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STANAG 7172

STANAG 7172 use of geomagnetic models

NATO member and partner nations bringing the World Magnetic Model into their military systems and geographic products

STANAG 7172 is NATO's agreement to bring AGeoP-24 into force, setting the World Magnetic Model as the standard geomagnetic model for military systems and geographic products.

Edition
3
Published
2017-03-16

What it is

STANAG 7172 is the NATO standardization agreement covering the use of geomagnetic models. Like every STANAG, it is not itself a technical specification: it is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement one, and here the specification is AGeoP-24, Edition A, the publication this STANAG brings into force.

What the agreement establishes

The aim of STANAG 7172 is to make the World Magnetic Model (WMM) NATO's preferred model of the Earth's magnetic field for military systems, and to standardise how it is used and how magnetic information is supplied on geographic products. The agreement frames this as an interoperability need: nations navigating "operating off the same map", whether by compass or by any Global Navigation Satellite System, need a common magnetic model or their geographic products stop agreeing with each other.

How it binds a nation

A STANAG binds a nation once that nation has ratified it, and STANAG 7172 is effective "upon receipt" and ready to be used by implementing nations and NATO bodies. Partner nations are invited to adopt it rather than obliged to ratify it. Ratification and a nation's own implementation are separate steps, and this document is addressed to nations and NATO bodies, not directly to a supplier: a supplier meets it only when a nation's resulting instructions, or a contract built on them, say so.

What implementation means

A nation is considered to have implemented STANAG 7172 once it has issued instructions to use the World Magnetic Model in its identified military systems - the ones that calculate the effect of the Earth's magnetic field - and to supply geomagnetic information on geographic products in the formats the agreement specifies. Nations report their implementation using the form in Annex H to AAP-03(J); partner nations report their adoption using Annex G to AAP-03(J). This edition supersedes an earlier edition of STANAG 7172, and the agreement is reviewed at least once every three years, with the outcome recorded in NATO's Standardization Document Database.

Where the detail lives

STANAG 7172 does not describe what the World Magnetic Model contains or how to apply it: that is AGeoP-24's job. This page covers the agreement to implement it, not the model itself.

How we help

STANAG 7172 is an operational agreement rather than a management system: the requirement it describes is a nation's instruction to use the World Magnetic Model in named systems, and evidence that the instruction was followed. Where a contract or a national instruction invokes AGeoP-24 or this STANAG, ComplyTrain helps hold the documentation that requirement generates: the instruction itself, the list of systems it applies to, records of the format checks it calls for, and the training or handover notes that show people followed it. That is the evidence trail a customer audit or a national reporting exercise looks for.

ComplyTrain does not calculate a magnetic model, configure a navigation system, or produce a geographic product; that work happens in the geospatial and engineering functions this agreement addresses. Explore how STANAG 7172 sits alongside the other standards a defence contract may invoke, or talk to us about the evidence a quality clause like this expects.

Standards it references

Questions

Is STANAG 7172 mandatory?

Only through a nation's own ratification and whatever contract or instruction implements it. A STANAG binds the nations that ratify it, not a supplier directly; the tier that applies to a given contract is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause.

What does STANAG 7172 actually cover?

The agreement itself covers the commitment to use the World Magnetic Model and to standardise how magnetic information appears on geographic products. It brings AGeoP-24, Edition A into force as the publication that carries the technical detail; STANAG 7172's own text does not describe that detail.

Can a company be certified to STANAG 7172?

No. The document names no certification body and no accreditation scheme. What it describes is nations reporting their own ratification and implementation status to the NATO Standardization Office, recorded in the NSDD.

Who looks after STANAG 7172?

It is supervised under NATO's Military Committee Joint Standardization Board and Joint Geospatial Standards working group, with the United Kingdom as custodian.