Katy's NSN

On the Katy information page (click here or on the word Katy above) it has for the last 3 years said

"NSN 2310998937291 (I don't know what this means)"

Today that changes as I had some information from a contact on the UK Olympus e-group website

I can answer your query as to what a NSN is. It's a Nato Stock Number. 

I worked in military electronics for most of my career and every single item of equipment,component and consumable item (eg fuel/lubricants ) used by any Nato service and many NATO supported services has to be codified with a 13 digit NSN. 

This gives a common logistic system so that all NATO and associated forces can work together and provide support and maintenance for each other.

Katy's NSN would normally be written as 2310-99-893-7291. 

2310 indicates she is a "Passenger Motor Vehicle". If she was a motor cycle or bicycle it would be 2340. 99 indicates she was made in the UK.

The remaining seven digits are the unique code for this particular model/variant allocated by the UK Codification Authority.

We had a whole department that had to check every component we used to see if it already had a NSN and if not arrange a new number from the UKCA and also arrange codification for every sub assembly and equipment we designed. Every item used by Nato forces from soldiers boot laces to aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons has a NSN.

Thanks Peter

The page has now been updated...