NATO STANAG, AQAP and dual-use export controls resolved in 3 seconds.

STANAGs (Standardization Agreements) are NATO-wide interoperability standards agreed by member nations — they define minimum performance and interface requirements so equipment from different nations operates together. MIL-SPECs (US Military Specifications) are unilateral US DoD procurement documents specifying design, materials and manufacturing requirements for items procured by the US military. If your customer is a NATO prime contractor delivering to a multi-nation programme (e.g. Eurofighter, NH90, OCCAR-managed programmes), the applicable standard is the STANAG referenced in the contract Statement of Work (SOW). If you are supplying directly to the US DoD or a US prime under a Foreign Military Sale (FMS), MIL-SPECs apply. Many European Tier 1 suppliers must comply with both simultaneously — IgeraIndustria maps the overlap and identifies where a single process can satisfy both requirements without duplicate documentation.

AQAP-2110 (Edition 4, 2016) is the NATO quality assurance requirement for design, development and production. It builds on ISO 9001:2015 and adds mandatory requirements that commercial ISO 9001 does not cover: (1) a Quality Plan (QP) specific to the contract, agreed with the Government Quality Assurance Representative (GQAR); (2) configuration management aligned with STANAG 4159; (3) first article inspection (FAI) requirements aligned with AS9102; (4) nonconformance reporting to the GQAR — some NCs require government approval before use-as-is disposition; (5) concession and deviation control with government notification obligations; (6) preservation, packaging and marking to military specifications. For components supplied under AQAP-2110, the supplier quality management system must be assessed by a NATO accredited certification body — not just any ISO 9001 registrar. IgeraIndustria retrieves the specific AQAP-2110 clause requirements and maps them to your existing ISO 9001 system.

EU Regulation 2021/821 (recast) defines dual-use items in Article 2(1) as items — including software and technology — that can be used for both civil and military purposes. The Regulation applies to items listed in Annex I (Common Military List equivalent for dual-use), which mirrors the Wassenaar Arrangement control lists covering: (1) Advanced Materials (Category 1), (2) Materials Processing (Category 2), (3) Electronics (Category 3), (4) Computers (Category 4), (5) Telecommunications (Category 5), (6) Sensors and Lasers (Category 6), (7) Navigation and Avionics (Category 7), (8) Marine (Category 8), (9) Aerospace and Propulsion (Category 9). A key Article 4 catch-all clause allows member states to require authorisation for non-listed items if the exporter has reason to believe they could contribute to WMD programmes. Exporters must conduct an end-use check for all dual-use items regardless of whether an export licence is required. IgeraIndustria retrieves the specific Annex I entry, control reason and applicable EU General Export Authorisations (EU001-EU008) for your product.

The US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) control items on the US Munitions List (USML), which is divided into 21 Categories (I to XXI). Key categories for European industrial suppliers: Category I (Firearms); Category IV (Launch vehicles, guided missiles — critical for space and missile defence primes); Category VI (Vessels of war — naval programmes); Category VIII (Aircraft — any military aircraft, UAVs, aircraft engines including dual-use gas turbine components); Category XI (Military electronics — radar, EW systems); Category XII (Fire control, range finder, optical systems); Category XV (Spacecraft and related articles — critical for satellite programmes); Category XIX (Gas turbine engines). The determination of whether your item falls under ITAR (USML) or EAR (Commerce Control List, CCL) requires a commodity jurisdiction (CJ) determination request to the US State Department DDTC if there is ambiguity. ITAR controls apply to the item, its technical data and defence services — including sharing technical data with non-US persons (deemed export). IgeraIndustria identifies the applicable USML category based on product description and flags deemed export obligations for your engineering team.

ASD S1000D is the international specification for the procurement and production of technical publications for military and civil aviation equipment. Issue 5.0 (2019) is the current baseline for most NATO programmes. S1000D structures technical information as Common Source Data Modules (CSDMs) stored in a Common Source Database (CSDB) — not as traditional document files. Key data module types: Descriptive (describe system/component), Procedural (maintenance tasks), Fault isolation (troubleshooting), Illustrated Parts Data (IPD), Wiring data. The Business Rules Exchange (BREX) module defines the programme-specific rules that constrain which S1000D elements are permitted — suppliers must comply with the customer BREX before authoring. Applicability filtering allows one CSDB to serve multiple aircraft/system variants. For UK MoD programmes, JSP 886 Volume 4 defines the S1000D contractual baseline alongside DEF STAN 00-600. IgeraIndustria retrieves the specific data module schema requirements, BREX constraints and applicability coding rules for your programme.

NATO uses a four-level classification system: COSMIC TOP SECRET (CTS) — highest level, unauthorised disclosure would cause exceptionally grave damage to NATO; NATO SECRET (NS) — serious damage; NATO CONFIDENTIAL (NC) — damage; NATO RESTRICTED (NR) — disadvantageous. UNCLASSIFIED NATO (NU) information has no classification but is still controlled. Industrial suppliers handling NATO classified information must hold a Facility Security Clearance (FSC) at the appropriate level, granted by the national security authority (in Spain: CNI; UK: UKSV). Personnel accessing classified information must hold a Personnel Security Clearance (PSC). Physical and IT security requirements are defined in STANAG 4422 (physical security) and STANAG 4785 (Cyber/IT security for NATO CIS). The NATO Industrial Security Directive (C-M(2002)49) governs the industrial security programme. Key obligations: need-to-know access control, transmission with classified coversheet, destruction certificates for no-longer-needed copies, incident reporting within 24 hours to the national security authority and NATO. IgeraIndustria maps the specific handling, storage and transmission requirements by classification level for your programme security instructions (PSI).