NATO phonetic alphabet
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Spells any text using the NATO/ICAO alphabet. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie. The one used by aviation, shipping and the military worldwide.
How to use the nato phonetic alphabet
Two of the spellings are deliberately not English and it is worth knowing why: "Alfa" and "Juliett" are spelled that way on purpose, because "Alpha" would be pronounced with a silent ph by French and Spanish speakers, and "Juliet" would lose its final t. The alphabet was chosen in the 1950s by testing candidate words against noise and across accents, which is why several are unremarkable words. They survived the test. The digits have their own forms too, with "niner" for nine so it is not confused with the German "nein" over a radio.
Questions
Officially Alfa. The ph spelling would be misread by speakers of several languages as an f-less sound.
So French speakers do not drop the final t.
No. Police forces often use their own local alphabets: Adam, Boy, Charles in parts of the US. NATO is the international one.
To avoid confusion with the German "nein" over a noisy radio link.
Aviation, shipping, the military and increasingly customer service anywhere a name has to be spelled over the phone.