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STANAG 3632

STANAG 3632 aircraft and ground support equipment electrical connections for static grounding

National airworthiness and air standardization authorities implementing NATO's static grounding requirement, and aircraft and ground support equipment suppliers working to a contract that invokes AAEP-02

STANAG 3632 is NATO's agreement committing member nations to implement AAEP-02 Edition B, the electrical connection standard for static grounding of aircraft and ground support equipment.

Edition
7
Published
2022-10-24

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.

How we help

STANAG 3632 and the AAEP-02 procedures it covers are followed on the ramp and in the hangar, not in a compliance platform: ground crews connect and check static grounding and bonding equipment, and a quality department retains the inspection and training records that prove the work was done to the applicable procedure and whatever the contract's quality clause demands.

What ComplyTrain does for that kind of work generally is give an organisation one auditable place to hold the connection and inspection procedures, the training records for the ground and maintenance crew carrying them out, and the evidence trail - non-conformances, corrective actions, document control - that a customer's quality representative or a government surveillance visit will ask to see.

ComplyTrain does not ground an aircraft, connect a bonding cable, or determine whether a piece of ground support equipment meets AAEP-02's electrical connection requirements. That is equipment and maintenance work, carried out against the publication itself and the contract's own technical requirements.

Which STANAGs and Allied Publications actually apply to a given aircraft or ground-support programme is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. Browse the explorer to see what sits alongside STANAG 3632 and AAEP-02, and talk to us about the evidence trail once you know which ones are in your contract.

Standards it references

Questions

Is STANAG 3632 mandatory?

Only where a nation has ratified and implemented it, and it reaches a supplier only where a contract or tender invokes AAEP-02. The agreement itself binds nations, not suppliers, directly.

What is the difference between STANAG 3632 and AAEP-02?

STANAG 3632 is the NATO ratification agreement; AAEP-02 Edition B is the publication that actually sets out the aircraft and ground support equipment electrical connections for static grounding. Ratifying STANAG 3632 is how a nation commits to implement AAEP-02.

Can a company be certified to STANAG 3632?

No. STANAG 3632 describes nations ratifying and reporting implementation to NATO, recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database. It describes no certification or audit scheme for a supplier or a product.

What changed between Edition 6 and Edition 7 of STANAG 3632?

The document states that this edition supersedes "STANAG 3632, Edition 6, dated 20 August 2014", but it does not itself describe what changed between the two editions.