What it is
STANAG 3632 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering aircraft and ground support equipment electrical connections for static grounding. This is Edition 7, promulgated 24 October 2022, superseding Edition 6 of 20 August 2014.
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 3632's own text is short and administrative: an aim, an interoperability requirement, and the ratification and reporting machinery. The actual electrical connection requirements for static grounding are set out in a separate publication, AAEP-02 Edition B, which the STANAG names as "the following standard" participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone actually designing, specifying or checking those connections needs AAEP-02's own text, not this cover agreement.
What it commits nations to
The stated aim is "to respond to the following interoperability requirements": reaching "the appropriate level of standardization of equipment, spares, tools and equipment, technical documentation, and training" before nations operate together, and identifying "an aircraft and ground equipment electrical grounding and bonding standard that meets the interoperability requirement" set out in NATO's own equipment maintenance policy. Participating nations "agree to follow AAEP-02 procedures that detail the aircraft and ground equipment electrical connections for static grounding and bonding" - that is the whole of what this agreement asks of a nation.
The document also lists several related STANAGs and publications covering adjacent aircraft and ground-servicing topics: symbol marking of servicing and hazard points, ground electrical power supplies, refuelling connections, electrostatic safety during fuel handling, and aircraft electrical hazards on the flight line. It names these as related reading, not as requirements this STANAG itself imposes.
Who it binds, and how
STANAG 3632 binds nations, not suppliers. It is "effective upon receipt for use by the participating nations and NATO bodies", and it becomes binding on a given nation through ratification, which NATO records in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD). Ratification and implementation are tracked as separate steps: 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", and "once implemented, Allies shall provide implementation details through the electronic reporting tool". A supplier of aircraft or ground support equipment meets STANAG 3632, or the AAEP-02 connections it covers, only where a contract or tender says so - the agreement itself sets no obligation reaching a supplier directly.
How it's evaluated
STANAG 3632 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their ratification and implementation status to NATO for the record; nobody is "STANAG 3632 certified", and the document never uses that language. Where a supplier's grounding and bonding equipment does get checked against AAEP-02's own procedures - inspection records, connection test results - the assessor and the evidence required are set by the contract's own quality clause, not by this STANAG.
Standards it references
STANAG 3632 covers AAEP-02, the Allied publication that carries the actual static grounding and bonding procedures. Its "Other Related Documents" also list STANAG 3109 (symbol marking of aircraft servicing and safety/hazard points, AASSEP-03), STANAG 3457 (ground electrical power supplies for aircraft), STANAG 3105 (pressure refuelling connections and defuelling for aircraft), STANAG 3682 (electrostatic safety connection procedures for aviation fuel handling, AFLP-3682), and STANAG 7009 (aircraft electrical hazards on the flight line, AEP-24), all of which inform rather than bind through this agreement. It also names STANAG 3659 (electrical bonding requirements for metallic aircraft systems) and ISO 46 (aircraft fuel nozzle grounding plugs and sockets), which sit outside this record's resolved references. Reviews of STANAG 3632 itself run under AAP-03.