MEDALS
Provides information on 42 million technical drawings stored throughout the DoD. Military Engineering Data Asset Locator System (MEDALS)
At a glance
- Operator
- DLA Logistics Information Service (Defense Logistics Agency)
- Access
- AMPS required
- Last updated
Contact
- Commercial
- 1-877-352-2255
- DSN
- 661-7766
MEDALS (Military Engineering Data Asset Locator System) is a Defense Logistics Agency system that tells users where a given engineering drawing or technical data package is physically stored across the DoD — it is a locator/index, not a document repository itself. DLA Logistics Information Service operates it, and access to the underlying technical data requires a Common Access Card (CAC) or External Certification Authority (ECA) credential provisioned through DLA's Account Management and Provisioning System (AMPS).
What it is
MEDALS is described by DLA as the DoD's central, and only, locator system for engineering drawings: it does not hold the drawing images themselves, but indexes which repository holds a given drawing so the requester can retrieve it from that system. DLA's own MEDALS history materials put the index at over 44 million drawings, submitted to MEDALS by contributing repositories in a standardized indexing format. The system dates to an October 1988 implementation.
Who operates it
MEDALS is a DLA Logistics Information Service application, run by the Defense Logistics Agency.
Access
The directory's stored access value of "public" does not hold for MEDALS data. DLA states that access to MEDALS does not by itself grant access to the technical data it indexes, and that all access requires a trusted-agent credential (CAC or ECA). Accounts and application roles are provisioned through AMPS (DLA's Account Management and Provisioning System, amps.dla.mil): CAC-enabled users can request the MEDALS role directly after completing required cyber-awareness training, while non-CAC external users register through AMPS first. A published MEDALS/AMPS access guide walks users through this registration.
How logisticians use it
Engineering, sustainment, and procurement personnel use MEDALS to locate the current holder of an engineering drawing or technical-data package — typically a service repository running JEDMICS (Joint Engineering Data Management Information and Control System) or a Product Data Management (PDM) system — before requesting the actual drawing from that holding system.
Related systems
MEDALS is closely tied to JEDMICS and other DoD Product Data Management systems, which are the repositories that actually store the drawing images MEDALS indexes. It is also provisioned through AMPS, the same DLA account system used for several other DLA logistics applications.