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AAGSP-02

AAGSP-02 breathing oxygen and replenishment equipment characteristics

Producers of aviation breathing oxygen and the manufacturers and designers of aircraft and ground servicing equipment that cross-service NATO aircraft with it

AAGSP-02 sets the purity, moisture and contaminant limits for breathing oxygen and the supply pressures, hoses and coupling dimensions NATO nations use to cross-service aircraft with it, applied under STANAG 7106 and varied by six national reservations.

Edition
A
Published
2015-04

What it is

What AAGSP-02 covers

AAGSP-02 is the NATO Allied Aircraft Gaseous Systems Publication that sets the shared characteristics of gaseous and liquid breathing oxygen, and of the supply pressures, hoses, couplings and access clearances used to replenish aircraft with it, so that one nation's ground crew can cross-service another nation's aircraft. STANAG 7106 is the agreement that gives it force: a nation ratifies that STANAG, and AAGSP-02 is the technical text nations then apply. It covers, in one document, the purity, moisture, odour and contaminant characteristics oxygen must meet, and separately the pressures, hoses, couplings and access-clearance dimensions that let gaseous and liquid oxygen systems be replenished from equipment built by a different nation.

How it comes to bind

AAGSP-02 binds through STANAG 7106 rather than by existing on its own: a nation implements STANAG 7106 domestically, and for a supplier the obligation usually arrives as a national specification or a contract for aviation breathing oxygen, or for the ground servicing equipment and aircraft hardware supplied under one, that names AAGSP-02. The document carries its own formal record of reservations rather than leaving that entirely to the covering STANAG: six nations have recorded one, each changing a specific figure or provision.

What it requires, clause by clause

Chapter 1 sets out the AGREEMENT in clause 1.4, and is explicit that only its first two parts bind: the characteristics of the oxygen, and the cross-servicing hardware used to deliver it. Everything after that, covering emergency use limits and security considerations, is informative.

The oxygen itself must meet a stated minimum purity, a maximum moisture content, be free from odour, and be free from toxic or irritating concentrations of contaminants, with a table setting the maximum limit for each named contaminant. Contaminants have to be determined using techniques approved by an accredited laboratory, and anything found that the table does not name still has to be reported to the relevant Quality Assurance Authority. For gaseous cross-servicing, the oxygen has to be supplied at a pressure the aircraft's own regulator can reduce safely, the charging hose has to withstand the aircraft's working pressure with margin for a momentary correction, be approved for oxygen service and built from a compatible material, and a filter has to sit close to the delivery point; the replenishment coupling has to comply with Annex A's mating dimensions, which the document notes align with ISO 8775, and future aircraft designs have to carry the same access clearance. For liquid cross-servicing, the aircraft needs a replenishment half coupling matching Annex B's ground half coupling, aligned with ISO 1465; the storage and transfer tanks and hoses have to suit the stated working pressure; the servicing hose has to be flexible and meet a stated minimum length and bend radius; and the ground servicing equipment has to transfer liquid oxygen at the stated minimum rate. None of these figures are reproduced here; they are what the document itself is for.

Annex C is informative only, illustrating the physical differences between British and American bulk-tank and servicing-cart liquid oxygen couplings, useful for a supplier working across both fleets rather than an obligation in itself.

What is informative, not binding

Clause 1.5 and Annex D describe how nations assess liquid oxygen against emergency use limits case by case, when normal specification limits are exceeded under operational pressure. Canada, Germany, Italy, the US Air Force and the US Navy each run their own procurement and use-limit regime, and none of it adds an obligation beyond what a nation already applies. Clause 1.6 flags bulk oxygen supplies as a security concern under Defence Against Terrorism: protecting the integrity of the gas, keeping aircraft serviceable, denying access to an oxidant that could be misused, and reducing the exposure of storage vessels to attack, and it points to STANAG 7175 for safety-zone and separation-distance guidance rather than setting its own.

The reservations are the practical detail

Six nations carry a recorded reservation, and together they matter more to a supplier than the base text alone. Canada's reservation limits the hose length it can provide for aircraft oxygen system replenishment. The Czech Republic does not conform to the document's maximum water content figure, applying its own instead, and takes a different position on the limits for named contaminants. France adopts its own moisture content figures for each oxygen type, and adds explicit limits for two named contaminants beyond those the base table sets out. Italy applies the standard according to the availability of funding for new systems acquisition. Norway does not currently provide the highest of the document's supply pressures. The United States sets a different minimum purity for oxygen produced aboard ship, depending on which production method is used. A supplier serving more than one of these nations needs to check which reservation applies rather than assume the base text is what its customer actually requires.

How it is assessed

AAGSP-02 names no certification or assessment scheme, and no accredited body, notified body or self-declaration mechanism appears anywhere in the text. It is a technical characteristics document: conformity in practice is an oxygen supplier's own quality control testing each batch against Table 1 using an accredited laboratory, and a design or acceptance authority checking coupling and hose dimensions against Annex A or B. Any contaminant outside the listed limits is reported to the relevant Quality Assurance Authority rather than assessed by a third party, and where a nation's own reservation or emergency-use provision applies, that assessment sits with the nation's own procurement and quality authority, not with NATO.

Standards it references

  • [STANAG 7106](/standards/stanag-7106) - the NATO agreement that covers AAGSP-02 and gives

it force.

  • [STANAG 3198](/standards/stanag-3198) - functional requirements of aircraft oxygen

equipment and pressure suits, named in the document's own related-documents list as related reading.

  • [STANAG 7175](/standards#q=STANAG%207175) - safety zones and minimum separation distances for

liquid oxygen, offered as advice under the Defence Against Terrorism clause.

  • [STANAG 7146](/standards#q=STANAG%207146) - assignment of NATO code numbers to gases used in

aircraft cross-servicing, named as related reading.

  • STANAG 7046 and STANAG 7124 - the material-compatibility and materials-use standards for

oxygen-enriched environments that AAGSP-02 points to for its hose and material requirements, both outside our catalogue.

  • ISO 725, ISO 1302, ISO 1465, ISO 3161 and ISO 8775 - the thread, surface-texture and

coupling-dimension standards the document aligns its own Annex A and Annex B dimensions against.

How we help

AAGSP-02 is an operational and technical standard, and the work it describes happens in the laboratory that tests each oxygen batch and on the line that builds or inspects couplings and hoses to Annex A and B, not in software. ComplyTrain's part is the documentation and evidence trail around that work: the procedure defining how oxygen is tested and accepted before cross-servicing, the record showing an accredited laboratory ran the contaminant analysis and what it found, the record of which national reservation applies to a given contract or customer given how much they vary, the training record for ground crew who service NATO aircraft cross-nationally, and the corrective action record when a contaminant outside the normal limits is found and referred to the Quality Assurance Authority.

What ComplyTrain does not do: it does not test oxygen purity, inspect or machine a coupling, or substitute for the accredited laboratory or Quality Assurance Authority the document requires; that work and that judgement stay with the people doing it. Which of this a given programme has to meet is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by this page; the standards explorer shows what else sits alongside AAGSP-02 and STANAG 7106, and we are glad to talk through what a specific tasking or contract is asking for.

Standards it references

Questions

Is AAGSP-02 mandatory?

It binds through STANAG 7106, the NATO agreement that covers it. A nation implements that STANAG domestically, and for an organisation the obligation typically arrives as a national specification or a contract clause naming AAGSP-02.

Does AAGSP-02 apply the same way across NATO?

No. Six participating nations carry a formal reservation against parts of the document, adjusting a water content figure, a contaminant limit, a supply pressure, a hose length or a minimum purity to their own practice, so which characteristics actually apply depends on the nation involved.

Can an oxygen supplier be "AAGSP-02 certified"?

No. AAGSP-02 names no certification or assessment scheme. Conformity is whatever the procuring or accepting organisation checks oxygen or equipment against, using an accredited laboratory for the oxygen itself and dimensional checks for couplings and hoses.

What is the difference between AAGSP-02 and STANAG 7106?

STANAG 7106 is the NATO agreement that gives AAGSP-02 its force; AAGSP-02 is the technical publication that sets the actual oxygen, pressure, hose and coupling characteristics nations apply under that agreement.

Does AAGSP-02 cover gaseous and liquid oxygen the same way?

It sets shared purity and contaminant characteristics for both, but the cross-servicing hardware requirements are separate: gaseous systems use the Annex A coupling and a charging hose, while liquid oxygen uses the Annex B ground half coupling and its own hose, pressure and transfer-rate requirements.