Glossary of Abbreviations and Terminology
▌UK Defence Policy, Governance and Regulation
| Term | Expansion / Definition |
|---|---|
| AAIP | Assuring Autonomy International Programme (University of York, 2018–2023) |
| ASEMS | Acquisition Safety and Environmental Management System (UK MOD) |
| ATEC | Air Test and Evaluation Centre (MOD Boscombe Down, QinetiQ–JTEG) |
| BVLOS | Beyond Visual Line of Sight |
| CAA | Civil Aviation Authority (UK) |
| CCW | Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (UN) |
| CDE | Contested, Degraded, Environments |
| CfAA | Centre for Assuring Autonomy (University of York, 2024–) |
| COTEC | Cranfield Ordnance Test and Evaluation Centre |
| DAA | Detect and Avoid |
| DAIC | Defence AI Centre |
| DASA | Defence and Security Accelerator |
| DAU | Defence AI and Autonomy Unit |
| DCDC | Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre |
| DE&S | Defence Equipment and Support |
| DEFSTAN | UK Defence Standard |
| DOSG | Defence Ordnance Safety Group (part of Dstl Weapons Division) |
| DOSR | Defence OME Safety Regulator (part of Defence Safety Authority) |
| Dstl | Defence Science and Technology Laboratory |
| DSA | Defence Safety Authority |
| DT&E | Developmental Test and Evaluation |
| FE | Finite Element (analysis / simulation) |
| FOC | Full Operating Capability |
| GSN | Goal Structuring Notation |
| HAZOP | Hazard and Operability Study |
| IM | Insensitive Munitions |
| IOC | Initial Operating Capability |
| ISMS | Infrared Stress Monitoring System (Leonardo) |
| JCAST | Joint Command and Staff Trainer |
| JSP | Joint Service Publication |
| JUAS TES | Joint Uncrewed Air System Test and Evaluation Squadron (744 NAS) |
| LAWS | Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems |
| LTPA | Long-Term Partnering Agreement (MOD – QinetiQ) |
| MAA | Military Aviation Authority |
| MAMC LF | Military Airspace Management Cell (Land Forces) |
| MASS | Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (UK Code of Practice) |
| MHC | Meaningful Human Control |
| MSIAC | Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center (NATO) |
| MTDS | Manufacture-to-Target-or-Disposal Sequence |
| MUM-T | Manned-Unmanned Teaming |
| OME | Ordnance, Munitions and Explosives |
| ODD | Operational Design Domain |
| PE | Programmable Element |
| RA | Regulatory Article (UK MAA) |
| RAISO | Responsible AI Senior Officer (per JSP 936) |
| RAS | Robotic and Autonomous Systems |
| RPAS | Remotely Piloted Air System |
| RPV | Robotic Platoon Vehicle |
| S3 | Safety and Suitability for Service |
| SAA | Sense and Avoid |
| SAF | Semi-Automated Forces |
| SDR 25 | Strategic Defence Review 2025 |
| SORA | Specific Operations Risk Assessment (EASA/CAA) |
| STANAG | Standardisation Agreement (NATO) |
| STO | Science and Technology Organisation (NATO) |
| T3E | Test and Trials Environment Enterprise |
| T&E | Test and Evaluation |
| TLB | Top-Level Budget (MOD) |
| TRL | Technology Readiness Level |
| UAV | Uncrewed Air Vehicle |
| UGV | Uncrewed Ground Vehicle |
| USV | Uncrewed Surface Vessel |
| UUV | Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle / Unmanned Underwater Vehicle |
| WSSC | Weapon System Safety Committee |
| XLUUV | Extra-Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle |
▌NATO Standards Referenced
| Standard | Title / Scope |
|---|---|
| AOP-15 | NATO Guidance on Assessment of Safety & Suitability for Service of Non-Nuclear Munitions |
| AOP-39 | Policy for Introduction and Assessment of Insensitive Munitions (procedures for STANAG 4439) |
| STANAG 2636 | Data Processing and Output Format for Arena Fragmentation Tests |
| STANAG 4170 | Principles for Qualification of Explosive Materials for Military Use (historical) |
| STANAG 4224 | Shaped Charge Jet Impact Test (SCJI) |
| STANAG 4240 | Fast Heating Test (external fire exposure) |
| STANAG 4241 | Bullet Impact Test |
| STANAG 4297 / AOP-15 | Guidance on the Assessment of the S3 of Non-Nuclear Munitions for NATO Armed Forces |
| STANAG 4379 | Drop Test |
| STANAG 4382 | Sympathetic Detonation |
| STANAG 4439 | Policy for Introduction and Assessment of Insensitive Munitions |
| STANAG 4496 | Fragment Impact Munitions Test Procedure |
| STANAG 4586 | Standard Interface of UAV Control Systems for NATO UAV Interoperability |
| STANAG 4589 | Blast Protection of Structures (fragmentation hazards) |
▌Aviation / Civil Aviation Standards
| Standard | Title / Scope |
|---|---|
| DEFSTAN 00-055 | Requirements for Safety of Programmable Elements (PE) — technology-agnostic |
| DEFSTAN 00-056 | Safety Management Requirements for Defence Systems |
| DEFSTAN 00-970 Part 9 | Design and Airworthiness Requirements for RPAS |
| DEFSTAN 07-85 | Design Requirements for Weapons and Associated Systems |
| RA 1600 | UK MAA Regulatory Article for Remotely Piloted Air Systems |
| RTCA DO-365 | Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for DAA |
| ASTM F3442 | Performance Requirements for Detect-and-Avoid Systems |
▌Assurance & ML Engineering
| Term | Expansion / Definition |
|---|---|
| AMLAS | Assurance of Machine Learning for Autonomous Systems (York/AAIP 6-stage methodology) |
| CAV | Concept Activation Vector |
| CGF | Computer-Generated Forces |
| DVC | Data Version Control ("git for data") |
| GSN | Goal Structuring Notation |
| LIME | Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations |
| LLM | Large Language Model |
| MLOps | Machine Learning Operations |
| ODD | Operational Design Domain |
| PINN | Physics-Informed Neural Network |
| RAG | Retrieval-Augmented Generation |
| RAISO | Responsible AI Senior Officer |
| SACE | Safety Assurance of Autonomous Systems in Complex Environments (York 8-stage methodology) |
| SHAP | SHapley Additive exPlanations |
| Sim-to-Real | Transfer of models/policies from simulation to physical hardware |
| SLAM | Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping |
| Simplex | Architecture pattern: advanced controller + baseline safety controller with switching |
| vSLAM / VI-SLAM | Visual / Visual-Inertial SLAM |
▌Measurement & Instrumentation
| Term | Expansion / Definition |
|---|---|
| AAT | Accelerated Aging Test |
| AFT | Arena Fragmentation Test |
| CNN | Convolutional Neural Network |
| DSC | Differential Scanning Calorimetry |
| EMC | Electromagnetic Compatibility |
| EO/IR | Electro-Optical / Infrared |
| FMD | Fragment Mass Distribution |
| FSP | Fragment-Simulating Projectile |
| HIRF | High-Intensity Radiated Field |
| ITOP | International Test Operations Procedure |
| PDV | Photonic Doppler Velocimetry |
| SAR | Synthetic Aperture Radar |
| TGA | Thermogravimetric Analysis |
▌Programmes Mentioned
| Programme | Description |
|---|---|
| Protector RG Mk1 | RAF MQ-9B (General Atomics); MAA military type certified May 2025 |
| Tempest / GCAP | Global Combat Air Programme (UK, Italy, Japan); Tempest IOC 2035 |
| Project Mosquito | LANCA loyal-wingman demonstrator (cancelled June 2022) |
| Project Alvina | MoD RCO swarming drones programme |
| Project CABOT | RN autonomous anti-submarine warfare (Atlantic Net / Bastion Atlantic) |
| Project Wilton | RN autonomous mine counter-measures using ARCIMS USVs |
| Project THESEUS | UK Army Warfighting Experiment for autonomous resupply ground vehicles |
| Project Alvina | Swarming drones test programme |
| Cetus XLUUV | Royal Navy extra-large UUV built by MSubs (NavyX) |
| Manta XLUUV | Follow-on RN XLUUV class |
| RPV | Robotic Platoon Vehicle Programme (British Army UGVs) |
| AUKUS Pillar 2 | Advanced Capabilities workstream including AI, autonomy, cyber |
| DIANA | NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic |