The United States Government has developed welding codes that are in use today such as codes for the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and military standards (MIL). Other government agencies that have welding rules and regulations would be the US Department of Energy, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and NASA for example. These organizations will rely on the organizations we previously discussed in the section above where possible. For fabrications that are specialized such as spacecraft for the government, those agencies will review preexisting codes and make substitutions to shore up existing requirements or create new codes and standards if the existing codes do not fully apply to the needs of that government organization.

Development of Government and Federal Specifications and Standards

Government and federal specifications are developed by the agencies themselves. Some agencies may contract the development of specifications and standards and then publish approved standards. Government and federal specifications and standards typically have contact information such as the military standard for HY-80 and HY-100 steel, MIL-S-21952D(SH) on the front page where “Beneficial comments (recommendations, additions, deletions) and any pertinent data which may be of use in improving this document should be addressed to“ followed by a mailing address.

This is a way for those agencies that are maintaining the specifications and standards to receive feedback from the users of the documents. It is unknown if these agencies hold regular meetings that fabricators can attend to provide input in person as other welding codes allow. Due to the size and breadth of the government this section is an overview.

Basics of Government and Federal Specifications and Standards

The US Government has different agencies that specialize in purchasing who set material standards. This specialization within the federal government is similar to the other welding codes that were previously discussed which reference other codes for material specifications, NDE, and even welding requirements. The US government references other government agencies that are subject matter experts. Government and federal specifications for welding likely reference welding codes such as AWS codes for structural fabrications, and also ASME for boilers, pressure vessels, and pressure piping for example. These government and federal specifications may only reference specific portions of other documents and make changes if different requirements are necessary.

Uses of Government and Federal welding codes in industry today

Some of the uses of government and federal codes are used in aerospace and defense. Logistics is the process of buying goods and services. The United States government has strict rules and regulations for its logistics. To help ensure that the government gets what it is looking for, and to prevent duplication of requirements, the government has developed standards that specify the requirements for everything it purchases. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has standards for welding and fabrication of spacecraft such as the crew capsule seen in Figure 17.26.

There are standards for armor plating and welding of tanks as seen in Figure 17.26. The US Air Force has planes such as the B-52, which has been in service since 1955. Those planes require fabricators who “are certified in structural and specialized welding for alloy metals such as stainless steel, aluminum, cobalt and magnesium” (Ware, 2018). The US Navy has NAVSEA standards for welding and fabrication of ship structures and systems.

Getting certified to the Government and Federal Welding Codes

Government employees and contractors obtain qualification or certification to government standards as part of their contract. As a civilian welder your employer, if contracted by the US government, would get you qualified or certified to weld in accordance with the contract. The specifics of each government agency’s requirements are beyond the scope of this book. If these larger projects are of interest to you, becoming employed with a government contractor at a port or maintenance depot, for example, would be worth looking into.

Attributions

1. Figure 17.26: Boeing’s Starliner crew ship approaches the space station on the company’s Orbital Flight Test-2 mission on May 20, 2022. by NASA in the Public Domain; United States government work
2. Figure 17.27: Tank Training by U.S. Department of Defense, Army Sgt. Joshua Wooten in the Public Domain; United States government work
3. Figure 17.28: 201014-F-NP461-1266 by U.S. Air Force, Senior Airman Lillian Miller in the Public Domain; United States government work
4. Figure 17.29: An Analysis of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2022 Shipbuilding Plan by Congressional Budget Office in the Public Domain; United States government work. CBO’s products are created by our employees in the course of their employment at CBO and are therefore works of the government. (https://www.cbo.gov/about/privacy)