Corrosion Battle Conference at NATO School

Officials from NACE International & ministries of defense convene to compare best practices in combatting material degradation.

The U.S. and its allies are serious about battling corrosion on aging aircraft, ships, submarines, and ground vehicles. Officials from the US DoD Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office and the German, French, and U.K. ministries of defense recently compared best practices in combatting material degradation on weapon systems and facilities during a four-day workshop at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany.

"This is the first time that policy and technical experts have convened to share corrosion prevention policies, practices, and scientific expertise since the NATO School was founded in 1954," said Daniel J. Dunmire, director of the DoD Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office. "Because Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are vigorously pursuing their own technological solutions to prevent corrosion," he said, "it only makes sense that we cooperate to discuss our greatest challenges and the best means of tackling them. We began securing international exchange agreements with our NATO allies in 2007."

Participating organizations that reviewed their institutional support of DoD's multifaceted educational objectives included NACE International, The Corrosion Society, The Society for Protective Coatings, National Center for Education and Research on Corrosion and Materials Performance at The University of Akron, and Aalen University.

"DoD's commitment to partnering with allied nations complements NACE International's dedication to its large international membership," said Bob Chalker, executive director of NACE International and a NATO seminar speaker. "More than 15,000 NACE members live outside the United States, and we strongly support initiatives, including education, conferences, and publications, that will benefit those members who work in military organizations."

Founded in 1943, NACE International, The Corrosion Society, serves 30,000 members in 130 countries. Based in Houston, Texas, with offices in the U.S., China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, the organization reaches all industries impacted by corrosion and offers the most specified technical training and certification programs, conferences, industry standards, reports, publications, and software to prevent and mitigate corrosion.