NATO Stock Number

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A National Stock Number (NSN) is a 13-digit numeric code, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by the United States Department of Defense. Pursuant to the NATO Standardization Agreements (STANAGs), the NSN has come to be used in all treaty countries, where it is known as a NATO Stock Number. A two-digit Material Management Code (MMC) suffix may also be appended (see [1]), but it is not considered part of the NSN. An item having an NSN is said to be "stock-listed".

(N.B. The mapping below is unofficial and used here for illustrative purposes only!) The format of an NSN might be described as follows:

abcd-ef-ghi-jklm

Each element, a through m, was originally intended to be a single decimal digit. As inventories grew in complexity, element g became alphanumeric, beginning with capital A for certain newly added items. By 2000, uppercase C was in use.

The initial subgroup, abcd, is the Federal Supply Class (FSC) or NATO Supply Classification (NSC). In theory, similar items would always have closely related numbers in this section of the NSN, no matter how the section is referred to. As the number of items has steadily increased and the system has become more complicated, it has not always been possible to keep similarity in numbers when the items are similar.

The ef pair is used to record which country was the first to codify the item -- which one first recognized it as an important item of supply. This is generally the country of origin, meaning the country of final manufacture. The formal name of the field is NCB, because NCB also stands for National Codification Bureau. According to this system, for example, US is 00 and 01, the UK is 99.

The nine digits, ef-ghi-jklm, comprise the NIIN (National Item Identification Number).

Originally, the ghi and jklm subgroups were envisioned to relate to one another in a way similar to the prefix and suffix of a local telephone number. However, by 1999, all attempts to preserve this relationship had generally been abandoned because it was too difficult.

Structure of an NSN

The NSN is an expanded version of the older FSN (Federal Stock Number), which lacked the national-origin code labeled ef above, in the second subgroup. Items predating roughly 1975 in warehouses are frequently stenciled with FSNs. The FSN system originated in the US Department of War before or during the Second World War. As of 1998, the system was at least principally administered by the Defense Logistics Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense.

Other stock numbering systems are in use within the US DoD, but as of 2005, the NSN remained the most common and least ambiguous way to identify most standardised items of supply.

Contents

[edit] Federal Stock Number

A Federal Stock Number (or FSN) was an 11-digit numeric code used to identify items contained within the Joint Army-Navy Catalog System. The Federal Stock Number was used from 1949 to 1975 when it was replaced by the National Stock Number. The conversion from FSN to NSN was typically done by adding "00" between the first set of numbers (the Federal Supply Class, or FSC) and the second set of numbers. For example, the FSN:

3139-121-6210

Would become:

3139-00-121-6210

[edit] Fictionalized NSNs

It is not unheard of for fictionalized numbers to be referred to in works of fiction as if they were NSNs -- especially in military science fiction. This can be seen as a variation on the false document technique, something used creatively in order to lend a strong air of authenticity. For example, the M41A Pulse Rifle, from the movie Aliens, has been referred to as having NSN 3055-00-721-4790, as if it were real (though its FSG is incorrect: 30 is mechanical power transmission equipment, while 10, weapons, is probably the right FSC). The hull patch kit that the player must use in the sci-fi computer game Mission Critical, to stop the decompression emergency, has an NSN stenciled on the side of its plastic box.

[edit] See Also

  • Federal Logistics Information System (FLIS)

[edit] External links

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