About .mil domains

About .mil domains

.MIL is a top-level domain delegated in the IANA root zone. See the official IANA delegation record for manager and technical contacts.

The domain name mil is the sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary or affiliated organizations. The name is derived from military. It was one of the first top-level domains, created in January 1985. As in the case with .gov, the United States is the only country that has a top-level domain for its military, a direct result of the United States' military's role in the creation of the Internet. Other countries often use second-level domains for this purpose, e.g., mod.uk for the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. Canada uses norad.mil with the United States as they jointly operate the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Despite having a dedicated top-level domain, the US military also uses com domains for some of its recruitment sites, such as goarmy.com, as well as for the Defense Commissary Agency's website www.commissaries.com and most non-appropriated fund instrumentalities such as military MWR organizations and military exchanges. Also, the military uses edu domains for its service academies: the United States Military Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, United States Naval Academy, and the United States Air Force Academy can all be reached using either an edu or a mil domain name. The official athletic program sites of the three academies that are members of NCAA Division I (Army, Navy, Air Force) use com domains, as well as Coast Guard, which is a member of NCAA Division III. The United States Department of Defense (also referred to as the Department of War) itself uses gov for its home page, with at least three second-level domains within mil (defense, dod, pentagon) redirecting to its domain name war.gov Archived September 5, 2025, at the Wayback Machine (formerly dod.gov). The United States Coast Guard, like other military services, uses the mil domain, although during statutory peacetime the service falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Who can register .mil domains?

Eligibility is defined by the registry operator and its registrars. Most gTLDs are open to anyone worldwide. Many ccTLDs are also open globally; some require local presence, citizenship, or trademark rights. Always confirm current policy with the registry or your registrar.

Registration restrictions

Character rules below follow common ICANN LDH conventions. Individual registries and registrars may impose extra eligibility, length, or residency rules.

Length

2 – 63 characters (label before .mil)

Can use

Letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), and hyphens (not first/last or consecutive in restricted cases)

Cannot use

Special characters (e.g. & # @) in standard LDH labels

IDNs

Varies by registry — check IDN support with the registry or your registrar

Features

Operational features (privacy, parking, protection) are registrar-level, not defined by the IANA root zone record.

Registry information

Sponsor / manager

DoD Network Information Center

Root zone registration

1985-01-01

Record last updated

2026-03-10