AEP-98 precision assessment of non-lethal kinetic energy weapons and ammunition

What it is

AEP-98, Precision Assessment of Non-Lethal Kinetic Energy Weapons and Ammunition, is a NATO Allied Engineering Publication, Edition B Version 1, promulgated in July 2021. It sets out a test procedure for assessing the precision of non-lethal (NL) kinetic-energy (KE) weapons, covering launchers with a smooth or rifled barrel, and their ammunition, covering both single projectiles and multiple-projectile (pellet) munitions. Its purpose is stated plainly: to give NATO and Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries test and analysis data that helps them appraise weapon and ammunition designs, using control weapons and ammunition for comparison where useful. It is covered by STANREC 4744, a NATO Standardization Recommendation, so nations are invited to use it rather than committed to it by ratification, and the document itself says it can equally be run as purely national testing against national criteria.

The document is addressed to the test facility that carries out the assessment and to the National Authority that oversees it, not to a manufacturer or a certification body. It sets no performance target of its own: it states that the tests "make no attempt to stipulate acceptance or rejection criteria" beyond a possible safety exception, so a result under this procedure is comparative data rather than a pass or fail on a design.

The test facility and equipment

The test weapon or launcher has to be the original system, or as close to it as possible; where a proof barrel is substituted, the National Authority has to verify that impact conditions are equivalent to the original. The document also covers the support-weapon mounting, the choice of launcher-to-target distance (set from user requirements and the manufacturer's instructions), the projectile velocity measurement system and its method of correction, target sizing and marking, and instrumentation for wind on outdoor ranges. All equipment has to be checked as properly calibrated before testing starts, and a test facility may substitute its own in-house facilities, materials or equipment not specified by the document, provided it records the variation in its test report and can show the results would remain valid - the National Authority decides whether that modified procedure is acceptable.

Running the test and calculating precision

Outdoor testing calls for the National Authority's judgement, because wind affects the flight of the projectile, and test cartridges and projectiles are conditioned before firing. Rounds may be fired continuously or in groups, provided the target system can reliably discriminate each impact, and where multiple targets are used a common reference axis is required. For single projectiles, the document calls for the mean point of impact and the horizontal and vertical spread of the shots to be calculated; for multiple-projectile munitions, it calls for the pellet pattern's spread to be measured and characterised. The National Authority chooses the statistical method used to turn these measurements into a precision result, and a minimum set of observations, from target and weapon identification to per-shot velocity and impact location, has to be recorded for every assessment.

Who reviews it, and what it does not decide

AEP-98 describes no certification of an organisation or a product, and says so about itself: the tests "make no attempt to stipulate acceptance or rejection criteria" beyond a possible safety exception. What happens instead is oversight by a National Authority: verifying equivalence when a launch system is substituted, deciding whether a test facility's own equipment or a variation from the specified method is acceptable, exercising judgement over outdoor conditions, and computing and documenting the statistical results. The output is comparative precision data measured against a control, or against requirements agreed elsewhere, not a certificate.

Where it sits among the other NATO standards

AEP-98 is covered by STANREC 4744, the Standardization Recommendation nations use to record their agreement to use it. Annex A notes that this edition was brought into the same format as AEP-103 for consistency across AEPs, an editorial rather than a technical relationship. Chapter 4 also names two further NATO small-arms documents for background, the Manual of Proof and Inspection Procedures for NATO 5.56mm Ammunition and the Evaluation procedures for future NATO Small Arms Weapon Systems, neither of which is in our catalogue. As with all NATO documents, AEP-98 is free of charge and not sold; it is retrieved from the NATO Standardization Document Database or through a national standardization authority, never from a third-party copy.

Standards it references

• AEP-103Background