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STANAG 7191

STANAG 7191 air-to-air refuelling boom-receptacle interface requirements

Aircraft and refuelling equipment manufacturers working to a contract that invokes STANAG 7191 or the ATP-3.3.4.5 publication it covers

STANAG 7191 is NATO's ratification agreement committing member nations to the boom-receptacle interface requirements for air-to-air refuelling specified in ATP-3.3.4.5 Edition B.

Edition
2
Published
2022-06-16

What it is

STANAG 7191 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering the boom-receptacle interface requirements for air-to-air (aerial) refuelling equipment used by tanker and receiver aircraft of NATO forces. This is Edition 2, promulgated 16 June 2022, superseding STANAG 7191 Edition 1, dated 3 June 2013.

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 7191's own text is short and administrative: an aim, a single interoperability requirement, and the ratification, implementation and review machinery. The boom-receptacle interface requirements named in its title are specified in a separate publication, ATP-3.3.4.5 Edition B, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone actually designing, building or checking a boom-receptacle refuelling interface needs ATP-3.3.4.5's own text, not this cover agreement.

What it commits nations to

The single interoperability requirement reads in full: "To achieve and maintain the required compatibility among the interfaces required to engage in boom-receptacle refuelling operations, to facilitate air-to-air refuelling between aircraft of NATO forces." The document also names a set of related technical documents that sit alongside ATP-3.3.4.5: STANAG 3971 (covering the air-to-air refuelling publication ATP-3.3.4.2), STANAG 3447 (covering the probe-drogue interface publication ATP-3.3.4.6), the Joint Service Specification Guide JSSG-2009 for air vehicle subsystems, Military Standard MS-27604 for the universal aerial refuelling tanker boom nozzle, and an Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group document on aerial refuelling pressures.

Who it binds, and how

STANAG 7191 binds nations, not suppliers. A nation is considered to have implemented it "when a nation agrees to conform to the requirements of this standard and has issued instructions that future equipment developed or services contracted will be in accordance with the requirements detailed in the covered standard" - so a supplier meets it only where a contract or tender invokes ATP-3.3.4.5, not because the STANAG exists. The document also carries an exception for aircraft and refuelling equipment already in service, or already being procured or modified, before promulgation: a nation in that position must instead "identify the exceptions to the requirements detailed in the covered standard for these aircraft", rather than retrofit them. Reporting is not symmetric: Allies and NATO bodies "shall provide implementation details through the electronic reporting tool", a standing obligation, while partner nations "are invited to provide their implementation details through the electronic reporting tool", a lighter invitation for nations outside NATO membership. No NATO effective date is set (the document records it as "Not applicable").

How it's evaluated

STANAG 7191 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations reporting their ratification and implementation decisions to the NATO Standardization Office for the record, using its electronic reporting tool; nobody is "STANAG 7191 certified", and the document never uses that language. Where a supplier's actual boom-receptacle hardware does get checked against ATP-3.3.4.5's interface requirements - test reports, drawings, acceptance records - the assessor and the evidence required are set by the contract's own quality clause, not by this STANAG.

Standards it references

STANAG 7191 covers ATP-3.3.4.5, the Allied Tactical Publication that carries the actual boom-receptacle interface requirements. Its "Other Related Documents" also list STANAG 3971 (covering ATP-3.3.4.2, air-to-air refuelling) and STANAG 3447 (covering ATP-3.3.4.6, probe-drogue interface characteristics), plus the Joint Service Specification Guide JSSG-2009 for air vehicle subsystems, Military Standard MS-27604 for the universal aerial refuelling tanker boom nozzle, and an Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group document on aerial refuelling pressures, none of which sit in our catalogue. Nations report the review of this STANAG in accordance with AAP-03.

How we help

STANAG 7191 and the ATP-3.3.4.5 interface requirements it covers are met in aircraft design, manufacture and fleet management, not in a compliance platform: an engineer designs the refuelling boom or receptacle hardware to the specified interface, a manufacturer builds and tests it, and a quality department retains the records that prove the delivered equipment matches the applicable requirements and whatever the contract's quality clause demands.

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

ComplyTrain does not design refuelling equipment, test it, or determine whether a tanker or receiver aircraft's boom-receptacle interface meets ATP-3.3.4.5's requirements. That is aerospace engineering work, carried out against the publication itself and the contract's own technical requirements.

Which STANAGs and Allied Publications actually apply to a given aircraft or refuelling programme is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by us. Browse the explorer to see what sits alongside STANAG 7191 and ATP-3.3.4.5, and talk to us about the evidence trail once you know which ones are in your contract.

Standards it references

Questions

Is STANAG 7191 mandatory?

Only where a nation has ratified and implemented it, and it reaches a supplier only where a contract or tender invokes it. The document itself binds nations, not suppliers directly.

What is the difference between STANAG 7191 and ATP-3.3.4.5?

STANAG 7191 is the NATO ratification agreement; ATP-3.3.4.5 Edition B is the Allied Tactical Publication that actually specifies the boom-receptacle interface requirements. Ratifying STANAG 7191 is how a nation commits to implement ATP-3.3.4.5.

Can a company be certified to STANAG 7191?

No. STANAG 7191 describes nations reporting their ratification and implementation decisions to the NATO Standardization Office, recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database. It describes no certification or audit scheme for a supplier or a product.

Does STANAG 7191 apply to aircraft that already existed before this edition?

The document addresses this directly: a nation procuring or modifying aircraft with air-to-air refuelling equipment that existed before this agreement was promulgated must identify the exceptions to the requirements, rather than bring existing aircraft into automatic compliance.

What changed between the previous edition and Edition 2 of STANAG 7191?

The document states that this edition supersedes STANAG 7191 Edition 1, dated 3 June 2013, but it does not itself describe what changed between the two editions.