Introduction

Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center, also referred to as MSIAC, is a NATO project funded directly by its member nations, not all of which are NATO members. There are currently 12 member nations: Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the Netherlands, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Pilot-Nato Insensitive Munition Information Center (Pilot-NIMIC)

On May 26, 1988 the NATO nations France, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States based on a Memorandum of Understanding decided to create Pilot-NIMIC (NIMIC = NATO Insensitive Munitions Information Center). The organization was intended to assist national and international programs to develop insensitive munitions (IM) . The idea for NIMIC was born at the NATO AC/310 “Workshop on Insensitive Munitions Information Exchange” in 1986 and was actively supported by the Chairman of AC/310, IGA M. Thévenin and Principal US Member of AC/310, Dr. R. Derr. The founding of this organization was promoted by former NATO Group AC/310 (Safety and Suitability for Service of Munitions and Explosives) in an effort to support munitions developers located in NATO countries. The PILOT-NIMIC office was located at Applied Physics Laboratory

Applied Physics Laboratory

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , located in Howard County, Maryland near Laurel and Columbia, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 4,500 people. APL is primarily a defense contractor. It serves as a technical resource for the Department of...

 (APL) of Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, Laurel, Maryland, USA. The initial team comprised a project manager and five technical specialists - basically the same structure MSIAC shows today (see below). Soon after its foundation Canada joined the project in late 1989.

NIMIC Move to Brussels and Growth

After its first successful two years of operation the project moved to NATO Headquarters Brussels and officially became NIMIC on May 1, 1991. Spain and Australia entered the project in 1994, Portugal and Italy became members in 1995. In 1998 Portugal decided to leave NIMIC. Denmark entered the project 1999 but left soon after in 2004.

Merger of AC/258 and AC/310 and Transition to MSIAC

In May 2003 the Conference of National Armament Directors (CNAD) Ammunition Safety Group (AC/326) (CASG) was formed by a merger of former AC/258 Group of Experts on the Safety Aspects of Transportation and Storage of Military Ammunition and Explosives and the former AC/310 Group of Safety and Suitability for Service of Munitions and Explosives. With a given broader emphasis on Munitions Safety it was decided to modify NIMIC's scope to take this change into account. Hence its transition to Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center (MSIAC) began with the Pilot MSIAC phase in Spring 2003. The successful transition was accomplished by late 2004 and MSIAC was officially operational on December 15, 2004. Germany finally entered the project in 2005.

Organization

The MSIAC Project Office consists of a Steering Committee, National Focal Point Officers (NFPO) and an Information Analysis Center (MSIAC). The Steering Committee is made up of one voting representative from each member nation and an elected chairman. It is responsible for implementing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that established MSIAC and for developing its policy. This policy is carried out on a day-to-day basis by the MSIAC Project Manager.

Tasks

The NATO Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center (MSIAC) (Centre d'Analyse et d'Information sur la Securite des Munitions OTAN in French)MSIAC provides technical consultancy services to its member nations in the area of munitions safety.
Areas with which MSIAC is concerned include:

• Energetic material
  Energetic material
  Energetic materials are a class of material with high amount of stored chemical energy that can be released.Typical classes of energetic materials are e.g. explosives, pyrotechnic compositions, propellants , and fuels ....
  
  s - high explosives, gun propellants and rocket propellant
  Rocket propellant
  Rocket propellant is mass that is stored in some form of propellant tank, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust. A fuel propellant is often burned with an oxidizer propellant to produce large volumes of very hot...
  
  s;
• Warhead
  Warhead
  The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...
  
   Technology – design, production, testing, terminal effects, fuzing systems;
• Propulsion
  Air propulsion
  Air propulsion is the generation of thrust during flight by an aircraft or a creature such as a bird, bat or insect.-Aircraft:An aircraft propulsion system must serve two purposes. First, the thrust from the propulsion system must balance the drag of the airplane when the airplane is cruising...
  
   Technology – design, production, testing, ignition/initiation systems;
• Munitions Systems – weapon system integration, threat and hazard analysis, safety and suitability for service, demil and disposal;
• Munitions Logistics
  Logistics
  Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
  
  – safety principles and regulations for transport and storage, hazard classification and risk analysis.

Within these areas, MSIAC performs the following functions:

• Develop the MSIAC internal database of technical information;
• Provide technical advice;
• Respond to inquiries from government and industrial agencies of member nations;
• Anticipate inquiries and prepare state-of-the-art reports to deal with them;
• Organize technical lectures
• Develop and distribute software tools and databases ,;
• Organize Round Robin Tests ;
• Develop and maintain networks of experts, through the sponsorship of workshops and seminars and the creation of e-Working Groups.

List of officials

Chairmen of the NIMIC & MSIAC Steering Committee

#	Name	Country	Duration
1	Dr. Ron Derr	United States	1991–1998
2	Anthony Melita	United States	1998–2005
3	CPT RAN Jacqui King	Australia	2005–2008
4	Dr. Jerry Ward	United States	2009 – present

PNIMIC, NIMIC, & MSIAC Project Manager

#	Name	Country	Duration
1	Henry F. Hege	United States	1989
2	George M. Starken	United States	1989
3	Edward Daugherty	United States	1990–1991
4	GEN Marc Défourneaux	Early Modern France	1992–1995
5	GEN Michel Thévenin	Early Modern France	1995–1998
6	Dr. Peter Lee		1998–2002
7	BGN Patrick Touzé	Early Modern France	2002–2010
8	Roger L. Swanson	United States	2010 – present