Bundeswehr license plates differ from conventional, reflective EU license plates due to a different font, the hyphen and the German flag to the left of the letter Y. Since 1955, the license plate Y has stood for the Bundeswehr.
If the Y license plate is red, it indicates a vehicle being tested. Only a few hundred vehicles with this license plate are on German roads. NATO international headquarters based in Germany are allowed to display X license plates on their official vehicles. According to ADAC, just like Y license plates, NATO vehicle license plates are also produced in the Bundes wehr's Center for Motor Vehicles.