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NATO Stock Number
A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number (NSN) as it is known in the U.S., is a 13-digit numeric code used by the NATO military alliance, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all member states of NATO. Pursuant to the NATO Standardization Agreements, the NSN has come to be used in all treaty countries. However, many countries that use the NSN program are not members of NATO (e.g. Japan, Australia and New Zealand). A two-digit Material Management Aggregation Code (MMAC) suffix may also be appended, to denote asset end use but it is not considered part of the NSN.
In France it is known as a Numéro de Nomenclature OTAN (NNO), or "NATO Identification Number". In Spanish-speaking countries it is known as a Número Nacional de Efecto (NNE), or "National Item Number".
An item having an NSN is said to be "stock-listed".
The NATO Stock Number consists of the NATO Supply Class (NSC or FSC) and the National Item Identification Number (NIIN). However the NIIN alone uniquely identifies the item, the FSC merely adds context by indicating the general classification of the item. The format of an NSN might be described as follows:
abcd-ef-ghi-jklm
Each element, a through m, was originally intended to be a single decimal digit. As inventories grew in complexity, element g became alphanumeric, beginning with uppercase A for certain newly added items. By 2000, uppercase C was in use.
The initial subgroup, abcd, is the Federal Supply Classification Group (FSCG) or National Supply Classification Group (NSCG). In theory, similar items would always have closely related numbers in this section of the NSN, no matter how the section is referred to. As the number of items has steadily increased and the system has become more complicated, it has not always been possible to keep similarity in numbers when the items are similar.
The nine digits, ef-ghi-jklm, comprise the NIIN (National Item Identification Number). This format improves readability but is optional as NIINs are often listed without hyphens.
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NATO Stock Number
A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number (NSN) as it is known in the U.S., is a 13-digit numeric code used by the NATO military alliance, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all member states of NATO. Pursuant to the NATO Standardization Agreements, the NSN has come to be used in all treaty countries. However, many countries that use the NSN program are not members of NATO (e.g. Japan, Australia and New Zealand). A two-digit Material Management Aggregation Code (MMAC) suffix may also be appended, to denote asset end use but it is not considered part of the NSN.
In France it is known as a Numéro de Nomenclature OTAN (NNO), or "NATO Identification Number". In Spanish-speaking countries it is known as a Número Nacional de Efecto (NNE), or "National Item Number".
An item having an NSN is said to be "stock-listed".
The NATO Stock Number consists of the NATO Supply Class (NSC or FSC) and the National Item Identification Number (NIIN). However the NIIN alone uniquely identifies the item, the FSC merely adds context by indicating the general classification of the item. The format of an NSN might be described as follows:
abcd-ef-ghi-jklm
Each element, a through m, was originally intended to be a single decimal digit. As inventories grew in complexity, element g became alphanumeric, beginning with uppercase A for certain newly added items. By 2000, uppercase C was in use.
The initial subgroup, abcd, is the Federal Supply Classification Group (FSCG) or National Supply Classification Group (NSCG). In theory, similar items would always have closely related numbers in this section of the NSN, no matter how the section is referred to. As the number of items has steadily increased and the system has become more complicated, it has not always been possible to keep similarity in numbers when the items are similar.
The nine digits, ef-ghi-jklm, comprise the NIIN (National Item Identification Number). This format improves readability but is optional as NIINs are often listed without hyphens.