STANAG 1185
STANAG 1185 medical and survival equipment for life rafts
Naval logistics and medical staff equipping ships and life rafts under a tasking or contract that invokes STANAG 1185 or the AMedP-1.2 publication it covers
STANAG 1185 is NATO's ratified agreement committing member navies to equip ship life rafts under AMedP-1.2 Edition A, the medical and survival equipment publication it covers.
- Edition
- 3
- Published
- 2013-07-05
What it is
STANAG 1185 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering AMedP-1.2 Edition A, the Allied Medical Publication on minimum essential medical and survival equipment for life rafts. This is Edition 3, promulgated 5 July 2013, superseding Edition 2 of 11 March 2013.
A STANAG is not the specification
A STANAG is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement a standard, not the technical specification itself. STANAG 1185's own text is short: an aim, an interoperability requirement, a list of related documents, and the ratification and reporting machinery. The essential and additional item lists, and the survival guidelines themselves, are specified in a separate publication, AMedP-1.2 Edition A, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone actually specifying, stocking or checking that equipment needs AMedP-1.2's own text, not this cover agreement.
What it commits nations to
The stated aim responds to an interoperability requirement: that the navies of NATO nations "adopt the list of essential items as the components of the first-aid medical equipment for ship life rafts and a list of additional items for survival and rescue, as well as the guidelines to be followed for survival". The document names three other related publications alongside AMedP-1.2 without incorporating their content: STANAG 1269, described there as a NATO Handbook on Maritime Medicine and identified as "AMedP-11"; an International Maritime Organization resolution; and ISO 18813:2006 on survival equipment for survival craft and rescue boats.
Who it binds, and how
STANAG 1185 binds nations, not suppliers. It becomes binding on a given nation through ratification, which NATO records in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), and it "is implemented when the necessary orders/instructions have been issued directing the forces concerned to put the content of this agreement into effect". Participating nations are then "strongly encouraged to utilize the guidelines and recommendations included herein in providing survival equipment for life rafts", and the guidelines "should be available in ships and ship life rafts" on an ongoing basis, not as a one-off design step. Nations report implementation using Annex H of AAP-03(J); Partner Nations report adoption using Annex G of the same publication. A supplier or manufacturer meets AMedP-1.2's requirements only where a national procurement or contract cites it - this STANAG sets no obligation reaching a supplier directly.
How it's evaluated
STANAG 1185 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their own ratification and implementation to NATO, recorded in the NSDD, and a review of the STANAG itself "at least once every three years". Nobody is "STANAG 1185 certified", and the document never uses that language. The International Maritime Organization resolution and the ISO standard it names are listed as other related documents, not as certificates held against this STANAG.
Standards it references
STANAG 1185 covers AMedP-1.2, the Allied Medical Publication that carries the actual equipment lists and survival guidelines. Nations report adoption and implementation using the Annex G and Annex H forms of AAP-03. Its "Other Related Documents" also name STANAG 1269, described there as a NATO Handbook on Maritime Medicine and identified as "AMedP-11"; an International Maritime Organization resolution; and ISO 18813:2006, "Ships and marine technology - Survival equipment for survival craft and rescue boats". None of the three is in our catalogue as a linked record.
How we help
Equipping and stocking life rafts against AMedP-1.2 is naval logistics and shipboard readiness work, not something a compliance platform does directly: a navy's medical and logistics staff select and stock the essential and additional items, hold them aboard ships and life rafts, and keep the records that show the guidelines were followed.
What ComplyTrain does for that kind of work generally is give a defence organisation one auditable place to hold the procedures for specifying and stocking that equipment, the training records for the people responsible for it, and the evidence trail - inspection records, corrective actions, document control - that a customer's quality representative or a government surveillance visit will ask to see.
ComplyTrain does not select, stock or inspect life raft medical and survival equipment, and it does not determine whether a given raft's kit meets AMedP-1.2. That is shipboard logistics and naval medical work, carried out against the publication itself and whatever a nation's own procurement and inspection regime requires.
Which STANAGs and Allied Publications actually apply to a given naval programme is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. Browse the explorer to see what sits alongside STANAG 1185 and AMedP-1.2, and talk to us about the evidence trail once you know which ones are in your contract.
Questions
Is STANAG 1185 mandatory?
Only where a nation has ratified and implemented it, and it reaches a supplier only where a contract or tasking invokes AMedP-1.2. The document itself binds nations through ratification, recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database, not suppliers directly.
What is the difference between STANAG 1185 and AMedP-1.2?
STANAG 1185 is the NATO ratification agreement; AMedP-1.2 Edition A is the Allied Medical Publication that actually specifies the essential and additional life raft equipment and the survival guidelines. Ratifying STANAG 1185 is how a nation commits to implement AMedP-1.2.
Can a company be certified to STANAG 1185?
No. STANAG 1185 describes nations ratifying and reporting implementation to NATO, recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database. It names no certification or audit scheme for a supplier or a product.
How often is STANAG 1185 reviewed?
The document states that it "is to be reviewed at least once every three years", with the result recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database.