AEPP-02 packaging and handling for electrostatic-sensitive devices

What it is

AEPP-02 is the NATO Allied Engineering Practices Publication that sets out requirements and procedures for packaging and handling materiel susceptible to damage by electrostatic discharge (ESD) - electrostatic-sensitive devices, or ESDS. It covers identifying which devices count as ESDS, the packaging materials and methods that protect them, the design and operation of an ESD Protected Area (EPA), and the testing that qualifies and periodically verifies the materials and equipment involved. The current edition is Edition B, Version 1, promulgated 25 March 2026 and effective on receipt, superseding AEPP-02 Edition 1, which nations are to destroy under their own local procedures for the destruction of documents. Like every Allied Engineering Practices Publication, it has no force on its own: the Letter of Promulgation records that "the agreement of nations to use this publication is recorded in STANAG 4434," and an individual supplier meets it only once a tender, purchase order or contract names it.

Who it covers, and what it excludes

AEPP-02 addresses "personnel engaged in packaging, development or preparation for receiving, shipment, and storage of ESDS" - in practice, anyone who packages, ships, stores or otherwise handles the devices once they have been identified as ESDS. It names contractors directly too: a contractor "may propose the use of their ESD safe commercial packaging materials" if it can demonstrate that the packaging gives equal or better protection than the cognizant procuring activity specified. The procuring activity sets the bar, and a contractor's own materials are accepted or rejected against it.

The document is explicit about what it does not cover. It "does not apply to electrostatic-sensitive explosive devices," and it does not apply to facilities where ordnance, flammables or explosives are handled or stored - STANAG 4868 (covering AECTP-250 and AECTP-500) and STANAG 4440 (covering AASTP-1) are named as the place to look for electrostatic precautions around static-sensitive explosives instead. It also does not replace local statutory personnel-safety requirements, which still apply alongside it.

Identifying an ESDS device

Chapter 2.1 is specific rather than general: it lists the NATO Supply Classes that count as ESDS by definition - 1430 (Guided Missile Remote Control Systems), 4935 (Guided Missile Maintenance Repair and Check-out Specialized Equipment), 5998 and 5999 (electrical and electronic assemblies and components), and a further block covering 5905 (precision or thin-film resistors), 5955 (oscillators and piezoelectric crystals), 5961 (semiconductor devices, including MOSFETs, JFETs, microwave diodes and SCRs), 5962 (microcircuits), 5963 (electronic modules), 5980 (optoelectronic devices) and 7042 (mini and micro computer control devices). Classification follows the contents rather than the label on the box: any complete system, "Black Box," Line Replaceable Unit, Shop Replaceable Unit, or test or repair console containing these parts is considered ESDS in its own right.

Packaging materials and methods

Protection has to run "from production to final disposal," and an unprotected device may only be handled inside an EPA by trained personnel - at no point is it to be left unprotected. Materials in intimate contact with the device must be electrostatic dissipative or conductive, must not lose that property over long-term storage, and where shielding material is used, its conductive face is never placed against a bare device. Proximity packaging materials carry a specific, testable limit: a charge-decay characteristic of 10 percent of the initial value, capped at 1000 V, achieved in under 2.0 seconds. Materials that are themselves prime generators of static charge - untreated plastic film, foam, synthetic fibres, self-adhesive tape - are barred from both intimate and proximity packaging and from the EPA itself. One detail easy to miss in a general reading: loose-fill packaging is barred outright from shipments to US Army, Navy or Defense Logistics Agency activities.

Packaging methods come in three named forms: electrostatic-dissipative wrap, cushioning or a resealable pouch; a heavy-duty, waterproof electrostatic-shielded bag with a caution label; and an antistatic "fast pack" - a reusable box or container marked REUSEABLE and ANTISTATIC and sealed with at least 60mm waterproof tape over every seam. Unpowered, leaded devices may be mounted on conductive foam to short their pins; shelf-powered devices with batteries or charged capacitors need dissipative intimate packaging or a purpose-designed protective container; and powered devices may never be packed against a surface below the document's specified resistivity threshold (around 10^7 Ω/sq). Field returns follow the same rules, with reusable material permitted only when new material is not available, and only for unserviceable returns.

The ESD Protected Area (EPA)

An EPA needs defined, clearly signed boundaries, and only approved ESD-protective material or containers may be used or stowed inside it. The document sets out the detail: an earth grounding point on every work surface and on non-permanent flooring; wrist straps with a quick-release connector and a correctly rated safety resistor, wired to a dedicated earth bonding point at each workstation; garments that enclose the arms and chest and can be bonded to the wearer's skin; and tools built, or treated, so that no part touching an ESDS device can generate or hold a charge. A temporary EPA - a field service kit - is allowed where a permanent one is not practical, such as a remote shelter or a van, but AEPP-02 is explicit that the portable work mat and its accessories "are not a substitute for a complete ESD protective workstation."

The precautions around managing an EPA are granular, and the kind a site misses in practice rather than in the manual: no more than two wrist-strap cords per earth bonding point; daily checks that a wrist strap's resistor and skin contact are intact; weekly continuity checks of every ground wire, or before use after more than a week idle; a relative-humidity check at the start of every work period; and a list of ordinary materials - polystyrene cups, masking tape, bubble wrap, cigarette packets - that have to stay out of the work area because they are not antistatic.

Testing, and what the document leaves to IEC 61340

AEPP-02 sets requirements and procedures, not test methods of its own: warning labels and symbols follow IEC 61340-5-3 and IEC 60417, and EPA design follows IEC 61340-5-1 and IEC TR 61340-5-2. Annex B is where the testable limits actually live, and the pattern repeats across every category it covers - packaging, work surfaces and storage racks, static-dissipative flooring, wrist straps, dissipative footwear, dissipative garments, ESD control gloves, dissipative seating and ionisation equipment: each is qualified against the relevant IEC 61340 test method, then checked again periodically through "compliance verification testing" to IEC TS 61340-5-4, with limits mostly drawn from IEC 61340-5-1 Table 3. AEPP-02 itself sets no training programme or audit cycle: the document states plainly that the detail "can be found in IEC 61340-5-1."

One national reservation is on record at promulgation: Denmark may omit low-cost items, such as NSN class 5905, "where the cost and effects of implementation are not proportional to the cost of the item" - a reminder that a nation's agreement to a STANAG does not always mean uniform application down to every part number.

What the document does not cover

AEPP-02 names no certification scheme and no certification body. What it describes is testing and verification against the IEC 61340 series: a packaging material, workstation item or piece of EPA equipment is qualified, then checked again periodically, with training, quality responsibility and audit frequency deferred entirely to IEC 61340-5-1. In practice, the party actually checking a contractor's packaging is the cognizant procuring activity, which accepts or rejects a contractor's proposed ESD-safe materials against the protection level it specified - a customer check against a contract, not a third-party audit against a general scheme.

Standards it references

• STANAG 4281Binds
• STANAG 4868Background
• AECTP-250Background
• AECTP-500Background
• STANAG 4440Background
• AASTP-01Background
• STANAG 4280Background
• APP-21Background
• AAITP-05Background
• STANAG 4340Background
• AEPP-03Background