Editing Simplified Technical English (section)

==Aerospace and defense standards==
"Simplified Technical English" is sometimes used as a generic term for a controlled natural language. The standard started as an industry-regulated writing standard for aircraft maintenance documentation, but it has become a requirement for an increasing number of military land vehicles, seacraft, and weapons programs. Although it was not initially intended for use as a general writing standard, it has been successfully adopted by other industries and for a wide range of document types. The US government's [[Plain English]] lacks the strict vocabulary restrictions of the aerospace standard, but represents an attempt at a more general writing standard.<ref>[http://www.plainlanguage.gov Plain Language: Improving Communications from the Federal Government to the Public<!--Bot-generated title-->]</ref>

Since 1986, STE has been a requirement of the ATA Specification i2200 (formerly ATA100) and ATA104 (Training). STE is also a requirement of the [[S1000D]] Specification. The European Defence Standards Reference (EDSTAR) recommends STE as one of the [[best practice]] standards for writing technical documentation to be applied for defense contracting by all EDA (European Defence Agency) participating member states.

Today, the success of STE is such that other industries use it beyond its initial purpose for maintenance documentation and outside the aerospace and defense domains. At the end of Issue 8 distribution in December 2024, the Issue 8 STE distribution log shows that 64% of users come from outside these two industries. STE is successfully applied in the automotive, renewable energies, and offshore logistics sectors, and is further expanding within medical devices and the pharmaceutical sector. STE interest is also increasing within the academic world, including the disciplines of [[information engineering]], [[applied linguistics]], and [[computational linguistics]]).