STANAG 4764 safety and suitability assessment testing for mortar cartridges

What it is

What STANAG 4764 covers

STANAG 4764 is the NATO standardization agreement that brings AAS3P-23, Edition A into force: the Allied publication on safety and suitability for service (S3) assessment testing for mortar cartridges. A STANAG is not itself a technical specification: it is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement one, and the test programme itself sits in the Allied Publication it covers. This agreement responds to an interoperability requirement stated plainly in the document: "to enable nations to conduct planning and implementation of S3 assessment testing of mortar cartridges to enable appropriate evidence to be collected covering the entire life cycle." The stated objective of that testing programme is to "provide data to demonstrate that the munition will be 'safe for use'."

This is Edition 1, promulgated 23 March 2020. "This STANAG does not supersede any document."

Who ratifies it, and how it takes effect

The mechanism that matters here: a STANAG binds a nation, not a supplier. 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." Once ratified, the agreement is effective "upon receipt for use by the participating nations and NATO bodies." The document records no NATO Effective Date of its own; that field is marked "Not applicable." A mortar cartridge manufacturer meets AAS3P-23 only where a contract or a tender from a ratifying nation brings it in by name.

What ratifying nations agree to do

"Participating nations agree to implement the following standard": AAS3P-23, Edition A, which is where the S3 test methods themselves are set out, not in this STANAG. Beyond that, "ratifying nations agree to follow the guidance given in AAS3P-23(A), when defining the safety and suitability for service assessment testing for mortar cartridges," and "ratifying nations also agree to provide on demand the relevant safety and reliability information indicated in AAS3P-23(A) when transferring munitions to other NATO nations." The agreement frames the judgement behind all of this plainly: "risk may be assessed as the combined result of the likelihood of occurrence of a hazardous condition, the subsequent likelihood of occurrence of a mishap (given that the hazard exists), and the severity of the repercussions of the mishap on personnel, materiel, and the environment." That is a framing for how "safe for use" is judged, not a numeric threshold.

Reporting, review and related documents

National ratification responses are recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), and nations and NATO bodies report their implementation through NATO's electronic reporting tool. The STANAG is reviewed in line with AAP-03, with the result of that review recorded in the NSDD. Alongside AAS3P-23, the document names STANAG 4629 as related reading, the equivalent agreement covering AAS3P-01 for non-nuclear munitions generally, and cites AAP-03 as the directive its own review follows.

How it's evaluated

No certification exists here, and the document names none. What it describes is a national ratification, implementation and reporting cycle run through NATO's own machinery, alongside a safety test programme under AAS3P-23 that produces evidence about a munition, not an audit of an organisation. The periodic review the STANAG itself undergoes, carried out against AAP-03 with its result recorded in the NSDD, is a review of the agreement, not an assessment of a supplier.

Standards it references

• STANAG 4629Background
• AAP-03Background