STANAG 3278 aircraft towing attachments and devices

What it is

STANAG 3278 is a NATO Standardization Agreement, currently Edition 9, promulgated 5 November 2014 and superseding Edition 8. Like most STANAGs, it is not a technical specification in its own right. It is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement AASSEP-05, Edition A, the Allied Publication that actually sets out the form and dimensions of aircraft towing attachment points and towing bars. Read on its own, STANAG 3278 requires almost nothing of a supplier directly: its obligations run to nations, and it reaches an aircraft manufacturer or a ground-support-equipment supplier only once a nation has implemented it and a contract or specification brings AASSEP-05's requirements into play.

Why the agreement exists

The stated aim is "to standardize the form and essential dimensions of the hollow axle and spool attachment points on aircraft, as well as the dimensions of the attachment heads on towing and steering bars used for normal towing." It "also addresses those alternative methods of towing that use a tow bar or tow line." Aircraft from different NATO nations are towed and serviced on each other's airfields, which is why a common attachment and towing-bar dimension is an interoperability requirement rather than a purely internal matter for one air force.

Who it binds, and how

STANAG 3278 is explicit that it binds nations, not suppliers. 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." Once ratified, the agreement "is effective upon receipt and ready to be used by the implementing nations and NATO bodies." Partner nations are separately "invited to adopt this STANAG." So "is STANAG 3278 mandatory" has no single answer: it depends on whether a given nation has ratified and implemented it, and, for a manufacturer or supplier, on whether a specific contract or specification then invokes AASSEP-05.

What it requires

STANAG 3278 is a short letter of promulgation, not a clause-numbered specification, so its content sits in named sections rather than numbered clauses.

Under "Agreement," participating nations "agree to implement the following standard," named as "AASSEP-05, Edition A." No hollow-axle diameter, spool dimension, towing-bar head dimension or tolerance appears in the STANAG text itself; all of that, if it exists, is in AASSEP-05, which this page does not hold the text of. Under "Other related documents," the STANAG names none.

The one testable statement this document makes about implementation sits under "Implementation of the Agreement": STANAG 3278 "is considered implemented when the provisions specified therein have been included in the national documentation concerned with reference to STANAG 3278." An auditor working from this document alone would look for one thing: whether a nation's own documentation references STANAG 3278, not an independent measurement of a physical dimension.

Reporting and review

Nations are "invited to report on their effective implementation of the STANAG using the form in Annex H to AAP-03(J)." Partner nations, who adopt without the ratification obligation that binds a member nation, report separately "using the form in Annex G to AAP-03(J)." The agreement itself "is to be reviewed at least once every three years," with the result recorded in the NSDD, and any nation or NATO body "may propose changes, at any time, through a standardization proposal to the tasking authority."

How you are evaluated

Nobody can be certified against STANAG 3278 through this document: it names no accredited body, notified body or government-surveillance scheme. The only accountability it describes is national self-reporting - "the national decisions regarding the ratification and implementation of this STANAG are provided to the NSO" - plus the periodic review of the agreement itself. A nation records that its own documentation references the STANAG and tells NATO it has done so; nobody audits an individual towing attachment or towing bar under this document.