Open source munitions portal launch

Join Airwars and Armament Research Services at the launch of a tool to reshape open-source conflict reporting, including in Ukraine and Gaza.

Open Source Munitions Portal (OSMP) is a free online tool created by Airwars and Armament Research Service (ARES) to allow journalists, human rights practitioners, conflict affected civilians, and others to quickly and efficiently understand the use – and impact – of explosive weapons in conflicts.

The platform has three main functions:

• A searchable archive of hundreds of images of munitions from active conflict zones (mostly Ukraine), each reviewed, categorised and tagged by munitions experts.

• Visual and text guides to key munition categories, explaining how to understand the difference between munitions and how they are used by militaries.

• A tool to help users classify open source munition images into munition categories.

At our launch, Airwars and ARES will be joined by world-leading journalists and experts to discuss the tool and its relevance for those working with open source evidence in conflicts.

Our panel will include:

• Dr Jack McDonald (Chair) – Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, Jack is the author of two books examining the relationship between the law and ethics of war, and emerging technology.

• Christiaan Triebert – An early pioneer of open-source investigative techniques, Christian works in the New York Times Visual Investigations team, which combines traditional reporting with open-source methods. He has been involved in reporting that has won multiple Pulitzer awards.

• Mevan Babakar – News and Information Credibility Lead at the Google News Initiative, Mevan is responsible for developing tools to fight misinformation and building stronger news ecosystem. Prior to joining Google she led the organisation Full Fact and she is currently a trustee of UNHCR UK.

• Charlie Randall –  Associate Researcher at ARES. He has worked on a variety of arms and munitions classification projects, including the ARES Arms & Munitions Classification System and OSMP. His research work has examined sub-munitions, chemical weapons, 3D-printed firearms, and the online arms trade in northwestern Syria.

• Joe Dyke – Head of Airwars’ Investigations and Accountability Unit, Joe steered the development of the OSMP. Before joining Airwars, he worked for a decade in conflict zones in the Middle East.

• Júlia Nueno – Formerly of Airwars, Julia recently joined Forensic Architecture. She steered the design and development of the OSMP project, and several other Airwars investigations.

About Airwars and ARES

Airwars is the leading civilian harm monitoring organisation. Its research team have monitored and assessed civilian harm in conflicts across for the past decade, while its dedicated investigations team partners with international media on investigations related to civilian harm.

Armament Research Service is a specialist technical intelligence firm recognised as one of the world's leading experts on munitions. It has previously developed crater, post-blast and explosive weapons effects tools.

Registration is open! You can register for online attendance.