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AEP-64
Paint manufacturers and suppliers meeting a NATO member nation's specification or a defence contract that names AEP-64
AEP-64 sets NATO's minimum laboratory performance requirements and acceptance criteria for paint systems protecting land military equipment against corrosion, wear and chemical agents.
AEP-64 is a NATO Allied Engineering Publication that sets the minimum laboratory performance requirements a paint system has to meet for the protection of land military equipment, specifically against corrosion, chemical agents and decontaminants, while also providing camouflage (clause 2.1.1). It is not itself a technical specification a supplier can meet in the abstract: it is the technical content that STANAG 4360 covers, and it is through that STANAG that NATO nations commit to using it. A paint system meets AEP-64 because a member nation has written it into a national equipment specification, or a contract has named it directly, not because the document applies on its own.
The publication covers internal and external surfaces of armoured and transportation vehicles, engineering equipment, shelters (including COLPRO shelters under AEP-54), and portable or deployable decontamination systems (clause 2.2.2). It "does not cover ammunitions and aircrafts" (clause 2.2.2.b), an exclusion the document states plainly rather than leaving to inference. The considered environment is the medium (C3) corrosivity category defined by ISO 12944-2 (clause 2.2.3), and the paint system has to reach High Durability under ISO 12944-1: a minimum 15-year life before complete removal, with topcoat colour stability for at least 2 years (clause 2.2.4). Coverage runs to first application, or an equivalent full recoat after removing a pre-existing system, on steel and aluminium alloy substrates, and the system has to be adaptable to in-service localized repairs and general topcoat renewal over that life (clause 2.2.5). Gloss, emissivity and reflectance values are explicitly out of scope (clause 2.2.7).
A compliant system is a primer plus a finishing coat, each a pigmented multi-pack resin, with a technical justification required for any use of chromates in the primer (clause 5.1.2). Minimum dry film thickness is set per component: primer and finishing paint each not less than the paint manufacturer's own recommended minimum, and the paint system as a whole not less than 75 micrometres (clause 4.2).
Table 2 sets sixteen required tests plus one optional screening test, and "a sample taken from any part of the supply shall comply with the requirements in Table 2" (clause 5.3.1). They cover appearance, an optional tri-n-butyl phosphate screening test, optical characteristics, scratch hardness, flexibility, cross-cut adhesion, resistance to continuous condensation, hydrocarbons, acids, decontaminants, a falling weight test, artificial weathering, corrosion resistance (neutral salt spray or cyclic corrosion for steel, clause 5.3.3; alternate immersion or filiform corrosion for aluminium alloys) and hydraulic fluid resistance. Chapter 7 sets out the methods in detail: tri-n-butyl phosphate resistance is 168 hours' immersion at 70±2°C followed by a scratch test to ISO 1518, and artificial weathering runs 1008 hours of UV exposure and condensation cycling to ISO 11507 (clause 7.6.1.2). Chemical Agents Resistance (test 12) is not specified here at all: Table 2 names AEP-65 for its substrate, method and limits alike, and it is "strongly recommended to conduct the optional screening Test 2 prior to the Chemical Agent Resistance test of AEP-65" as an early pass/fail indicator (clause 5.3.2). Not every tolerance is fixed centrally: several optical and visual limits, and the aluminium surface-preparation method, are left "to be agreed between the supplier and the purchaser" (clause 6.2 and multiple Table 2 rows).
AEP-64 names no certifying, accrediting or auditing body, and describes no scheme for certifying an organisation or a paint system against it. Evaluation is by laboratory test and sample compliance: the supply is sampled and tested to Chapter 7's methods against the panel counts and dimensions in Annex A, and several tolerances are agreed directly between the supplier and the purchaser rather than fixed by the document. At the level of a nation, AEP-64 "shall be considered to have been enforced" once that nation "has made its specifications comply with the requirements of this Allied Publication" (Foreword).
STANAG 4360 is the agreement AEP-64 is covered by; it is how NATO nations record their commitment to use this publication. AEP-54 is named for the COLPRO Collective Protective Shelters this publication's paint systems also cover (clause 2.2.2). AEP-65 supplies the whole of the Chemical Agent Resistance test that Table 2 test 12 adopts. STANAG 1135 identifies the H-542 brake fluid used in the hydraulic fluid resistance test (clause 7.7.1.1). AEP-64 also cites AEP-7 for the decontaminants used in its own decontaminant-resistance test, and around twenty civil paint and coatings test-method standards for its individual tests, principally the ISO 12944 corrosion-protection series, ISO 1518, ISO 2409, ISO 4628, ISO 6272-1, ISO 9227 and ISO 11507, plus EN 3212. These sit outside our catalogue and are named here rather than linked.
NATO publishes AEP-64 through the NATO Standardization Document Database at no charge. ComplyTrain does not sell it or host a copy; the NSDD listing for AEP-64 is the source.
AEP-64 is an operational, technical standard. The work it describes, spraying primer and finish to the specified thickness, drying under controlled temperature and humidity, and running the Chapter 7 tests over hours to weeks per test, happens in a paint shop and a coatings laboratory, not in software.
What ComplyTrain supports is the documentation trail the standard already calls for: the Chapter 8 paint system description sheet and per-product data, the test records showing a sample's compliance with Table 2, the national specification written to comply with AEP-64's minimums, and training records for the people applying and testing the system.
What ComplyTrain does not do: it does not spray, prepare or test a panel, and cannot tell a reader whether a given paint system meets AEP-64. The tier of testing and the tolerances a specific programme applies are set by the contract and the customer's quality clause. Explore the related standards to see what sits alongside AEP-64, including AEP-65 and AEP-54, or talk to us about the evidence trail your coating qualification programme needs to hold.
Tell us how you need to work with AEP-64 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
Thank you. Your list is on its way to your inbox, and we will come back to you on what working with these standards in ComplyTrain involves, usually within one business day.
Not by itself. AEP-64 is an Allied Engineering Publication, covered by STANAG 4360, which is how NATO nations agree to use it. A paint system meets AEP-64 because a member nation has written it into a national equipment specification, or a specific contract calls it up, not because the document applies on its own.
No. AEP-64 names no certifying body and describes no certification scheme. It sets laboratory test methods and acceptance criteria in Table 2, and compliance is shown by sample testing, with several tolerances left to be agreed between the supplier and the purchaser rather than a certificate issued by anyone.
AEP-64 sets the general performance requirements for a paint system, corrosion resistance, adhesion, weathering and the rest, while Table 2 defers its Chemical Agents Resistance test entirely to AEP-65, which sets the performance requirements and test method specifically for resistance to chemical warfare agents.
No. The scope states plainly that it "does not cover ammunitions and aircrafts" (clause 2.2.2.b). It covers land military equipment: armoured and transportation vehicles, engineering equipment, shelters and decontamination systems.
Some of the Chapter 7 tests run to hundreds or over a thousand hours: 480 hours for neutral salt spray corrosion resistance, 1008 hours for cyclic corrosion resistance, and 1008 hours for artificial weathering (clause 7.6.1.2). Testing a paint system against AEP-64 is work to plan for well ahead of a contract deadline, not something to start once one is set.
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