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STANAG 7106

STANAG 7106 breathing oxygen cross-servicing agreement

Aviation breathing oxygen suppliers and the manufacturers of aircraft and ground servicing equipment working to a contract that invokes STANAG 7106 or the AAGSP-02 publication it covers

STANAG 7106 is NATO's ratification agreement committing member nations to implement AAGSP-02 Edition A, the characteristics for breathing oxygen and the supply pressures, hoses and couplings used to cross-service NATO aircraft.

Edition
3
Published
2015-04-30

What it is

STANAG 7106 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering the characteristics of gaseous and liquid breathing oxygen, and the supply pressures, hoses and replenishment couplings used to cross-service NATO aircraft with it. This is Edition 3, promulgated 30 April 2015, superseding Edition 2 (NSA(AIR)0197-GGS/7106).

A STANAG is not the specification

A STANAG is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement a standard, not the technical specification itself. STANAG 7106's own text is short and administrative: an aim, a set of interoperability requirements, the standard it names, and the ratification, review and reporting machinery. The characteristics of the oxygen itself, and of the hoses, couplings and access clearances used to replenish it, are specified in a separate publication, AAGSP-02 Edition A, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement." Anyone actually specifying, producing or testing breathing oxygen, or designing the cross-servicing hardware, needs AAGSP-02's own text, not this cover agreement.

What it commits nations to

The stated interoperability requirements are to establish "the minimum acceptable characteristics for gaseous breathing oxygen and liquid breathing oxygen purchased or produced for cross-servicing NATO aircraft," to standardize the supply pressures, hoses, couplings and access clearance used to replenish gaseous oxygen systems, and to ensure the same minimum characteristics for the charging hoses, couplings and access clearance used "for the replenishment of aircraft liquid oxygen systems." Nations are encouraged to carry the agreement into their own instructions and specifications, so the point where it actually bites is wherever one of those documents references it, not a single fixed date.

Who it binds, and how

STANAG 7106 binds nations, not suppliers. It becomes binding on a given nation through ratification, which NATO records in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), and the document treats implementation as happening in separate parts: once a nation has issued national instructions for the oxygen itself to conform, has issued orders that "future aircraft gaseous oxygen charging systems will be in accordance with this agreement," and has issued orders "that its Ground Servicing Equipment shall comply with this agreement." Nations report their effective implementation using the form in Annex H to AAP-03(J); partner nations report their adoption using the form in Annex G to AAP-03(J). The agreement is supervised by the Military Committee Air Standardization Board (MCASB) and its Aircraft Gaseous Systems working group, and its custodian is Canada, through the Aircraft Gaseous Systems Working Group (GGSWG). A supplier meets STANAG 7106, or the AAGSP-02 characteristics it covers, only where a contract or tender says so - the document itself sets no obligation reaching a supplier directly.

How it's evaluated

STANAG 7106 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their ratification and implementation status for the record: "the national responses are recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD)." Nobody is "STANAG 7106 certified," and the document never uses that language. Where a supplier's breathing-oxygen or ground-servicing-equipment work does get checked against AAGSP-02's requirements, the assessor and the evidence required are set by the contract's own quality clause, not by this STANAG.

Standards it references

STANAG 7106 covers AAGSP-02, the Allied publication that carries the actual oxygen, pressure, hose and coupling characteristics. Its "Other Related Documents" also list STANAG 3198 (functional requirements of aircraft oxygen equipment and pressure suits), STANREC 3977 (manual of techniques of sampling and analysis of gases, covering AAGSP-05), STANAG 7146 (assignment of NATO code numbers to gases used in aircraft cross-servicing), and STANAG 7175 (definitions of safety zones and minimum separation distances for liquid oxygen), all of which inform rather than bind through this agreement. The cover also names STANAG 3976, STANAG 7046 and STANAG 7124 (lubricants, materials-compatibility and materials-use standards for oxygen systems), and ISO 725, ISO 1302, ISO 1465, ISO 3161 and ISO 8775 (thread, surface-texture and coupling-dimension standards), none of which are in our catalogue.

How we help

STANAG 7106 and the AAGSP-02 characteristics it covers are met in oxygen production and testing, and in aircraft and ground-servicing-equipment engineering work, not in a compliance platform: a supplier tests and certifies each batch of breathing oxygen, and an equipment manufacturer designs and inspects the couplings, hoses and charging systems used to cross-service NATO aircraft.

What ComplyTrain does for that kind of work generally is give a defence supplier one auditable place to hold the specification and inspection procedures, the training records for the people doing that work, and the evidence trail - non-conformances, corrective actions, document control - that a customer's quality representative or a government surveillance visit will ask to see.

ComplyTrain does not test breathing oxygen, inspect or machine a coupling, or design a Ground Servicing Equipment charging system. That work stays with the oxygen supplier, the equipment manufacturer and the national authority that assesses it, carried out against AAGSP-02's own text and the contract's own technical requirements.

Which STANAGs and Allied Publications actually apply to a given aircraft or ground-support programme is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. Browse the explorer to see what sits alongside STANAG 7106 and AAGSP-02, and talk to us about the evidence trail once you know which ones are in your contract.

Standards it references

Questions

Is STANAG 7106 mandatory?

Only where a nation has ratified and implemented it, and it reaches a supplier only where a contract or tender invokes it. Nations report their ratification and implementation to NATO through the NATO Standardization Document Database.

What is the difference between STANAG 7106 and AAGSP-02?

STANAG 7106 is the NATO ratification agreement; AAGSP-02 Edition A is the publication that actually sets the characteristics of breathing oxygen and the supply pressures, hoses and couplings used to cross-service NATO aircraft. Ratifying STANAG 7106 is how a nation commits to implement AAGSP-02.

Can a supplier be certified to STANAG 7106?

No. STANAG 7106 describes nations ratifying and reporting implementation to NATO, recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database. It describes no certification or audit scheme for a supplier or a product.

What changed between Edition 2 and Edition 3 of STANAG 7106?

The document states that Edition 3 supersedes STANAG 7106 Edition 2 (NSA(AIR)0197-GGS/7106). It does not itemise the individual changes.

How often is STANAG 7106 reviewed?

At least once every three years, with the result recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database. Nations and NATO bodies may propose changes at any time through a standardization proposal to the tasking authority.