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STANAG 4602
National authorities implementing NATO reaction-to-fire testing agreements, and defence suppliers working to a contract that invokes one of the five AFAP test methods
STANAG 4602 is NATO's agreement committing member nations to implement AFAP-1 to AFAP-5, the Allied publications on reaction-to-fire testing used to pre-select materials for military equipment.
STANAG 4602 is a NATO Standardization Agreement, currently Edition 2, dated 21 April 2015. It is not a technical specification. It is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to ratify and implement five companion Allied publications on reaction-to-fire testing of materials: AFAP-1 (Policy for the Pre-Selection of Materials for Military Applications), AFAP-2 (Smoke Generation), AFAP-3 (Toxicity of Fire Effluents), AFAP-4 (Surface Spread of Flame) and AFAP-5 (Heat Release Rate), all Edition 3. The test methods and data that a reader usually wants live inside those five publications, not inside this six-page cover. Read on its own, STANAG 4602 requires almost nothing of a supplier directly. Its obligations run to nations, and it reaches a contractor only indirectly, once a nation has implemented it and a contract or tender names one of the five AFAPs.
STANAG 4602 is explicit that it binds nations rather than organisations. 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." Ratification and implementation are separate steps, and the document invites nations that have not yet reported their position to "advise the NSO of their intention regarding its implementation." So "is STANAG 4602 mandatory" has no single answer: it depends on whether a given nation has ratified and implemented it, and, for a supplier, on whether a specific contract invokes one of the five AFAPs as a result.
STANAG 4602 commits nations to five publications at once rather than a single test method. The stated aim is "to respond to the following interoperability requirements": to "assess NATO requirements for reaction-to-fire, test methods and data to be exchanged, for pre-selection of materials used in the field of national and multinational cooperative projects for military equipments." Under "Agreement," "Participating nations agree to implement the following standards": AFAP-1 (pre-selection policy), AFAP-2 (smoke generation), AFAP-3 (toxicity of fire effluents), AFAP-4 (surface spread of flame) and AFAP-5 (heat release rate). None of this is written as a duty on a supplier; it is a duty on the nation. Read together, the five AFAPs are what let a material pre-selected under one nation's programme be assessed on the same basis as one pre-selected under another's.
A reader who only has STANAG 4602 in hand does not yet have a test method to run. The actual test methods and data-exchange arrangements are in AFAP-1 to AFAP-5 respectively. Unlike some STANAGs of this family, this one names no further background reading: under "Other related documents," the document states plainly, "None."
Edition 2 "supersedes the following document: STANAG 4602 Edition 1, November 2004." The document gives no reason for the revision beyond that statement, and this page does not invent one.
Nations are invited to report their effective implementation of the STANAG using the form at Annex H to AAP-03(J); partner nations report their adoption using the form at Annex G to AAP-03(J). The STANAG itself "is to be reviewed at least once every three years. The result of the review is recorded within the NSDD" - a check on whether the agreement is still current, not an audit of any organisation. The agreement is supervised by the CNAD Life Cycle Management Group (AC/327), with France, through Mr Laurent Dobigny of DGA/DT/ST/IP/ASN/ISVN, named as custodian.
STANAG 4602 sets out no test method or criterion of its own - that content sits entirely in AFAP-1 to AFAP-5. It also names no assessment or certification scheme of its own: the only stated check is that the STANAG itself is reviewed periodically, not that an organisation or a product is certified.
STANAG 4602 itself gives a supplier nothing to implement in software: it is an agreement between nations, and the testable content sits in AFAP-1 to AFAP-5. Where ComplyTrain fits is the paperwork trail behind whichever of the five AFAPs a contract actually invokes: documented pre-selection and testing procedures held as controlled documents, the test records and laboratory reports a material's fire performance is measured against, and training records showing the people specifying or reviewing that testing are competent and current.
ComplyTrain does not run a reaction-to-fire test, operate a testing laboratory, or decide which of the five AFAPs a given material needs to meet - that work sits with a test house and the programme's own engineering and quality functions, acting under whichever AFAP a contract invokes. What applies to a specific programme is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by this page. Our standards explorer shows what else sits alongside STANAG 4602 - if you are weighing up what a tender actually requires, we're glad to talk it through.
Tell us how you need to work with STANAG 4602 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
Thank you. Your list is on its way to your inbox, and we will come back to you on what working with these standards in ComplyTrain involves, usually within one business day.
Not on its own. A STANAG binds a nation once that nation has ratified and implemented it, and it reaches a supplier only when a contract or tender names one of the five AFAPs it covers. Whether it applies to a given programme is a question for the contract, not for this page.
STANAG 4602 is the cover agreement: it commits nations to implement all five publications but contains no test method itself. AFAP-1 sets the pre-selection policy, and AFAP-2 to AFAP-5 are the individual test methods, for smoke generation, toxicity of fire effluents, surface spread of flame and heat release rate.
No. STANAG 4602 describes no certification or accreditation scheme. Its only stated check is a periodic review of the agreement's own currency, at least once every three years. NATO does not certify organisations or products against a STANAG.
Edition 2, dated 21 April 2015. The letter of promulgation states it supersedes STANAG 4602 Edition 1, November 2004.
Partner nations are separately invited to adopt the STANAG and to report their adoption using the form at Annex G to AAP-03(J), but adoption for a partner nation is voluntary rather than a ratification obligation.
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