Procedures Standardization (NATOPS), tactical
manuals, and weapons loading manuals, contain
descriptions of weapons systems, systems integration,
operating instructions, operational applications, and
safety and emergency procedures. They also contain
other pertinent data exclusive of maintenance
procedures.
Maintenance Manuals. Maintenance manuals
contain a description of the weapons systems from the
viewpoint of upkeep and repair. These manuals
include information on maintenance operation,
troubleshooting and testing, assembly, disassembly,
repair, and supply support. Descriptions are in the
form of an illustrated parts list or breakdown.
Technical Manual Styles
Technical manuals are available in two general
styles, military specifications and commercial.
Military Specification Manuals. Military
specification manuals are prepared for specific
requirements to support defined maintenance concepts
and predetermined maintenance level coverage. They
are accompanied by an illustrated parts breakdown
(IPB) that reflects Navy provisioning actions for
spares and spare parts.
Commercial Manuals. In selected cases,
commercial manuals are bought to support
commercially available off-the-shelf equipment.
These manuals support commercial practice
techniques or specifications. The commercial manual
procurement policy permits the purchase of such
manuals, provided there is no degradation in
equipment operation, reliability, or support. Normally,
these manuals are purchased on a onetime basis. They
are not readily updated to reflect changes. NAVAIR
publication numbers are assigned to these manuals to
meet indexing, fifing, stocking, and distribution
requirements.
Technical Manual Arrangement
Technical manuals can be found in two specific
f o r m a t s t y l e s — t h e “ c o n v e n t i o n a l ” o r
topic-sectionalized manual and the newer “work
package” (WP) concept manual. The WP manuals are
divided by functions and tasks. They are prepared to
reflect distribution and destruction statements on their
cover and title pages (fig. 2-1).
Conventional Manuals. The topic-sectionalized
technical manual format is still being used for
NAVAIR technical publications. This basic
arrangement was effective and remained constant until
sophisticated avionics and support equipment systems
were purchased by the Navy. Principles of operation,
troubleshooting, wiring diagrams, and schematic
requirements were expanded in support of new design
advancements. However, general organization of the
data (fig. 2-1) has remained constant.
Many of the older manuals still reflect early
weapons systems maintenance practices. However, as
six levels of maintenance were consolidated to the
Figure 2-1.—Conventional technical manual content arrangement.
2-2
