Endorsement of Test Centres is one of the short term actions in the Harmonisation of Ammunition Qualification Roadmap, which the European Defence Agency (EDA) presented to the Member States earlier this year. On 14-16 October 2013, EDA organised the first test centre visit to TNO in the Netherlands, with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
The main objective of the event was to build trust between test centre experts and to provide a better insight into the processes, expertise and methodologies used on the implementation of the ammunition qualification standards. This was the first of several planned visits to be conducted biennially to test centres within participating Member States. These visits provide test centre experts with a forum to share experiences and hands on working methodology.
This particular visit focused on testing of energetic materials, namely friction sensitivity, thermal analysis, pressure vacuum stability and ballistics. For the first time at European level, more than 30 government and industry experts conducted joint tests and exchanged views on the test results and outcomes. As a direct consequence, joint follow-on activities have been identified, enabling Member States to continue mutual cooperation on harmonising the ammunition qualification process and procedures.
The Endorsement of Test Centres complements other actions included in EDA’s Harmonisation of Ammunition Qualification roadmap, all aiming to improve European armed forces interoperability, enable more efficient Pooling & Sharing among Member States while in parallel reducing the overall ammunition acquisition cost. The next activity of this kind is planned to take place in Poland in April next year.
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