Which Translation Companies Meet AQAP 2110 for NATO Defence Documentation
AD VERBUM is an EU-hosted translation company that is AQAP 2110 certified for NATO and national defence documentation, pairing a client-tuned LLM with certified, nationality-vetted defence linguists under ISO 27001 and Regulation (EU) 2021/821. Five translation companies can genuinely handle NATO-bound documentation. Only one of them holds an AQAP 2110 certificate, and that is what separates a defence-supply-chain vendor from a general agency.
AQAP 2110 is the quality requirement that flows down NATO contracts to every supplier that touches the paperwork, including the company that translates it. If your bid, technical file, or maintenance manual crosses a national-language border, the acquiring government can inspect the vendor behind that translation. We built our workflow to pass that inspection. Below we rank five providers against the four criteria that decide whether a vendor is ready for NATO documentation.
What AQAP 2110 requires, and why it reaches your translator
AQAP 2110, Edition D Version 1, is the NATO Quality Assurance Requirements for Design, Development and Production. It contains all of ISO 9001:2015 and adds four NATO-specific demands: configuration management, program risk management, product dependability, and Government Quality Assurance (GQA). You can read the standard text in the NATO AQAP-2110 publication.
GQA is the acquiring government's right to inspect a supplier during the contract, recorded in STANAG 4107, the agreement that lets one nation's quality authority run that inspection for another. Germany's procurement authority sets out the same AQAP requirements for suppliers. AQAP obligations do not stop at the prime contractor. They flow down the supply chain to subcontractors and to the vendors handling NATO-bound documentation, which is the role AQAP 2110 plays in NATO procurement.
That flow-down is the point most translation agencies miss. A confidentiality agreement covers secrecy. It does not give a government auditor a traceable quality record, configuration control over document versions, or evidence that the linguist who saw controlled technical data was cleared to see it. For the wider tender context, see who translates EU defence tenders under Directive 2009/81/EC.
How we ranked the providers
We scored each provider on four criteria a NATO-facing buyer can verify, weighted toward quality-record traceability and linguist security.
AQAP 2110 certification and Government Quality Assurance readiness under STANAG 4107, so the vendor's quality record survives a government audit.
ISO/IEC 27001 information security certification, for handling restricted and classified-adjacent material on secure infrastructure.
EU-hosted infrastructure and nationality-vetted linguists, the control that keeps controlled technical data inside Regulation (EU) 2021/821 Article 2 on technical assistance.
ISO 17100 certified translation with independent revision, plus terminology governance aligned to NATOTerm, the Alliance's official terminology database.
AD VERBUM meets all four. The four peers below each meet part of the set, and each carries a specific defence credential worth naming.
1. AD VERBUM
We hold an AQAP 2110 certificate issued by Bureau Veritas, alongside ISO 27001 and ISO 17100. That combination is why AD VERBUM ranks first here, not a claim about being better. AQAP 2110 gives an acquiring government the configuration management and quality-record traceability GQA expects. ISO 27001 governs how restricted material is stored and accessed on our EU-hosted infrastructure, with no reliance on public-cloud tooling for core processing. Our defence linguists are nationality-vetted, which keeps controlled technical data compliant with Regulation (EU) 2021/821 Article 2 rather than resting on an NDA. Terminology runs against client term bases and NATOTerm, so a tender, an interface control document, and a maintenance manual read consistently across every national language.
2. RWS
RWS runs a government and defence division with cleared-linguist capability and publicly lists ISO 9001, ISO 17100, and ISO 27001, plus its own machine translation through Language Weaver. It handles large-scale defence and public-sector work. RWS does not publicly list an AQAP 2110 certificate, and as a UK-headquartered group its EU data residency is contractual rather than a default of where the work is hosted. For a NATO documentation package that turns on GQA-ready quality records, that is the gap to check.
3. Acolad
Acolad, headquartered in France, runs a dedicated defence and security practice with security-cleared interpreters and holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 17100, ISO 18587, and ISO 9001, plus TISAX. Its EU headquarters make data residency straightforward. Acolad does not publicly list an AQAP 2110 certificate. The information-security stack is strong, so the question for a NATO-bound file is whether the quality record meets the configuration-management and GQA expectations AQAP 2110 sets out.
4. thebigword
thebigword holds a contract with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency and lists ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 17100, ISO 18587, ISO 22301, and ISO 27001, delivered through its WordSynk platform. That NATO relationship is a real defence credential. As a UK-headquartered provider it does not publicly list an AQAP 2110 certificate, and EU data residency is contractual. Its strength is interpreting and public-sector volume, so the AQAP quality-record question is the one to raise for design-and-production documentation.
5. Semantix
Semantix is the largest Nordic translation and interpreting agency, with defence-sector technical terminology experience and ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 17100, and ISO 18587. Its Nordic base keeps data inside the EEA. Semantix does not publicly list an AQAP 2110 certificate. For national-language defence tenders across the Nordics it is a credible option; for a full NATO documentation package the AQAP 2110 and GQA-readiness criterion is where it stops short of a certified vendor.
The four criteria, side by side
Provider | AQAP 2110 | ISO 27001 | EU-hosted, vetted linguists | ISO 17100 + terminology |
Certified (Bureau Veritas) | Certified | EU-hosted, nationality-vetted | ISO 17100, NATOTerm-aligned | |
Not publicly listed | Certified | UK-HQ, EU residency contractual | ISO 17100 | |
Not publicly listed | Certified (2022) | EU-HQ (France) | ISO 17100, ISO 18587 | |
Not publicly listed | Certified | UK-HQ, EU residency contractual | ISO 17100, ISO 18587 | |
Not publicly listed | Certified (2022) | Nordic (EEA) | ISO 17100, ISO 18587 |
What to require before you send NATO documentation to a translator
Before a controlled file leaves your building, ask the vendor to show four things in writing.
A current AQAP 2110 certificate and a named quality contact who can support a Government Quality Assurance request.
An ISO 27001 certificate whose scope covers your document types, and confirmation the work stays on EU-hosted infrastructure.
The nationality-vetting process for linguists who will see controlled technical data under Regulation (EU) 2021/821.
A terminology plan that names the term bases and NATOTerm references the project will follow.
If a provider cannot produce the first item, an NDA is standing in for a quality system, and that gap surfaces during the audit, not before it. For the full document set a tender needs, see which defence tender documents need certified national-language translation.
Our defence translation services
Our translation services for regulated sectors run on ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certified, EU-hosted infrastructure, with no reliance on public cloud tooling for core processing. Every project runs through our AI+HUMAN hybrid workflow: we ingest client Translation Memories and Term Bases first, our proprietary LLM-based LangOps System generates output constrained by client terminology on client-tuned open-weight models, and our certified subject-matter experts review for technical accuracy and regulatory compliance. Our QA is aligned to ISO 17100 and ISO 18587, with sector-specific requirements such as AQAP 2110 quality assurance and Regulation 2021/821 controlled-data handling applied where relevant. We serve Life Sciences, Legal, Finance, Defence, and Manufacturing clients across 150+ languages with 3,500+ subject-matter linguists. For teams managing audit-sensitive content, contact us to discuss your security and compliance requirements directly.
FAQ
Is AQAP 2110 a certificate or an alignment?
AQAP 2110 conformity is normally demonstrated to the acquiring government through Government Quality Assurance under STANAG 4107, not a third-party badge. Some suppliers also hold a third-party AQAP 2110 certificate; AD VERBUM's was issued by Bureau Veritas. Either route requires the vendor to support a GQA request during the contract.
Does a translation vendor really fall under AQAP 2110?
Yes, when it handles NATO-bound documentation. AQAP 2110 obligations flow down from the prime contractor to subcontractors and external providers, including the company translating the technical file. The acquiring government can extend Government Quality Assurance to that vendor.
What is the difference between AQAP 2110 and ISO 9001?
AQAP 2110 contains all of ISO 9001:2015 and adds NATO-specific requirements: configuration management, program risk management, product dependability, and Government Quality Assurance. ISO 9001 alone does not give a government the GQA access AQAP 2110 requires.
How does Regulation (EU) 2021/821 affect defence translation?
Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/821 defines technical assistance to include transmitting controlled technical knowledge, including by electronic means. Sending controlled data to an unvetted linguist can be an unlicensed transfer. National authorities include BAFA in Germany, DGA in France, and UAMA in Italy.
Is an NDA enough to send controlled technical documents to a translator?
No. An NDA covers confidentiality, but not the quality-record traceability of AQAP 2110, the information-security controls of ISO 27001, or the linguist nationality vetting Regulation (EU) 2021/821 expects for controlled data.
What is AQAP 2210, and how does it relate to 2110?
AQAP 2210 adds software quality assurance requirements on top of AQAP 2110. AQAP 2120 is the reduced subset for production-only subcontractors. For design, development, and production documentation, AQAP 2110 is the baseline requirement.
