NATO seeks to unify military weapons standards

The North Atlantic Alliance has promised to develop common standards for military equipment to simplify communication between member states and solve a problem that has plagued the Alliance for decades.

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This will allow the armies of NATO's 32 countries to work better together by establishing common rules for equipment and weapons: artillery, ammunition, aircraft, heavy equipment, etc.

"Standards are crucial to our ability to fight together, and more robust standards will help reduce defence costs," said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after two days of meetings with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

This issue has been on NATO's agenda since its founding 75 years ago, but has become more acute since Russia's war against Ukraine in 2022.

For example, when weapons came from NATO member states to Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers soon discovered that the 155mm shells provided could not always be used in field systems.

"The Dutch shell did not fit in the German gun," a Ukrainian diplomat said last year.

However, there is now movement for the better: almost 10 member states, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, have signed a letter of intent to strengthen common standards. NATO nations will also task Rutte with developing proposals "to modernise the entire NATO standardisation process" by February.

By the way, the Alliance has about 2,000 "standards", some of which relate to such procedures.

Source: The Defence Post