Aerospace Council Procedures for Conversion of Military Standards

The SAE Aerospace Council has approved this process for the conversion of military standards into SAE standards. The conversion projects stem from government Preparing Activities (PA) that are releasing specifications and standards to Non Government Standards Bodies (NGSB). These procedures establish continuity among the SAE committees, and address two major concerns, technical equivalency and approval of the resultant SAE document.

Please note that DOD did not support changing the Preparing Activity or design authority to an NGSB. Their desire is to have the standards converted to the NGSB format and issued as an NGS. Similarly, the SAE cover sheet adoption process was unacceptable.

Supersession Information
Through the AIA Early Warning Project Group (EWPG), the aerospace industry has taken a firm position that the DOD cancellation notice should list a specific NGSB replacement document. This paper trail facilitates the procurement of material or other products to the appropriate follow-on standard. The government PA accomplishes this action, but may need reinforcement from the committee. Procedures are in place to acquire the cancellation notices for DOD standards converted into SAE documents.

Document Numbering
The primary purpose of controlling document numbering for the conversions is to minimize its impact on part numbers. Therefore, DOD standards converted to SAE standards will have an SAE number that consists of the appropriate SAE prefix and the DOD document number. The part numbering requirements within the document will not change.

Examples:

QQ-A-200 becomes AMS QQ-A-200 (federal spec)
MIL-H-83797 becomes AS83797 (mil spec)

Converted Document Approval by an Accelerated Process
The type of conversion will take place according the urgency of the transfer and number of the documents. Time permitting, many of the standards will follow the normal SAE consensus and review process. In cases where industry does not have sufficient time to evaluate and discuss the contents, an accelerated approval process provides for immediate transfer and conversion.

When the accelerated process is used, the resultant SAE document will be a word-for-word equivalent of the original to ensure technical equivalency of the converted standard. Editorial or administrative corrections for names, addresses, etc. will not be made in these documents.

Except for minor formatting, the only change in the first published version is a statement at the beginning of the converted standard which states that it is a word-for-word conversion of the DOD document. Standards with QPL requirements will have additional wording as indicated below. SAE staff will provide boiler plate wording appropriate to the standard.

Due to the word-for-word conversion, the resultant SAE standard can be approved at the committee level by either the committee chairman or a task group designated by the chairman. Committees will inform their respective division chairman when a conversion project is initiated and when the final document is published. This information will be part of the division report to council.

Committees requiring an exception to this process will present a proposal to the division chairman for consultation with SAE staff. Requests for exceptions or special requirements will be included in the division report to council. Revisions to the issued SAE standard are made by following the established SAE consensus process, and can be started at any time. The lineage of the SAE conversion is basically the paper trail from the government standard or specification to the SAE standard.

QPL Information
For legal reasons, SAE standards may not include or relate to the creation of a qualified products list. However, the converted standard may include requirements and procedures, but actual implementation of the QPL can only be included as a section or an attachment for historic reference. Standards approved using the accelerated process carry an introductory notice stating this information.

QPL information in the converted document will not be changed until a revision of the published SAE standard is made. The suggested time frame for this action is within three years after publication.

For convenience, a checklist outlining the process is also available.