DoD Identification Procedures: A Brief Summary of MIL-STD-130N

The MIL-STD-130N is used by the Department of Defense as a set of standards to regulate the correct methods of keeping track of military property. Anything that passes through the hands of the Department of Defense should be marked in this way, in order to create consistency and a reliable way of tracking any property that passes through the Department's hands. This provides regulations for the minimum requirements of the government when designing a new contract, and applies to all objects that do not already have an Item Unique Identification (IUID) marking or something similar.

The markings themselves have requirements of what information is included and the clarity of those markings. MIL-STD-130N requires that the marking must be integrated into or attached to the object in question with enough durability to last the projected lifetime of the object. MIL-STD-130N requires that the marking be able to withstand environmental factors, cleaning, and rebuilding.

The identification markings specified by MIL-STD-130N can either be designed as Machine Readable Information (MRI) or human readable information. MIL-STD-130N requires that human readable information be of a size above or equal to 0.08 inches, which approximates a font of 5.76 points. Even the font is dictated by MIL-STD-130N so as to ensure the readability of the information, requiring a Sans Serif font like Arial or Trebuchet. Machine Readable Information is highly preferred by the Department of Defense, and specifications are provided for these types of markings as well. This is a much more technical undertaking, and the reader should refer to experts such as those as Jet City Labor for further information.

There are many requirements for different types of items specified by MIL-STD-130N, including objects relating to different groups in association with the Department of Defense, like the Air Transport Association and Automotive Industrial Action Group, as well as different regulations for objects with Item Unique Identification markings and those without them. MIL-STD-130N tries to impose a method of identifying military property without disrupting the identification procedures of other affiliates like the associations mentioned above, and outlines standards for allowed the two to mesh without conflict on a single item.

MIL-STD-130N even provides guidelines for the proper action should a marking under the Machine Readable Information system be found faulty or damaged, including how to signify that the markings are no longer valid.

There are many more requirements of this code that cannot be summarized in this simplified format, such as more direct commands relating to the markings on an object as related to their manufacture or repair, and what symbols should be added to what materials. As mentioned above, MIL-STD-130N is a complex issue, and for full understanding, the reader should refer to Jet City Labor for more specialized information.