STANAG 2916 nose fuze contours and projectile cavities

What it is

What STANAG 2916 covers

STANAG 2916 is the NATO standardization agreement that gives force to AOP-68, Edition A, the Allied publication setting the nose fuze contours and matching projectile cavities for artillery and mortar projectiles. A STANAG is not itself a technical specification: it is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement one, and the dimensional detail sits in the Allied Publication it covers. This STANAG responds to an interoperability requirement stated plainly in the document: "to achieve physical interchangeability and ballistic match within any one family of nose fuzes used with artillery and mortar projectiles, 60mm and larger." Read plainly, that means a nose fuze built to one nation's drawings has to seat and function correctly in a projectile cavity built to another's, within a given fuze family, not that every fuze across every calibre is interchangeable.

This is Edition 3, promulgated 14 August 2019. It supersedes "STANAG 2916, Edition 2, dated 19 August 2011."

Who ratifies it, and what nations agree to

A STANAG binds a nation, not a manufacturer directly. Nations "are invited to examine their ratification of the STANAG and, if they have not already done so, advise the NSO of their intention regarding its ratification and implementation," with the national response recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD). Participating nations "agree to conform to the requirements of this standard in the development of fuzes, projectiles, setters and accessories in respect to the following features, as applicable": contact surfaces, fuze length, intrusion, projectile cavity, setter slots, thread size and wrench slots. Not every feature applies to every design; the document says as much.

A nation implements the agreement once it "has issued instructions that all equipment procured for its forces will be manufactured in accordance with the specifications detailed in this agreement." A manufacturer meets AOP-68 or this STANAG only where a contract or a tender brings it in by name, not because the agreement exists on its own.

Review and related documents

This STANAG "is to be reviewed in accordance with AAP 03," with the result recorded in the NSDD. It names related reading rather than binding requirements: STANAG 4369, AOP-4369 and AOP-22 on design requirements for inductive setting of large calibre projectile fuzes; ANSI Y14.5M-1982 on engineering drawing practices; ISO 80000-1:2009 on quantities and units; and FED-STD-H28 on screw-thread standards.

How it's evaluated

No certification exists here, and the document names none. What it describes is a national ratification, implementation and review cycle run through NATO's own machinery, not an audit against this STANAG as such. Whether a fuze, projectile, setter or accessory actually matches the contours and cavity dimensions AOP-68 sets out is a question for that publication and for whatever inspection a contracting nation puts in place; this cover document does not describe that mechanism.

Standards it references

• STANAG 4369Background
• AOP-4369Background
• AOP-22Background