South Korea has established its first institutional framework allowing domestic defense companies to obtain NATO standards, a move aimed at improving the interoperability of their weapons systems with those of the alliance.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said on the 24th that it had enacted guidelines on the provision and management of NATO standards, laying out procedures and security rules under which domestic companies, research institutes and government agencies can request and receive the standards.
NATO standards are criteria used to ensure interoperability of weapons systems among member states and to apply in certification and testing. They cover performance benchmarks and testing procedures for military supplies such as weapons systems and ammunition.
Under the guidelines, DAPA will obtain unclassified standards through NATO's online database and provide them, while classified standards will be supplied after receiving NATO's disclosure approval. The guidelines also set follow-up management rules, including security requirements, for institutions that receive the standards.
Until now, there were no procedures for requesting and providing standards or rules for managing them, forcing exporters to obtain the information informally through government-to-government channels or via local firms and government agencies.
DAPA expects the guidelines to help defense firms enter the NATO market and to diversify both export items and destination countries. It projected that the guidelines would particularly help expand exports to NATO from finished products toward parts made at local production facilities in countries such as Poland and Romania.
"We have laid the groundwork to provide NATO standards more quickly and systematically," DAPA Commissioner Lee Yong-cheol said. "This will make a substantial contribution to expanding our entry into the NATO defense market."
