STANAG 6022 – Adoption of a Standard Gridded Data Meteorological Message is a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...

Standardization Agreement In NATO, a standardization agreement (STANAG, redundantly: STANAG agreement) defines processes, procedures, terms, and conditions for common military or technical procedures or equipment between the member countries of the alliance. Each NATO st ...

for gridded meteorological data for operational use in

Artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, ...

fire control systems, NBC Automated Warning, Reporting and Prediction Systems (NBC AWRAPS), and various computer-based Battlefield (or Tactical) Decision Aids (BDAs). The message format is referred to as METGM.

Utility

STANAG 6022 is the latest step in artillery meteorological messaging, which provides for gridded meteorological data. This means that instead of using a single

Radiosonde A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calculat ...

ascent capturing local data over a short time period, and circulating that information using older formats, such as the Standard Computer Meteorological message (METCM) under

STANAG 4082 STANAG 4082 - Adoption of a Standard Artillery Computer Meteorological Message (METCM) is a NATO Standardization Agreement to provide meteorological information for External ballistics. The information consists of virtual temperature, pressure, an ...

, it provides a grid of data in four dimensions – vertical, two horizontal and time. The METGM is compiled from many data sources in Weather Analysis Centres (WACs). The data is no longer directly human readable in

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

text, like METCM was, and thus it can not be distributed by voice. Data communications are used transfer the METGM to a fire control computer. A METGM approach can thus reduce or remove the need for local data acquisition for some communities. The format allows meteorological data to be published for a grid of any defined size / resolution containing only those parameters specifically requested by users. Thus, it can be used to pass data sets varying from coarse resolution, single-parameter data through to very high resolution, multi-parameter data depending upon specific data requirements and communications capabilities. The area of coverage for

usage can be scaled based on the mobility of the underlying forces and the range of the howitzers. A particular benefit of this approach is that it provides data that is more representative of the wider meteorological conditions and appropriate data will be used along the trajectory as range is increasing in modern artillery weapon platforms. Products within the NATO Armaments Meteorological Kernel (NAMK) project under the

SG2 Shareable (Fire Control) Software Suite (S4) The NATO Army Armaments Group (NAAG) Integrated Capability Group Indirect Fires (ICGIF), formerly Land Group 4, and their Sub Group 2 (SG2) on Surface to Surface Ballistics has created a widely used set of shareable fire control software using th ...

can be used to process compliant METGM messages. It can also potentially be used, instead of Standard Target Acquisition Meteorological message (METTA) under

STANAG 4140 STANAG 4140 - Adoption of a Standard Target Acquisition Meteorological Message (METTA) is a NATO Standardization Agreement to provide meteorological information such as refractive index, temperature, pressure and cloud cover for remotely piloted v ...

, with

Sound ranging In land warfare, artillery sound ranging is a method of determining the coordinates of a hostile battery using data derived from the sound of its guns (or mortar or rockets) firing. The same methods can also be used to direct artillery fire at ...

systems or in support of Chemical Biological, Radiological and Nuclear calculations for downwind hazards and plume prediction by tools such as the Joint Effects Model (JEM).

Custodianship and edition

The custodian of this

STANAG In NATO, a standardization agreement (STANAG, redundantly: STANAG agreement) defines processes, procedures, terms, and conditions for common military or technical procedures or equipment between the member countries of the alliance. Each NATO st ...

is MILMET, formerly BMWG, within NATO. The final copy was Edition 2, dated 22 March 2010. Implementation of METGM is often accomplished by adoption of components of the

. This STANAG was cancelled and superseded by STANAG 6015 Ed 5, which is a cover STANAG for the NATO Meteorological and Oceanographic Codes Manual (AMETOCP-4) Volume I and II, both of which were promulgated at Ed A Ver. 1 on 24 May 2019.

References

{{Reflist

Implementations

NATO Armaments Meteorological Kernel (NAMK) – Met Manager (METM)

6022