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NATO codification
end to end

  • Take a product from specs to a NATO stock number
  • Trials, acts and an expert defence of the file at the commission
  • Enter at the stage you've reached and pay only for what's left
  • For Ukrainian makers and for foreign systems tested in Ukraine

The problem

A catalogue entry and a NATO stock number are two separate procedures.

The number itself is free, and the formal review takes ten days. What takes months is the file behind it: registered specifications, a written test method, trials someone can defend, and acts that match the product as it ships.

A shortcut filing gets a product into a catalogue and then back to the start. Build the file once, correctly, and walk out of the commission with the number and the certificate.

The service

What the solution consists of

01
Readiness
Audit
What already exists, what is missing, and where the programme starts.
  • Items of supply: system, components, spares
  • Existing specs, trials and acts reviewed
  • Route: domestic catalogue or full NSN
  • Stage plan and timeline
Outcome
An entry point and a stage plan
02
Specs
& Method
Technical specifications developed, approved and registered, and a test method written against them.
  • Specifications drafted or corrected
  • Registration of the specifications
  • Test methodology
  • Design documentation to a European standard, where needed
Outcome
Registered specs and a defensible method
03
Trials
& Acts
Trials run to the method with a domain expert present, and the results written up as acts.
  • Mass and dimensional measurements
  • Range, flight, capacity or link-range trials
  • Expert present at every trial
  • Acts on the results
Outcome
Signed acts on measured results
04
Commission
& Number
The package filed, defended at the commission and taken through to the number.
  • Full package filed
  • Counsel and domain expert at the commission
  • Remarks closed, package resubmitted
  • NSN assigned, certificate issued
Outcome
A NATO stock number and certificate

The team

Codification is run by qualified domain experts.

Each class of product has its own expert: unmanned systems, aerostats, batteries and radios. The expert holds the qualifications the commission checks for, writes the documentation, attends the trials and answers for every figure in the file.

Defense counsel sits beside them on the contract. The commission hears why a trial was run the way it was and why the numbers read as they do, from the people who produced them.

Scope

From where you are to the number

Pick your starting point. The bench shows the stages still ahead of you and what comes back at the end.

Where you start
What is left
What comes out
A NATO stock number (NSN)
A codification certificate
Registered specs and test acts
A file that holds up in diligence
Delivered as
Number, certificate and full file
Timeline

Timelines are what the work takes in practice. They are fixed for your product at the readiness audit.

Routes

Which route fits the goal

Domestic catalogue

Specifications developed and registered, the product entered into the domestic catalogue, contracts signed with units. It sells at home, but it carries no NATO number.

About 1–1.5 months. Roughly half of the full procedure; the rest can follow later.

Full NATO codification

Specs, method, trials, acts and the commission, ending in a NATO stock number that places the item in the alliance catalogue where any member can identify and reorder it.

3–6 months from zero. Shorter from a later stage.

Test, then codify

For a foreign system: test and evaluation in Ukrainian conditions first, then the same trial data carried into a bilingual codification file.

One programme. The same trial data goes into the evaluation report and the codification file.

Process

Roadmap to the number

A typical six-month programme from zero. Stages overlap where the work allows; a product that already has registered specs or completed trials starts further along.

Month 1Month 2Month 3Month 4Month 5Month 6
—NCAGE company codeOnce per company, runs in parallel
~10 days
01SpecificationsDevelop, approve, register
02Test methodStarts on the draft specs
03TrialsMeasurements, range, expert present
04ActsWritten up as each trial closes
—Technical translationForeign products only
in parallel
—Design documentationTo a European standard, if scoped
in parallel
05Package & filingThen the system assigns a commission
waiting
06CommissionRemarks, rework, second sitting
1strework2nd
07NSN & certificateFinal demonstration, number assigned
Specs registered: start hereTrials done: start here
StageRuns in parallelWaiting on the systemRework after remarks
Stage 06A first commission usually returns remarks. There are two weeks to close them, then the package goes back for a second sitting. The law sets no limit on the number of submissions.
Required from the client
  • The product and the configuration it ships in
  • Existing specifications or design documentation, if any
  • Records of trials already run, including with units
  • Articles for the trials, with spares
  • A technical point of contact
  • For a foreign product, the source documentation in English

The deliverable

A number, a certificate and the file behind them

The item goes into the NATO catalogue under its own stock number, backed by a file that an allied buyer, a prime or an investor can open and check.

  • Registered technical specifications
  • Test methodology
  • Trial records and signed acts
  • The full commission package
  • The commission record and closed remarks
  • NATO stock number and certificate
  • Design documentation to a European standard, where scoped
  • For a foreign product, the package in both languages
CODIFICATION CERTIFICATE ITEM OF SUPPLY NATO STOCK NUMBER 1550 61 XXX XXXX CLASS · BUREAU · ITEM NUMBER FILE Specifications registered Test method Trial acts signed Commission remarks closed STATUS CODIFIED · IN THE NATO CATALOGUE NCB 61 ILLUSTRATIVE · NOT A REAL NUMBER

Where the cost comes down

Work you have already done lowers the price

Your own specs

Write the specifications yourself

Draft the specs in-house; they are corrected against the method and registered. The most labour-heavy stage becomes the cheapest one.

Your own trials

Run the trials yourself

Trials you already ran, including with units under your own arrangement, are written into a method and acts, with no repeat trials.

A portfolio

Codify several products at once

Three or more products from one company go at a lower rate per product, because the company-level work is done once.

The component

Codify the component once

A component supplied as a separate item, such as a gimbal, a battery or an aerostat envelope, can carry its own number. Every platform it goes into then references it.

Pricing

Priced per product

Quoted per product and per stage still ahead. Stages already done are not charged.

Readiness Audit
Fixed fee

Credited into the programme.

Per product
Package price

Set by the stages still ahead of the product.

Portfolio
Lower rate

Three or more products from one company.

Single stage
Stage quote

Specs only, or acts and commission only.

Request a quote

FAQ

Common questions

From zero, three months at best and up to six in practice, across seven stages of roughly a month each. Registered specifications take a month to a month and a half off that; trials already run take off about another month. The timeline for your product is fixed at the readiness audit.
The ten days is the formal clock, and it is real: under the 2026 rules it runs from the moment the state customer receives the specifications. Everything that makes the package pass comes before that clock starts: the specifications, the test method, the trials, the acts and a commission that accepts them. That preparation is where the months go.
No. Registering specifications and entering the product into the domestic catalogue of defense and dual-use products takes about a month to a month and a half, and it lets you contract with units at home. It does not produce a NATO stock number. It is roughly half the full procedure, and the rest can be added later without starting over.
It usually does, the first time. The commission returns specific remarks and gives about two weeks to close them; the package is corrected and resubmitted, followed by a final check such as lifting the drone or showing battery load or link range. The law sets no limit on the number of submissions. Once the commission agrees, the number is assigned within about two weeks and the certificate is issued.
A component can be codified if it is supplied as a separate item, as each item of supply carries its own number. A stabilised camera gimbal, a battery or an aerostat envelope can be codified apart from the platform or payload it goes with. After that, every drone, ground vehicle or boat that integrates it cites the number without codifying it again. Whether a specific component qualifies is settled at the audit.
No. Filing is electronic and the commission is assigned by the system. What moves the date is a package that passes, and the two-week rework loop when it comes back with remarks.
For the method, the acts and the commission. Trials already run, in-house or with units under your own arrangement, are written up into a method and acts and not repeated.
Where the item is supplied into Ukraine, yes: Ukraine runs its own codification bureau at Tier 2 and the number lands in the same NATO catalogue. The package is bilingual. The translation has to be certified and done by a translator qualified in technical translation for that language pair; a general translator is a common point of failure. The natural sequence is to test and evaluate the system in Ukraine first and carry the same trial data into the codification file.
Yes, and it lowers the cost. Some makers write their own specifications, which are then corrected and registered. Others run their own trials, sometimes with units under their own arrangement, and the trials are written into a method and acts. You pay for the stages that are still ahead of you.
It doesn't need to. Brave1 supports codification for companies in its ecosystem, and that route works. This one runs independently, with its own counsel and domain experts, and ends in the same number and certificate. Which route fits depends on where the company already is, and the audit says so.
No. An NSN tells an allied buyer which item this is and lets them stock and reorder it. It does not replace an export permit, a quality certification or a contract. Those are separate layers, built alongside codification as part of export-readiness.
It depends on three things: how far along the product already is, how many products go through at once, and what the product is. Stages already done, such as registered specifications or trials run with units, are not charged; several products from one company go at a lower rate per product; a component is usually a shorter programme than a complete system. The figure for your product comes out of the readiness audit.

Next step

Submit a product for codification

Describe the product and what already exists: specifications, trials, acts. You get back an entry point, a stage plan and an indicative timeline, all under NDA.

Reply under NDA defense@wiseboard.me

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