STANAG 7239 automated air-to-air refuelling (A3R)

What it is

STANAG 7239 is the NATO Standardization Agreement covering automated air-to-air refuelling (A3R), the guidance commanders and their staffs use for planning, coordinating and executing this kind of refuelling. This is Edition 1, promulgated 14 October 2021, and "this STANAG does not supersede any document", so there is no earlier edition to compare it against.

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 7239's own text is short and administrative: an aim, a single interoperability requirement, and the ratification, implementation and review machinery. The actual guidance on planning, coordinating and executing automated air-to-air refuelling sits in a separate publication, ATP-3.3.4.10 Edition A, which the STANAG names as the standard participating nations "agree to implement". Anyone actually designing or directing an automated air-to-air refuelling system needs ATP-3.3.4.10's own text, not this cover agreement.

What it commits nations to

The single interoperability requirement reads in full: "Operational NATO STANAG providing guidance to commanders and their staffs on planning, coordination, and execution of automated air-to-air refuelling." The document also names four related NATO publications that sit alongside ATP-3.3.4.10: STANAG 7207 (covering the wider air transport and air-to-air refuelling doctrine, ATP-3.3.4), STANAG 3971 (covering air-to-air refuelling, ATP-3.3.4.2), STANAG 7191 (covering the boom-receptacle system and interface requirements, ATP-3.3.4.5) and STANAG 3447 (covering probe-drogue interface characteristics, ATP-3.3.4.6), plus AAP-03, the directive governing the production, maintenance and management of NATO standardization documents.

Who it binds, and how

STANAG 7239 binds nations, not suppliers. It "is implemented when the doctrine applied in NATO's operational-level command and control structures to conduct operations will be in accordance with the contents detailed in the covered standard" - a matter of a nation's own doctrine and command structure, not a design-stage compliance date fixed by this document. Once implemented, "Allies and NATO bodies shall provide implementation details through the electronic reporting tool (e-Reporting)", while "Partner nations are invited to provide their implementation details through the electronic reporting tool" rather than being obliged to. Nations are separately "invited to examine their ratification of the STANAG" and report their ratification decisions, which are recorded in the NATO Standardization Document Database.

How it's evaluated

STANAG 7239 describes no certification scheme and no audit. What it describes is nations and NATO bodies reporting their implementation to NATO through the electronic reporting tool; nobody is "STANAG 7239 certified", and the document never uses that language. Where a nation's actual automated air-to-air refuelling capability is checked in practice, the assessor and the evidence required are set by ATP-3.3.4.10 and whatever contract or programme invokes it, not by this STANAG.

Standards it references

STANAG 7239 covers ATP-3.3.4.10, the Allied Tactical Publication that carries the actual guidance on planning, coordinating and executing automated air-to-air refuelling. Its "Other Related Documents" also list STANAG 7207 (covering ATP-3.3.4, the wider air transport and air-to-air refuelling doctrine), STANAG 3971 (covering ATP-3.3.4.2, air-to-air refuelling), STANAG 7191 (covering ATP-3.3.4.5, the boom-receptacle system) and STANAG 3447 (covering ATP-3.3.4.6, the probe-drogue interface), plus AAP-03, the directive for producing and managing NATO standardization documents.

Standards it references

• AAP-03Background
• STANAG 7207Background
• ATP-3.3.4Background
• STANAG 3971Background
• ATP-3.3.4.2Background
• STANAG 7191Background
• ATP-3.3.4.5Background
• STANAG 3447Background
• ATP-3.3.4.6Background