STANREC 4800 NATO education and training network federation object model

What it is

A recommendation, not an obligation

STANREC 4800 is a NATO Standardization Recommendation on the NATO Education and Training Network - Federation Object Model (NETN-FOM). As with every STANREC, the distinction that matters most is in its name: unlike a STANAG, it does not commit a nation to ratify anything. NATO's own text is explicit that "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)" - an invitation, not a ratification obligation. Nothing in this document creates a duty for a supplier to sign up to directly.

What it recommends

The document's aim is to "list recommended practices regarding: common information exchange data model for developing interoperable federated and distributed simulation systems applicable to Computer Assisted eXercises (CAX), Distributed Synthetic Training (DST) and distributed modelling and simulation in general." Its recommendation is a single Allied Publication: AMSP-04, Edition C, the standard that actually defines the NETN-FOM object model. The document names two families of related reading alongside it: STANAG 4603, on modelling and simulation architecture standards for technical interoperability (High Level Architecture, HLA), and the SISO RPR FOM suite - SISO-STD-001, the guidance and rationale document, and SISO-STD-001.1, the Real-Time Platform Reference FOM standard itself. None of these is described as a prerequisite; they are named as adjacent reading, not as something that must already be in place.

A substantial rebuild, not a reissue

This is Edition 3, and it supersedes "STANREC 4800, Edition 2, dated 26 March 2021." The letter of promulgation is specific that the change is not cosmetic: "the changes include a major restructuring with new modules using the latest High Level Architecture (HLA) Federation Object Model (FOM) modelling principles and techniques," with the full list of changes held in AMSP-04's own section 1.2. An organisation already building to Edition 2's object model has real modules to re-map, not a paperwork update.

Where the actual requirements live

STANREC 4800 has no clauses of its own to audit against. Nations and NATO bodies are asked to "provide feedback to the NSO on the use of Allied standards covered by a STANREC," and the document itself "is to be reviewed in accordance with AAP-03," with the result recorded in the NATO Standardization Documents Database. That review checks the recommendation's own currency, not an organisation, and the testable content - the object model's modules and interfaces - sits inside AMSP-04, not here.

Standards it references

• STANAG 4603Background