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STANAG 5066 Moving Forward
6th October 2026 HF RadioIcon-5066Steve Kille Blog
About the author
Steve Kille has worked for many years on open standards for Messaging, XMPP, Directory, Security, and HF Radio. He has worked on CCITT, IETF, XSF, and NATO standards (currently editing STANAG 5066), which have been implemented by Isode.
He is also Isode’s CEO
STANAG 5066 Moving Forward
I started looking at STANAG 5066 in 2004, when we were considering how to support STANAG 4406 Military Messaging over HF Radio using STANAG 4406 Annex E and the ACP 142 (P_Mul) protocol.
STANAG 5066 seemed ideal, as the SIS (Subnet Interface Sublayer) abstraction and protocol meant that we could implement the very straightforward SIS protocol in our M-Switch product and leave STANAG 5066 to the HF Radio vendors.
We trialed our implementation in an MoD project with several partners. The project reached very positive conclusions about the performance of STANAG 4406 over HF based on M-Switch and other parts of the project. We noted that the numbers were much lower than they should have been due to issues with the STANAG 5066 product used.
We decided there was a market opportunity for a modem-independent STANAG 5066 server, so in 2011 we started work on our Icon-5066 product, and I became involved in the NATO BLOS group. At that time, Don Kallgren of NATO led STANAG 5066, and the focus was on getting Edition 3 out the door.
After Don retired once Ed3 was published, we needed to extend STANAG 5066 to support the new Wideband HF, and I suggested a range of other changes. I volunteered to edit STANAG 5066, as I was making the most noise, and Sweden became the custodian. Edition 4 addressed several core issues and added a range of capabilities, moving the technology forward and enabling exciting new applications.
The work doesn’t stop, and Edition 5 is now nearing completion of the torturous update process. The specification has grown with each new Edition. Ed5 is 750 pages with 29 annexes (Ed3 was 400 pages with 14 annexes). Ed5 adds several optional applications and additions around the Edition 4 core. If you’re interested in the latest capabilities being added, you can read through them here