Plain English Meaning

A combined navigation station on the ground that tells you both which direction you are from it and how far away you are. It serves civilian and military aircraft from the same site.

Full Definition

A ground-based navigation facility that combines a VOR (which provides civil aircraft with magnetic bearing information) and a TACAN (a military navigation system that provides both bearing and distance information). Civil aircraft use the VOR portion for bearing and the distance-measuring (DME) portion of the TACAN for slant-range distance, giving pilots both course and distance from the station from a single facility.

Context Anchor

Seen on instrument charts and where a , turn, or crossing is based on a named navigation station.