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STANAG 4478
STANAG 4478 recovery and towing facilities for tactical land vehicles and trailers
Manufacturers of tactical military land vehicles and trailers, and the suppliers of recovery and towing eyes and fittings who build and test against their dimensions and loads.
STANAG 4478 is the NATO agreement setting recovery and towing eye requirements for tactical land vehicles and trailers. NATO has not released it publicly; this page describes it from the Czech defence standard that implements it.
- Edition
- 2
- Published
- 2022-11-24
NATO has not released this STANAG publicly. It is NATO UNCLASSIFIED, and organisations that need it obtain it through their national standardization authority.
What it is
STANAG 4478 is the NATO Standardization Agreement on recovery and towing facilities for tactical land vehicles and trailers. Edition 2, promulgated on 24 November 2022 under CNAD, AC/225 NAAG, LCGLE, covers the publication AEP-4478 edition A. NATO has not released STANAG 4478 publicly, so this page describes it from ČOS 251001, the Czech defence standard that implements it, edition 3, effective from 19 November 2024, which states that it introduces STANAG 4478 edition 2 and AEP-4478(A)(1) into Czech use. A national implementation can add national requirements and reservations, so treat what follows as the Czech implementation's content, not as NATO's own text.
What the Czech implementation requires
ČOS 251001 sets the basic technical parameters of the recovery eyes used to recover and emergency-tow military vehicles: their number, location, dimensions, clearance, articulation angles and the force they must carry. A newly acquired or developed military vehicle must carry four recovery eyes, two at the front and two at the rear, each pair drilled to the same diameter and aligned on a common horizontal axis, and freely accessible so that recovery and towing gear can be fitted even in difficult conditions; a trailer carries the same four-eye arrangement. The vehicle manufacturer must confirm and document in writing, before delivery, that the recovery and towing means work safely under adverse and emergency conditions at the vehicle's full GVWR. Where recovery is by winch cable, drawbar, tow rope, chain or strap, each eye and its attachment to the vehicle must withstand, without visible damage or permanent deformation, a load equal to 1.5 times GVWR, applied within a hollow cone with a 45-degree apex angle, 22.5 degrees either side of the vehicle's longitudinal axis, when towing, and vertically when lifting by suspension. Recovery eyes may only exceptionally be fitted to a wheeled vehicle's front bumper, through an opening at least five times dimension A wide and twice dimension C high, and the use must be justified. A vehicle fitted with air brakes must carry air coupling heads front and rear, and a finished recovery and towing device must carry a permanent, traceable marking that identifies its standard size, for example 4478-3.
The dimensions and loads that make eyes interchangeable
Annex C sets the recovery eye dimensions against seven standard sizes, 4478-1 to 4478-7, chosen by the vehicle's GVWR: 4478-1 for vehicles up to 5,000 kg, with a 19.05 mm pin and a 22.2 mm eye width, up to 4478-4 for vehicles between 35,000 kg and 70,000 kg, with a 57.2 mm pin and a 50.8 mm eye width; sizes 4478-5 to 4478-7 cover overlapping ranges for particular vehicle types. Annex D sets the strength design: each eye must resist, without damage, a static tensile and compressive load of at least 1.5 times GVWR applied within that same 22.5-degree cone, with a safety factor of 2.0 against fracture and 1.25 against permanent deformation, and the material must show more than 10 percent elongation at break, stay temperature-resistant from minus 40 to plus 70 degrees Celsius, and hold at least 27 joules of notch impact energy at minus 40 degrees. Annex E requires a practical or finite-element strength test, a deformation test at 1.25 times the maximum allowed load, a fracture test at 2.0 times it, a tensile test to ČSN EN ISO 6892 and an impact test to ČSN EN ISO 148-1, and a written test report and the manufacturer's Declaration of Compliance before the equipment is accepted.
How we help
A supplier bound by STANAG 4478 through a contract holds the obtained text through its national authority. In ComplyTrain you record the requirements that apply to you as your own requirements, give each an owner, and keep the evidence that shows you meet them against each one.
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