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Abou​​t ​​the Conference of the National Armaments Directors


Mission: to enable multi-national cooperation on delivery of interoperable military capabilities to improve NATO forces' effectiveness over the whole spectrum of current and future operations.


  • ​​​​​​AC/259 is the senior advisory c​​ommittee to the North Atlantic Council on armaments issues. It sets priorities and gives guidance to its substructure, which consists of military and civilian experts from Allies and Part​ner nations. 
  • It meets in Plenary session  twice a year at the level of National Armaments Directors (NADs), and in permanent session (PS), with the national permanent representatives in Brussels (NADReps), twice a month.
  • The CNAD and its subordinate structure focus on th​e collaborative development, acquisition and interoperability of defence equipment. It aims at identifying opportunities for cooperation between interested nations to share risks and costs of development, research and technology and to achieve economies of scale, industrial cooperation, standardization and interoperability. 
  • The CNAD's work is executed through subordinate main groups and programmes, each of them guided by and reporting to the CNAD.