NATO Science and Technology Organization

The NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) is a NATO agency that conducts Scientific and Military Research across its member states and partner Nations. The STO facilitates collaborative research and technology development among member and partner nations. The organization seeks to research, generate, share, and apply advanced scientific knowledge, technological developments, and solutions that support the intergovernmental alliance's core requirements and objectives.^[1]

The STO publishes a series of scientific reports and studies, most of which are available via the STO Website Publications.

The Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) was formed in 1952 and became an agency under the Military Committee in 1966.^[2] Its task was to foster and improve the interchange of information relating to aerospace research and development between the NATO nations.^[2] AGARD also provided scientific and technical advice and assistance to the NATO Military Committee in the field of aerospace research and development, with particular regard to military applications.^[2] Theodore von Kármán was the founder of AGARD and served as its first chairman.

During the first Conference of Aeronautical Research Directors from the NATO Nations in February 1951, recommending the establishment of AGARD, the delegates unanimously adopted the following mission statement: "bringing together the leading personalities of the NATO nations in the fields of science and technology relating to aerospace".^[3]

In 1958, von Kármán hired Moe Berg to accompany him to the AGARD conference in Paris. "AGARD aimed to encourage European countries to develop weapons technology on their own instead of relying on the U.S. defense industry to do it for them".^[4]

AGARD originally started in 1952 with four Technical Panels: Combustion, Aerospace Medical, Flight Mechanics, and Wind Tunnel and Model Testing. In the following two decades, five more panels were established: Structures and Materials (1955), Avionics (1957), Technical Information (1965), Guidance and Control (1965), and Electromagnetic Wave Propagation (1971). Later, the Aerospace Applications Studies Committee was founded in 1971 for all aerospace systems questions outside the purview of the other panels.^[5][6]

In the beginning, there were fewer than 100 Panel members. However, this number grew rapidly to 200 in 1960 and further with the expansion to nine total Panels in 1971. By the 1990s, there were more than 500 Panel members. After a restructuring in 1994, the number of Panels was reduced to seven with an additional Technical Information Committee (TIC).

Panel members were appointed by their respective National Delegates, normally for a term of 3 years. The detailed areas of interest of each Panel varied rapidly as the field of aerospace science and technology expanded and as interactions between specialist areas became more or less relevant. In very general terms, the mission of each Panel was to fulfil the AGARD mission within its own area of scientific and technical interest and competence.

Each Panel defined a program of meetings and publications in its own specialty within the general constraints of AGARD policy as determined by the Board. Panel members were responsible for enlisting the necessary support and participation from their own countries. Most Panels held two major meetings each year, rotating among the NATO Member-Nations. The printing and publication of Panel-written works (around 70-90 publications a year) was organized by AGARD Headquarters. Occasionally, some publications had up to 5,000 copies printed.

In January 1998, the need for a single focus in NATO for air, land, sea, and space R&T activities resulted in the merger of AGARD and the NATO Defense Research Group (DRG) into the NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO). The DRG was one of seven "Main Groups" reporting to the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD), meant to foster cooperation on research and new technology, potentially leading to future defense equipment.

The RTO's executive body was the NATO Research and Technology Agency (RTA), located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

On 1 July 2012, as a result of NATO Reform, the RTO was merged with the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) to form the Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). Along with the newly created Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) and the Collaboration Support Office, these three executive bodies became the Science and Technology Organization (STO), which was collocated in NATO Headquarters to improve scientific advice to NATO leadership.

The Science and Technology Organization (STO) is a subsidiary body of NATO created within the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 1949.^[7]

The STO provides scientific advice through collaborative panels of scientists and engineers from NATO member and partner nations.

The STO operates under the authority of the North Atlantic Council, which has delegated the organization's operations to the NATO Science and Technology Board (STB), composed of representatives from NATO nations. The STB is chaired by the NATO Chief Scientist, who is permanently assigned to the NATO Headquarters in Brussels.^[8]

The NATO Chief Scientist serves two roles: scientific advisor to senior NATO leadership and chair of the STB. Recommendations are drawn from the collective STO programs and the underlying knowledge base, then synthesized and integrated for political and military decision-makers.

The STO is composed of the STB, the Chief Scientist, and the following three executive bodies:

• The Office of the Chief Scientist (NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium) provides executive and administrative support to the Chief Scientist in exercising their three roles as STB chairperson, scientific advisor, and head of the Office.
• The Collaboration Support Office (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) provides executive and administrative support to activities conducted under the STO Collaborative Programme of Work.
• The Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (La Spezia, Italy) organizes and conducts scientific research and technology development. Its mission is centered on the maritime domain but may extrapolate to other domains to meet customers’ demands.

Each Panel/Group's Program of Work is carried out by Technical Teams. Before launching a Technical Team, when a Panel/Group believes that a particular expertise is required to assist or advise it on a specific proposal, an Exploratory Team (ET) is established to carry out a feasibility study, determining whether to start a larger activity. An ET is sometimes omitted if an idea has enough support and can go straight into one of the technical activities listed below.

Technical Teams are assigned by the Panels/Group to perform specific tasks, such as:

• Research Task Group (RTG): enables researchers from different nations to collaborate on specific problems. Sponsored by the Panel/Group to meet NATO's needs, RTGs are chartered for a maximum of three years. Cooperative Demonstrations of Technology (CDTs) may be organized during an RTG, and findings are documented in STO publications, such as Technical Reports or Technical Memoranda.
• Research Lecture Series (RLS): disseminates scientific knowledge to junior and mid-level specialists, scientists, and engineers in military-relevant domains. These two-day events are usually held at three locations and may include a round-table discussion. RLSs are accompanied by the STO publication, Educational Notes.
• Research Technical Course (RTC): transfers practical knowledge and recent field developments via on-site training/lectures to military decision-makers. An RTC can be offered up to four times, lasting one to three days. STO publications are not always provided.
• Research Workshop (RWS): facilitates information exchange and discussion among invited experts, enhancing the S&T community to meet NATO's military requirements. Typically involves no more than 30 participants in a two- to three-day event, resulting in an STO publication (Meeting Proceedings).
• Research Specialists’ Meeting (RSM): exchanges knowledge specialists with invited speakers on an important scientific or applied topic. An RWS enhances the S&T community's capability to meet NATO's military requirements. Typically, a medium-scale two- to three-day event (less than 100 participants), an RSM results in an STO publication (Meeting Proceedings).
• AGARDograph (Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development – AGARD) - technical publications from the NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) focused on specific technical subjects for NATO’s aerospace and defense communities. Authored individually or collaboratively, they are intended to be authoritative references.
• Long-Term Scientific Study (LTSS): providing recommendations to NATO and National Authorities based on assessments of the impact on military operations from science and technology developments (10–20 years), including emerging technologies, systems, and methods affecting tactical concepts and doctrines. Long Term Study Sessions (LTSS) are chartered for three years, including a Multinational Exercise (MNE), resulting in an STO publication (Technical Report) and presentations.
• Military Application Study (MAS): a short-term, rapid reaction study assessing the application of technology to operational procedures to solve operational and equipment deficiencies.

CMRE is NATO's knowledge repository for maritime S&T, conducting scientific research in ocean science, modelling and simulation, acoustics, and other disciplines.

CMRE researches technologies for unmanned systems and autonomous decision-making. This provides operators with new technologies across the spectrum of expeditionary kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities required to defeat traditional threats and confront irregular challenges. CMRE also provides Science & Technology enhancements to unmanned vehicles and vessels, integrated defense systems, and autonomous intelligent systems that better enable operators to complete missions in hostile environments by avoiding, defeating, and surviving attacks.^[9]

The total spectrum of the Collaborative Effort is addressed by six Technical Panels who manage a wide range of Scientific Research Activities, a Group specializing in Modeling and Simulation, plus a committee dedicated to supporting the Information & Knowledge Management needs of the organization.

In any given year, there are over 6,000 scientists and engineers from NATO and its partners working on approximately 350 research activities conducted by these Technical Teams.

The mission of the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel, comprising more than 1,000 scientists and engineers, is to improve the performance, reliability, affordability, and safety of vehicles through the advancement of appropriate technologies. The Panel addresses platform technologies for vehicles operating in all domains (land, sea, air, and space), for both new and aging systems, such as:

• Mechanical systems, structures, and materials
• Propulsion and power systems
• Performance, stability, and control, fluid physics^[10]

The mission of the Human Factors and Medicine Panel is to provide the science and technology base for optimizing health, human protection, well-being, and performance of the human in operational environments affordably. This involves understanding and ensuring the physical, physiological, psychological, and cognitive compatibility among military personnel, technological systems, missions, and environments via the exchange of information, collaborative experiments, and shared field trials.^[11]

To address the broad range of S&T areas of strategic importance to the HFM Panel and to support the Panel's operations, the HFM Panel consists of two areas:

• The Human Systems and Behavior Area explores new procedures and technologies for optimizing the performance of individuals, teams, and organizations and their interaction with socio-technical systems to achieve effective mission performance. Examples of topics include human-machine interfaces, leadership, training, cultural and gender issues.
• The Health, Medicine and Protection Area focuses on developing an operationally fit and healthy force, restoring health, minimizing disease and injury, and optimizing human protection. It covers topics such as medical diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and evacuation, and human protection research against environmental stressors (e.g., cold, heat, air pressure, noise, vibration, CBRN).

The mission of the IST Panel is to advance and exchange techniques and technologies in order to improve C3I systems, with a special focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Interoperability and Cyber Security.

The Panel focuses on the advancement and exchange of techniques and technologies in order to provide timely, affordable, dependable, secure and relevant information to war fighters, planners and strategists, as well as enabling technologies for modelling, simulation, and training. IST's scope of responsibility focuses on Information Warfare and Assurance, Information and Knowledge Management, Communications and Networks, and Architecture and Enabling Technologies.

The IST Program of Work is organized under three Focus Groups:

• Information and Knowledge Management (IWA)
• Architecture and Intelligence Information Systems (AI2S)
• Communications & Networks (COM)^[12]

The System Analysis and Studies (SAS) Panel conducts studies and analyses for better decisions in strategy, capability development, and operations within NATO, NATO Nations, and partner nations.

Key drivers in the SAS Panel's work are the exploitation of new technologies, new forms of organization, and new concepts of operation.

The focus of the Panel is on undertaking Operations Analysis activities related to challenges in the evolving strategic environment and the responses that both individual nations, and NATO as a whole are making to tackle them.

The research can be divided into four focus areas:

• Policy and Strategy Decision Support
• Operations Decision Support
• Capability and Investment Decision Support
• Development and Maintenance of Analysis Capabilities

Activities include the development of analytical methods to address upcoming security challenges; information exchange on OA modelling concepts and best practice; research into new methodological approaches; and the development and exchange of models.

The mission of the Systems, Concepts and Integration (SCI) Panel is to advance knowledge concerning advanced system concepts, integration, engineering techniques and technologies across the spectrum of platforms and operating environments to assure cost-effective mission area capabilities. The Panel's research covers integrated defense systems, including air, land, sea, and space systems (manned and unmanned), and associated weapon and countermeasure integration. Its activities focus on NATO and national mid to long-term system-level operational needs.

The scope of Panel activities covers a multidisciplinary range of theoretical concepts, design, development, and evaluation methods applied to integrated defense systems. Areas of interest include:

• Integrated mission systems including weapons and countermeasures.
• System architecture/mechanization.
• Vehicle integration.
• Mission management.
• System engineering technologies and testing.

The Sensing Technology (SET) Panel's mission is to advance technology in passive/active sensors, pertaining to reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, electronic warfare, communications, navigation, and to enhance sensor capabilities through multi-sensor integration/fusion in order to improve the operating capability and contribute to fulfill strategic military results.

Research in the Sensing Technology Panel concerns the phenomenology related to target signature, propagation and battle-space environment, electro-optics (EO), radio frequency (RF), acoustic and magnetic sensors, antenna, signal and image processing, data fusion, autonomous sensing, position navigation and timing (PNT), components, sensor hardening and electromagnetic compatibility.

The SET Panel is organized into three Focus Groups:

• Radio Frequency Technology (RFT)
• Optical Technology (OT)
• Multi-Sensors & Electronics (MSE)

The NATO Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG) is the STO Scientific and Technical Committee in which all NATO Modelling and Simulation (M&S) stakeholders and subject matter experts meet to coordinate and oversee the implementation of the NATO M&S Master Plan (NMSMP).

The NMSMP is an NAC-approved NATO policy document that provides strategic vision and guidance for coordinating and utilizing M&S in NATO.

In November 1996, the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) established a Steering Group on NATO Simulation Policy and Applications with a mandate to craft an Alliance approach to simulation to improve Alliance operations (e.g. defense planning, training, exercises, support to operations, research, technology development and armaments acquisition modernization) cost-effectively. The Steering Group was tasked to identify recommended technical standards in order to foster simulation interoperability and reuse, to craft a road map for the development of simulations in order to satisfy NATO needs, and to include these results in a comprehensive NATO Modelling & Simulation Master Plan (MSMP). The MSMP would in turn guide the Alliance in the development and use of modelling and simulation (M&S).

The Steering Group accomplished its work with the participation of senior government policy representatives, the NATO Military Authorities and M&S experts drawn from the NATO member governments and the NATO Industrial Advisory Group. The Master Plan is the culmination of its efforts.

The NATO M&S Master Plan was endorsed by the Conference of NATO Armament Directors (CNAD) and the Military Committee (MC) in November 1998, and approved by the North Atlantic Council in December 1998. The M&S Master Plan recommended two organizational structures: the NATO Modelling & Simulation Group (as a level 2 body reporting to the RTB) and the establishment of a full-time Modelling & Simulation Co-ordination Office (MSCO) providing scientific, executive and administrative support to NMSG.

The mission of the NMSG is to promote cooperation among Alliance bodies, NATO, and partner nations to maximize the utilization of M&S. This includes M&S standardization, education, and associated science and technology. The NMSG, nominated by the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD), is the delegating authority for standardization in the NATO modelling and simulation domain.

Under the umbrella of establishing a common technical framework, increasing interoperability and developing models, simulations and standards for M&S, current and future areas of work focus on:

• education and training
• decision making
• AI & Big Data
• cyber defense
• acquisition

The NMSG has three permanent sub-groups:

• the Military Operational Requirements Subgroup
• the M&S Standards Subgroup
• the Planning and Programs Committee

• Theodore von Kármán with Lee Edson (1967) The Wind and Beyond: Theodore von Kármán Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinder in Space: Little, Brown and Company
• The AGARD History 1952-1987 Archived 2020-11-27 at the Wayback Machine (1999), Advisory Group for Aerospace Research & Development, ISBN 92-835-1562-5
• 2021 Programme of Work
• Theodore von Kármán

• NATO Science and Technology Organization
• CMRE - Home
• Devigon Tech