20 h 30) | Both; "vingt heures" is normal in formal speech | The French Army switched to the 24-hour clock in 1909, one of the first. |
| Germany | 24-hour (20:30) | Both; "zwanzig Uhr" formally, "acht Uhr" casually | |
| Italy | 24-hour | Both | |
| Spain | 24-hour | Mostly 12-hour ("ocho de la tarde") | |
| Russia | 24-hour | Both | |
| China | 24-hour on screens and timetables | 12-hour with 上午/下午 (morning/afternoon) | |
| Japan | 24-hour for transport; 12-hour common | 12-hour with 午前/午後 (a.m./p.m.) | TV schedules sometimes run past 24:00, like 25:30 for 1:30 a.m. |
| Egypt | Mostly 12-hour | 12-hour | |
| Saudi Arabia | Mostly 12-hour | 12-hour |
In most of the world, people write 20:30 but still say "half past eight" or "eight o'clock" in conversation, just as Americans write 8:30 PM. Spoken 24-hour time ("twenty hundred") is mostly for radio, transport announcements and the military.
Military time zones: Alpha to Zulu
Armed forces, NATO and aviation name time zones with letters of the phonetic alphabet. Z (Zulu) is UTC, the reference everyone shares, so orders and flight plans across time zones are written in Zulu time. Letters A to M (skipping J) run east of Greenwich, and N to Y run west.
| Letter | Name | Offset | Time now | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | Mike | UTC+12 | --:-- | New Zealand (winter) |
| L | Lima | UTC+11 | --:-- | |
| K | Kilo | UTC+10 | --:-- | Sydney (winter), Guam |
| I | India | UTC+9 | --:-- | Japan, Korea |
| H | Hotel | UTC+8 | --:-- | China, Singapore |
| G | Golf | UTC+7 | --:-- | |
| F | Foxtrot | UTC+6 | --:-- | |
| E | Echo | UTC+5 | --:-- | |
| D | Delta | UTC+4 | --:-- | |
| C | Charlie | UTC+3 | --:-- | Moscow, Istanbul |
| B | Bravo | UTC+2 | --:-- | Eastern Europe in winter (EET) |
| A | Alpha | UTC+1 | --:-- | Central Europe in winter (CET) |
| Z | Zulu | UTC±0 | --:-- | UTC / GMT |
| N | November | UTC−1 | --:-- | |
| O | Oscar | UTC−2 | --:-- | |
| P | Papa | UTC−3 | --:-- | |
| Q | Quebec | UTC−4 | --:-- | US Eastern Daylight (EDT) |
| R | Romeo | UTC−5 | --:-- | US Eastern Standard (EST) |
| S | Sierra | UTC−6 | --:-- | US Central Standard (CST) |
| T | Tango | UTC−7 | --:-- | US Mountain Standard (MST) |
| U | Uniform | UTC−8 | --:-- | US Pacific Standard (PST) |
| V | Victor | UTC−9 | --:-- | Alaska (AKST) |
| W | Whiskey | UTC−10 | --:-- | Hawaii (HST) |
| X | X-ray | UTC−11 | --:-- | |
| Y | Yankee | UTC−12 | --:-- | Baker Island; "Anywhere on Earth" |
J (Juliett) means the observer's local time. See also Zulu time now.
The date-time group (DTG)
NATO and US forces write a moment as a date-time group: DDHHMM + zone letter + MON + YY. Right now in Zulu time it is:
…
Reading it: day of the month, hour and minute, Z for Zulu, three-letter month, two-digit year. 211630ZOCT26 is 16:30 UTC on October 21, 2026.
How the US military says the time
- No colon, always four digits: 0630, 1630.
- Spoken as "zero-six-thirty" and "sixteen-thirty", or "sixteen hundred" for 1600, often followed by "hours".
- Midnight is 0000; 2400 is sometimes used to mean the end of a day.
Convert any time on the military time chart, with a page for every minute of the day.
Why the US kept AM and PM
The 24-hour clock spread through railways and armies around 1900: Canadian Pacific Railway timetables used it from 1886, the French Army adopted it in 1909, the Royal Navy in 1915 and the British Army in 1918. The US Navy followed in 1920 and the US Army on July 1, 1942. But American civilian life never switched, so in the US it kept the name of the institution that used it. Britain, Ireland, Australia and India landed in the middle: 24-hour on timetables, 12-hour in conversation.
More: 24-hour clock · AM and PM · military time now
Questions people ask
Do other countries use military time?
Most of the world uses the 24-hour clock every day, so it isn't called "military time" there; it's just the time. The term is mainly American (and Canadian), because civilians there use the 12-hour clock.
What military time zone is the US East Coast?
Romeo (R, UTC−5) in winter and Quebec (Q, UTC−4) in summer. Central is Sierra (S), Mountain Tango (T) and Pacific Uniform (U) in standard time.
Why is there no J time zone?
J (Juliett) is reserved for "local time": whatever time it is where the observer is, so it isn't tied to an offset.
What is a date-time group?
The military and NATO way of writing a moment: day, hours and minutes, the time zone letter, month and year, such as 211630ZOCT26 for 16:30 UTC on October 21, 2026.
When did the US military start using the 24-hour clock?
The US Navy adopted it in 1920 and the US Army on July 1, 1942.