MIL-STD-810F

Protective gear and equipment, especially for military purposes, must meet certain criteria. These criteria are standardized in the case of the US armed forces (US Army, US Navy and US Air Force) in the form of a set of MIL-STD-810F tests.

Equipment designed to protect soldiers and their valuable equipment on duty must be objectively evaluated in some way to ensure that it is capable of withstanding the demanding conditions these soldiers are exposed to. The tripartite of the US Armed Forces, i.e. the Army, Marines and Air Force, have agreed on standards in the form of MIL-STD-810F tests.

Although these standardized tests originated in the United States, the MIL-STD-810F certification is recognized practically all over the world, both by the military and by civilians. Because if a piece of equipment is good enough for the military, it will surely be good for civilian use as well. These standards address a wide range of environmental conditions, including low pressure for testing products for higher altitudes; also exposure to extreme temperatures (high and low) as well as thermal shock during operation and storage of the given item. Subsequently exposure to high humidity and immersion (see below) as well as exposure to rain including freezing rain or rain driven by strong winds.

However, during use and storage, individual elements of the equipment may also be exposed to moisture, mold or so-called salt fog – in this case, the question is how well the product can resist corrosion. It goes without saying that there is also testing of the effects of rapid acceleration or vibrations, both from shooting and accidental ones.

Among the tests that the MIL-STD-810F standards include, for example, is the immersion test, which determines whether a package (for example, a hard case) is able to protect its contents from the ingress of water without damaging the contents. Concerning our offer, the cases from the Canadian brand Nanuk, for example, meet these tests.

The MIL-STD-810 standards were first formulated on June 14, 1962, with the letters A-H indicating the individual revisions of these standards. Specifically, MIL-STD-810F is a revision from January 1, 2000, which is more than 20 years old, but still widely recognized. Revision F was followed by revisions G (valid from 31 October 2008) and H (valid from 31 January 2019).