O-170 MSIAC - Reflection on 25 Years of Supporting the Munitions Safety Community

The NATO Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center (MSIAC) is a multinational collaboration that collects, stores, and analyses technical information related to Munitions Safety (MS) and Insensitive Munitions (IM). This paper and presentation will provide an overview of MSIAC’s achievements over the last 25 years in advancing munition safety efforts on behalf of its member nations.

The establishment of a Member Nations’ project was originally proposed in the late 1980’s and formally created as the NATO Insensitive Munitions Information Center (NIMIC) in 1991.  NIMIC’s role was to help member nations gather, store,  and exchange information and technology related to IM to enable them, their industries, and  by  extension  NATO,  to  meet  the  challenges  of  developing  and  fielding  insensitive munitions.

From 2000 onwards member nations refocused NIMIC on the broader goal of munitions safety throughout the life‐cycle. In 2004, NIMIC was re‐titled the NATO Munitions Safety Information and Analysis Center (MSIAC), signalling this expansion of the organization’s focus.

MSIAC continues to support its member nations through a variety of products and services which have evolved over the years. In addition to a core responsibility of addressing technical questions related to munitions safety, MSIAC has a diverse programme of work aimed at developing and sharing the related underpinning scientific knowledge. This is then applied to support policy development and implementation related to munition safety. Some examples of outputs over the years are given in this paper as well as some thoughts on future activities.