Open Source Munitions Portal
A tool for researchers, journalists and practitioners trying to learn more about munitions and their use and impact in conflict.
URL
Description
The Open Source Munitions Portal (OSMP) “is a tool for researchers, journalists and practitioners trying to learn more about munitions and their use and impact in conflicts”. The tool was developed and launched by Airwars, Armament Research Services, and King’s College London in 2023. The platform is an active document that includes thousands of verified open-source images of munitions tagged by munition category, visual characteristics details about where and when each item was documented. While the majority of the archive is from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increasing amounts of images from other conflict zones are being added as well. In addition to the archived and classified imagery, this tool provides links to several other resources for researchers to use to identify and verify explosive ordnance and munitions. These include a detailed glossary and other useful resources. The tool functions as a crowdsourcing tool for archiving conflict imagery and cooperation between open-source researchers. Individuals can submit images and content via a form, with each entry subsequently checked by experts and added to the tool if they determine it to be useful. You can read more about their verification processes here.
Cost
Level of difficulty
Requirements
None
Limitations
The tool covers a small set of explosive ordnance types used mostly in Ukraine and only identifies them by type not specific model.
Ethical Considerations
None
Guide
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Tool provider
Airwars, Conflict Armament Research, King's College London War Studies Department, UK
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Bellingcat Volunteer Team
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