Known as the Environmental Engineering Considerations and Laboratory Tests, MIL-STD-810 focuses on tailoring military equipment’s environmental design and test limits to the conditions it will undergo during its service life. These conditions range from different environments to transportation conditions such as shocks. The tests themselves also vary depending on the nature, size, and weight of the equipment being tested.

Over time, MIL-STD-810 has evolved and been updated. MIL-STD-810G is the latest revision and is a comprehensive document including several corrections, significant changes, and additions to MIL-STD-810F that include five new test methods. While MIL-STD-810 is specifically for military equipment and applications, the standard often is used for commercial products, too.

The military must have a formal method of testing equipment under various environmental conditions in order to keep service members safe and to prolong the service life of the equipment itself. They also need equipment designers, engineers, and manufacturers to understand exactly the type of environments and conditions military equipment must be able to withstand.

As such, specifications and standards have been developed over the past 70 years that have evolved to become MIL-STD-810G. Over time, the standards have come to include more specific statements for shock and vibration tests that mimic real-world operating environments and that allow for the creation of test chambers to simulate conditions encountered during a product’s service life.