STANAG 2627 NATO land urgent voice messages pocket book

What it is

STANAG 2627 is a NATO Standardization Agreement, currently Edition 2, dated 3 March 2020. It is not a technical specification. It is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement ATP-97, Edition B, the Allied Publication that is the Land Urgent Voice Messages (LUVM) pocket book. The document's own aim is to respond to an interoperability requirement: "to establish standard message templates the most important voice messages used in NATO land operations." Read on its own, STANAG 2627 requires nothing of a supplier or contractor. Its obligations run to nations and to NATO's own bodies, and the message templates themselves sit in ATP-97, not in this cover.

Who it binds, and how

STANAG 2627 is explicit that it binds nations rather than organisations. Its letter of promulgation describes the enclosed agreement as one "which has been ratified by member nations, as reflected in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), is promulgated herewith." Under "Agreement," participating nations agree to implement ATP-97, Edition B - a national commitment, made by ratification, not a duty a supplier signs up to by reading this document. Ratification and implementation are kept separate: the text invites nations that have not yet reported their position to "advise the NSO of their intention regarding its ratification and implementation." So "is STANAG 2627 mandatory" has no single answer: it depends on whether a given nation has ratified and implemented it, and this cover names no supplier, manufacturer or contractor at all.

What the agreement commits nations to

The interoperability requirement STANAG 2627 responds to is "to establish standard message templates the most important voice messages used in NATO land operations." The STANAG states it "is effective upon receipt for use by the participating nations and NATO bodies," and it "is implemented when necessary orders/instructions have been issued directing the forces concerned to put the content of the covered standard into effect." That is national and operational machinery: a nation's land forces put ATP-97's templates into effect once the relevant orders are issued, not a design or delivery obligation on a contractor. Partner nations are separately invited, rather than obliged, to report their own implementation.

A cover agreement, not the message templates themselves

A reader who only has STANAG 2627 in hand does not yet have the message templates it points to. The templates themselves sit in ATP-97, Edition B. STANAG 2627 also names two other related documents: STANAG 7149, the NATO Message Catalogue that covers APP-11, and STANAG 2020, Operational Situation Reports. Edition 2, 3 March 2020, supersedes STANAG 2627, Edition 1, dated 20 May 2016.

Reporting and review

National responses on ratification are recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database, and Allies provide their ratification details through the electronic reporting tool. Allies and NATO bodies provide their implementation details the same way, and partner nations are invited to provide theirs. The STANAG itself "is to be reviewed in accordance with AAP-03," with the result "recorded within the NSDD" - a check on whether the agreement is still current, not an audit of any nation's message-handling procedures. The agreement is supervised under the authority of NATO's Military Committee Land structure (MC, MCLSB, LO, SLIERP).

What it does not cover

STANAG 2627 names no message template, format or procedure of its own - that detail sits entirely in ATP-97. It also names no assessment or certification scheme: the only stated check is that the STANAG itself is reviewed periodically, not that a nation, an organisation or an individual is certified.

Standards it references

• STANAG 7149Background
• APP-11Background
• STANAG 2020Background