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STANREC 4785
NATO nations and NATO bodies deciding whether to apply AEP-4785's small arms suppressor test procedures on a weapons programme
STANREC 4785 is NATO's non-binding recommendation that nations use AEP-4785's test procedures for small arms suppressors; adoption is voluntary, not required.
STANREC 4785 is a NATO Standardization Recommendation, Edition 2, on test procedures for small arms suppressors. A STANREC is built the same way a STANAG is, with one difference that matters: a STANAG is an agreement nations ratify, a STANREC is a recommendation they are free to take up. This one sets out recommended practices for "test procedures and data presentation" concerning "small arms signature suppressors," and points nations to AEP-4785 rather than defining test methods of its own.
The only standard STANREC 4785 recommends is AEP-4785, across four volumes: Volume I Edition B, Volume II Edition A, Volume III Edition A, and Volume IV Edition A. A fifth volume, Edition A, appears in the RECOMMENDATION list too, marked "study draft" - not yet a published standard. This edition, promulgated 30 August 2021, replaces an earlier one: "This STANREC supersedes the following document: STANREC 4785, Edition 1, dated 31 August 2016."
STANREC 4785 also points to the NATO D14 Handbook on Evaluation Procedures for Future NATO Small Arms Weapon Systems (AC/225(DSS)-D(2018)0006), noting that it "outlines various small arms tests that should be repeated when suppressor is added to a weapon system." The tests it lists span areas including kinematic analysis, accuracy and consistency, endurance, climatic extremes, recoil measurement, rough handling, chemical effects on weapons, interchangeability and human factors engineering. The trigger STANREC 4785 describes is adding a suppressor to a weapon system, not a fixed point on a design calendar.
STANREC 4785 is supervised under the authority NATO's own record names for it: CNAD, AC/225 NAAG, LCGDSS. It "is to be reviewed in accordance with AAP-03," with the result "recorded within the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD)."
STANREC 4785 addresses "Member or partner nations and NATO bodies," not a supplier or manufacturer directly. It binds nobody by itself: nations "are invited to use the Allied standard(s) covered by the STANREC and to provide feedback to the NSO on the use of the covered Allied standard(s)." Whatever obligation a test house or manufacturer meets comes from a nation's own procedure or a contract that separately invokes AEP-4785, not from this STANREC existing. It is a NATO non-classified document, "to be handled in accordance with C-M(2002)60," and free of charge.
STANREC 4785 names no certification body, no government quality assurance arrangement, no notified body, and no self-declaration scheme. The only assessment it describes is aimed at the document itself - the periodic AAP-03 review above - not at an organisation, a test house, or a suppressor. Whatever review a supplier's test results actually get is set by whichever nation, customer or contract requires AEP-4785 on a given programme, and that review sits outside this STANREC entirely.
STANREC 4785 is a cover document. The suppressor test procedures it points to live in AEP-4785's four volumes, and the work of running them - the range and laboratory testing for accuracy, endurance, recoil, climatic extremes and rough handling - happens in a test house's own facility, not inside a compliance tool. What ComplyTrain supports is the documentation trail that work needs regardless of which weapon system the suppressor is being added to: the procedure describing which AEP-4785 volumes and test categories apply; the training record showing the people running the tests were briefed on the applicable procedures; the record of when each test ran and against which edition; and the audit trail of when STANREC 4785 itself was last reviewed.
ComplyTrain does not run the range or laboratory tests, does not perform the accuracy, endurance or climatic testing AEP-4785 describes, and does not decide whether a suppressor's results meet a customer's specification. The applicable tier on any given contract is set by the customer's quality clause, not by us - explore the related standards this STANREC sits alongside, or talk to us about the documentation a suppressor test programme needs to hold up under review.
Tell us how you need to work with STANREC 4785 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
Thank you. Your list is on its way to your inbox, and we will come back to you on what working with these standards in ComplyTrain involves, usually within one business day.
No. It is a recommendation, not an agreement nations ratify. The document states that nations "are invited to use" the Allied standard it covers, language of invitation rather than obligation. Any requirement a test house or manufacturer meets comes from a contract or a nation's own procedure that separately invokes AEP-4785, not from the STANREC itself.
A STANAG is an agreement NATO nations ratify, with reservations possible on implementation. A STANREC recommends a practice without asking for that commitment. STANREC 4785 recommends AEP-4785's test procedures; it does not ratify them.
Four volumes of one publication: AEP-4785 Volume I Edition B, Volume II Edition A, Volume III Edition A, and Volume IV Edition A, covering test procedures and data presentation for small arms suppressors. A fifth volume appears in the text as a study draft, not yet a published standard.
No certification, government surveillance, or notified-body scheme is named in the document. The only review it describes is of the STANREC's own currency under AAP-03, not an assessment of an organisation, a test house or a suppressor.
The document does not itself describe what changed. It states only that this edition, promulgated 30 August 2021, "supersedes the following document: STANREC 4785, Edition 1, dated 31 August 2016."
No. NATO standardization documents are free of charge; STANREC 4785 is not sold by NATO or by us.
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