STANAG 4675 in-service surveillance of munitions

What it is

STANAG 4675 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering in-service surveillance (ISS) of munitions. Like every STANAG, it is not itself a technical specification: it is the mechanism by which NATO nations agree to implement one. The specification lives in the three Allied Ordnance Publications the agreement names, AOP-62(A), AOP-63(A) and AOP-64(A), and this page is about the agreement rather than their content, which is covered on their own pages.

Why the agreement exists

The document states its own purpose directly: it exists "to enable nations to conduct joint in service surveillance programmes of munitions." Rather than each nation building its own surveillance approach from nothing, participating nations agree to work to the same three publications, which makes joint programmes and the exchange of results between nations possible.

What ratifying nations commit to

Two commitments sit at the centre of the agreement. First, an assessment commitment: a ratifying nation agrees to follow the guidance in AOP-62(A), AOP-63(A) and AOP-64(A) when it assesses the safety and reliability of munitions already in service. Second, an information-sharing commitment between nations: a ratifying nation agrees to provide, on demand, the relevant safety and reliability information called for in those same three publications whenever it transfers munitions to another NATO nation. Neither commitment runs to a supplier directly. A STANAG binds a nation; the nation implements it domestically, and it reaches a contractor only where a tender or a contract requires work to be done under AOP-62(A), AOP-63(A) or AOP-64(A).

Ratification and implementation are separate steps here as with any STANAG, and a nation can do one without the other. Partner nations, outside NATO membership, are invited to adopt the agreement on a voluntary footing rather than a ratification one.

Which publications it covers

• AOP-62 - the first of the three publications the agreement covers.
• AOP-63 - the second.
• AOP-64 - the third.

All three are equally binding on a nation that has ratified and implemented STANAG 4675; the agreement does not rank them. The document separately names AOP-38, NATO's glossary of terms for munitions safety and suitability for service, as related reading rather than a covered or binding publication, and points to AAP-03 only for its reporting forms, covered below.

Reporting, review and who holds it

National decisions on ratification and implementation are recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), which is also where a nation's response is checked if there is ever a question about whether it has adopted the agreement. Beyond that, the STANAG asks for two kinds of active reporting: a nation reports its effective implementation on the form at Annex H to AAP-03(J), and a partner nation reports its adoption on the form at Annex G to the same publication.

The agreement itself is reviewed at least once every three years, with the outcome of that review also recorded in the NSDD, and any nation or NATO body can raise a proposed change with the tasking authority at any point for the next review to pick up. This is Edition 1, and it supersedes no earlier document. The tasking authority is the Conference of National Armaments Directors' Ammunition Safety Group (AC/326); the custodian nation is the United Kingdom.