What is DoDMIL Specs?

MIL Specs (also known as MIL-STD) are a set of militarystandards used by the U.S. Department of Defense to help achieve standardizationobjectives. MIL Specs are generally mandated to ensure that defense items meetspecific commonality requirements, total cost of ownership, consistency,compatibility with logistics systems, and similar defense-related objectives. In1994, the US Govt. had reduced the use of DoD MIL Specs for some time in favorof commercial standards such as Q9000. However, after 1995, a significantgrowth has been observed in the use of DoD Mil Specs especially after the DoDMIL Specs standard was revised to be used by non-defense Government andtechnical organizations. Hence, now other non-military organizations can alsouse the detailed DoD MIL Specs starting from design to manufacturing, andquality control to maintenance stages both for military as well as non-military-relatedproducts.

Today the detailed DoD MIL Specs are available on manywebsite as free downloadable versions. Usually on official government websitesthe DoD MIL Specs are freely downloadable only if public distribution ispermitted. However, proprietary standards developed by non-governmentorganizations are required to be purchased.

What is MIL-STD-129?

Of all the DoD MIL Specs standards, the MIL-STD-129 is oneof the most fundamental military standards required for uniform military products markingfor shipment and storage.  All militaryequipments and ammunitions supplied through shipments are mandated to be markedby a MIL-STD-129 standard compliant process. Separate instructions arespecified for tagging, marking and labeling.

 The DoD updates theMIL Specs standards on a timely basis. For instance, certain discrepancy waslately observed in the MIL-STD-129 standard. The marking system was not properas a result of which there was a problem for shipments at Consolidation andContainerization Points. Hence, an updated MIL-STD-129 with revision P wasintroduced on January 16, 2006. This subsequent standard suggested to accessDoD MIL Specs preferably from a Govt. website where comparison and cataloguenecessary to determine the updated MIL Specs are available.

As per the MIL-STD-129 standard, the requirement varies fordifferent types of shipment containers.

Criteria for UnitContainers:

Shelflife markings are a must for deteriorative items as per the MIL-STD-129standard. Apart from informing about the start of self life, the Markings giveindication about the date an item that needs to be tested or disposed of. ANational Stock Number (NSN) barcode is a must for unit containers. Other thanthat, part number, item description, date of preservation, quantity, contractnumber, unit of issue, and method of preservation code details are alsomandated to be listed in plain textual format.  A Serial Number should be assigned by themanufacturer or the Government for identification or control and should beassigned in clear barcode format.

Criteria forIntermediate Containers:

Thestandard for Intermediate Containers is similar to the unit containers exceptthe minor changes in serial number section. If the serial-numbered items aremore than five, the rules of exterior containers are applicable forintermediate containers.

Criteria for ExteriorContainers:

Evenas the basic labeling format is same as the unit containers, per the DoD MILSpecs, there are certain exceptions.  Onesuch exception is that the item description marking is not required here. Andthe CAGE Code, Contract Number and NSN are mandated to be in bar-coded format.