scope:

This ITOP provides guidance for testing the ability of countermine and demining equipment to withstand natural and induced environments encountered during storage, transport, handling, use, or maintenance. These environments may be due directly or indirectly due to interaction with the environment, transport media, or battlefield stimuli. Based upon experience and engineering judgement, procedures may be altered to accommodate unique applications or deployment, delivery, or employment methods. This ITOP also provides guidance on performance, reliability, safety and human health, climatic suitability, transportation and handling, integrated logistic support, human factors, electromagnetic environmental effects (E3), vulnerability, and software.

In general, this procedure provides the structure necessary to determine whether an item is suitable for standard use (ready for production) and does not dictate how an item is to proceed through earlier developmental testing. Due to the advent of novel technologies, advancements in modelling and simulation, and increased sophistication of unique test support equipment, variations from sample sizes will be permitted in other related ITOPs referenced in the attached figures and spreadsheets. No sample sizes are suggested in this ITOP.