STANAG 3805
STANAG 3805 Allied joint doctrine for airspace control
Air and airspace control personnel, and defence contractors, working to a tasking or contract that invokes STANAG 3805 or the AJP-3.3.5 doctrine it covers
STANAG 3805 is NATO's ratification agreement committing member nations to implement AJP-3.3.5 Edition C, Allied joint doctrine for airspace control.
- Edition
- 10
- Published
- 2024-03-05
What it is
STANAG 3805 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering Allied joint doctrine for airspace control. This is Edition 10, promulgated 5 March 2024, superseding Edition 9 of 8 May 2013.
A STANAG is not the doctrine
A STANAG is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement a standard, not the doctrine itself. STANAG 3805's own text is short and administrative: an aim, an interoperability requirement, the standard it names, a list of related and superseded documents, and the ratification, implementation and review machinery. The doctrine named in its title, Allied joint doctrine for airspace control, is set out in a separate publication, AJP-3.3.5 Edition C, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone working to that doctrine needs AJP-3.3.5's own text, not this cover agreement.
What it commits nations to
The stated aim is interoperability: "to provide nations with common procedures, terminology, and an organizational framework for effective airspace control for the conduct of NATO air operations." Participating nations "agree to implement the following standard", named as AJP-3.3.5, Edition C.
Who it binds, and how
STANAG 3805 binds nations, not suppliers or contractors. 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). Implementation is a separate, further step: the STANAG is considered implemented "when a nation has issued the necessary orders or instructions to the forces concerned, putting the principles and protocols of the covered standard into effect." A contractor meets STANAG 3805, or the AJP-3.3.5 doctrine it covers, only where a tasking or contract says so. Nations are encouraged to reference the STANAG in national doctrines, specifications, procurement programmes, contracts, projects and training programmes, but the STANAG itself sets no obligation reaching a contractor directly, and it names no NATO-wide effective date - its own "NATO Effective Date (NED)" field reads "Not applicable".
How it's evaluated
STANAG 3805 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their ratification and implementation status to NATO for the record, through NATO's electronic reporting tool. Nobody is "STANAG 3805 certified", and the document never uses that language. Where a contractor's airspace control work does get checked in practice, the assessor and the evidence required are set by the contract's own quality clause, not by this STANAG.
Standards it references
STANAG 3805 covers AJP-3.3.5, the Allied joint doctrine publication that carries the actual airspace control content. Its "Other Related Documents" also list STANAG 2437 (covering AJP-01), STANAG 2490 (Allied joint doctrine for the conduct of operations, AJP-3), STANAG 3736 (Allied joint doctrine for close air support and air interdiction, AJP-3.3.2), STANAG 3703 (Allied joint doctrine for air-maritime coordination, AJP-3.3.3), STANAG 7189 (joint airspace control tactics, techniques and procedures, ATP-3.3.5.1), and STANAG 7185 (air-maritime coordination procedures, ATP-3.3.3.1), all of which inform rather than bind through this agreement. Reviews of STANAG 3805 itself run under AAP-03.
How we help
STANAG 3805 and the AJP-3.3.5 doctrine it covers are followed in day-to-day air operations planning, training and coordination work, not in a compliance platform: airspace control personnel develop and rehearse the procedures, and an organisation keeps the training and evidence records that show it has put its national orders on the doctrine into practice.
What ComplyTrain does for that kind of work generally is give a defence contractor one auditable place to hold the procedures, the training records for the people working to them, and the evidence trail - reviews, corrective actions, document control - that a customer's quality representative or a government surveillance visit will ask to see.
ComplyTrain does not plan an airspace control mission, coordinate live air operations, or determine whether a unit's practice meets AJP-3.3.5's doctrine. That is operational work, carried out by trained personnel against the doctrine itself and whatever national orders and contract requirements apply.
Which STANAGs and Allied Publications actually apply to a given tasking is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. Browse the explorer to see what sits alongside STANAG 3805 and AJP-3.3.5, and talk to us about the evidence trail once you know which ones are in your contract.
Standards it references
- STANAG 2437Background
- AJP-01Background
- STANAG 2490Background
- AJP-3Background
- STANAG 3736Background
- AJP-3.3.2Background
- STANAG 3703Background
- AJP-3.3.3Background
- STANAG 7189Background
- ATP-3.3.5.1Background
- STANAG 7185Background
- ATP-3.3.3.1Background
Questions
Is STANAG 3805 mandatory?
Only where a nation has ratified and implemented it, and it reaches a contractor only where a tasking or contract invokes it. The STANAG's own "NATO Effective Date (NED)" field reads "Not applicable", so there is no blanket start date to point to.
What is the difference between STANAG 3805 and AJP-3.3.5?
STANAG 3805 is the NATO ratification agreement; AJP-3.3.5 Edition C is the publication that actually sets out the airspace control doctrine. Ratifying STANAG 3805 is how a nation commits to implement AJP-3.3.5.
Can a company be certified to STANAG 3805?
No. STANAG 3805 describes nations ratifying and reporting implementation to NATO, recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database. It describes no certification or audit scheme for a contractor or a unit.
Who is STANAG 3805 addressed to?
The document addresses "the participating nations and NATO bodies", not suppliers or contractors directly. It reaches a contractor only through a tasking, contract or training programme that references it.
What changed between Edition 9 and Edition 10 of STANAG 3805?
This edition supersedes "STANAG 3805, Edition 9, dated 8 May 2013". The promulgation letter notes that this edition carries changes, but they are to AJP-3.3.5's own doctrine content, which the STANAG covers rather than states itself.