NATO AASTP-1 PDF

Purpose and Scope of the Manual

The primary purpose of this manual is to establish conventional military ammunition and explosives¹ safety principles and guidelines for NATO Nations. These standards, agreed to by NATO’s explosives safety technical experts, have been developed for two main reasons. Firstly, to be used as a guide between host countries and NATO forces for munitions storage areas (facilities, depots). Secondly, these guidelines are intended to form the basis of national regulations as far as possible.

Although the storage of ammunition is emphasized throughout this manual, it should be noted that it includes other ammunition life-cycle aspects that are related to storage, such as maintenance, surveillance, transportation and disposal.

This manual cannot address all situations nor provide the answers to all issues which may arise. In circumstances where the answer is not provided the problem should be submitted to the Secretary of the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) Ammunition Safety Group (CASG), AC/326.

This manual is in four parts:

a. Part I, General Principles and Guidelines for all Explosives Storage and Quantity Distance (QD) Tables for Above Ground Storage;

b. Part II, Explosives Storage Magazine Design and Operational Guidelines for Explosives Facilities;

c. Part III, Underground Explosives Storage, and;

d. Part IV, Special Situations .

Since this manual provides guidelines rather than a set of mandatory regulations the words "must", "should" "may/can" and "is/are" are used in the following sense:

MUST Indicates a technical requirement which is vital for safety and the avoidance of a catastrophe.

SHOULD Indicates a safety requirement which is important but not essential.

MAY/CAN Indicates optional courses of action and possibilities.

IS/ARE Indicates a fact or a valid technique.

¹ “Ammunition and explosives” is usually referred to as “munitions” in NATO terminology, but the terms may appear interchangeably throughout this publication.