Definition

ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) is an international specification for the preparation of maintenance documentation in a controlled language developed by the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD).  STE was developed in the early 1980s (as AECMA Simplified English) to help second-language speakers of English to unambiguously understand technical manuals written in English. It was initially applicable to civil aircraft maintenance documentation but is now widely used in other industries.

In technical documentation, ambiguous text is bad. Each instruction must be clear. STE is a set of Writing Rules and a Dictionary of controlled vocabulary.