Mils (Soviet) to Degrees (mil to °)

1 mil (Soviet) equals 0.06 degrees exactly.

How to convert mils (Soviet) to degrees

To convert mils (Soviet) to degrees, multiply the number of mils (Soviet) by 0.06. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply degrees by 16.66666667 (rounded).

degrees = mils (Soviet) × 0.06

Example: 10 mils (Soviet) = 0.6 degrees.

About these units

Mil (Soviet) (mil)

MilitaryTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

One 6,000th of a full turn (0.06 degree), the Soviet and Russian military angular unit.

The Soviet mil divides the circle into 6,000 parts, so each is 0.06 degree and 100 mils equal 6 degrees. That is about 1.047 milliradians, a little more than a true milliradian, covering roughly 1.05 meters at a distance of 1 kilometer. A quarter turn is 1,500 mils, and 1,000 mils equals 60 degrees. The scheme was used across the former Soviet Union, and Finland also used it before starting to move to the NATO standard.

The 6,000 circle is one of several rounded versions of the milliradian found in military use. NATO's circle holds 6,400, the Swedish streck system held 6,300 until Sweden moved to NATO mils around 2007, and a true milliradian gives about 6,283. Sights built for one standard cannot be mixed casually with another. The East German Carl Zeiss OEM-2 artillery sight, for example, is calibrated for the 6,000-mil circle.

1 mil (Soviet) = 0.0001666666667 turns (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Angular mil; Wikipedia: Angle; Wikipedia: Milliradian

Degree (°)

General & non-SICurrent unit

One 360th of a full turn. The everyday unit of angle, inherited from the ancient Babylonians' base-60 counting.

Dividing the circle into 360 parts traces back to the astronomers of ancient Babylon, who counted in base 60. Why 360 in particular is still debated. One explanation points to Persian and Babylonian calendars, which used a year of about 360 days, so the Sun seemed to advance roughly one degree each day. Another says the Babylonians started from the angle of an equilateral triangle and split it into 60 pieces, and a third credits early chord-based trigonometry, where a chord equal to the radius made a natural base. Greek astronomers such as Aristarchus and Hipparchus were among the first to use Babylonian astronomical knowledge systematically.

The number also divides well. 360 has 24 divisors and splits evenly by every whole number from 1 to 10 except 7, which suits a world cut into 24 time zones of 15 degrees of longitude each. Each degree breaks into 60 arcminutes, and each of those into 60 arcseconds. The SI Brochure lists the degree among the widely used non-SI units, equal to π/180 radian, about 0.01745. For scale, the Moon and the Sun each look about half a degree wide, and a little finger held at arm's length covers roughly one degree of sky.

1 degree = 0.002777777778 turns (approximately).

Sources: BIPM SI Brochure, 9th edition (2019); Wikipedia: Degree (angle); Wikipedia: Angular diameter

Related conversions

See all angle units.