Where can I find more information about the use of military equipment names in my game? I want to use names like "M4 Carabine", "F15 Eagle", "MiG 29" and so on... And if that doesn't pass, am I allowed to use their unclassified codenames/NATO report names like "Eagle", "Fulcrum", "Colt Carabine", "Kalashnikov", "Archer", "Alamo" and so on? I seems kinda weird to send an email regarding these things to General Dynamics, or NATO, or the U.S. Army. In one game "Joint Task Force" I saw some legal notice regarding these things, where they mention stuff like M4 Carabine is used under copyright or is a trademark of Colt Defense. Did they pay to use the real names or do I just use them and stick a legal notice of some sort?

Obligatory Tom Sloper link: Read Me Carefully.

Note that major game developers have obtained licenses from the military branches and various manufacturers. I don't know of any court decisions either way. What is your risk tolerance of an expensive lawsuit, vs the relatively small cost of a license?