scope:

Purpose.

The purpose of this JOTP is to guide personnel involved in the planning and implementation of S3 assessment testing of ammunition to enable appropriate evidence to be collected covering the entire life cycle. The objective of the safety test program defined by this JOTP is to provide data to demonstrate that the ammunition will be "safe for use", as defined in JOTP-001, throughout the potential deployment possibilities in NATO service.

Application.

The guidance provided in this JOTP is applicable to NATO, multi-national collaborative and national acquisition of Mortar Cartridges. The munitions covered by this JOTP include mortar cartridges as defined in Section 3 of this document. The categories of mortar cartridges covered by this JOTP are high explosive, smoke, illumination, less-than-lethal, inert and training cartridges. Cartridge unique hazards such as white phosphorous shall be considered in the detailed tests plans. This document excludes safety testing of weapons or fuzes.

This JOTP assumes that there has been considerable engineering design and development conducted prior to S3 qualification, and that there is a high expectation of successful safety qualification. This body of evidence should be used during the Preliminary Design Assessment and Hazard Analysis to determine if tailoring of the testing recommended within this standard is necessary. The tailoring shall be carried out as described in paragraph 6.5.

Limitations.

This JOTP is not intended to be used in the assessment of effectiveness, reliability or performance of a munition unless failure to be reliable or to perform effectively is deemed to represent a direct and immediate safety hazard to the user or other personnel. However, the data may be used in support of effectiveness, reliability, or performance assessment. This document does not define the In-Service Surveillance or Stockpile Reliability test requirements; however, the data may be used in the support of planning for these requirements. Refer to AR 702-6, AR 702-12, AR 740- 1, STANAG 4675, AOP-62, AOP-63, and AOP-64 for further guidance. This document is not intended to address nuclear munitions.