The Forum on the Arms Trade is a network of civil society experts and a point of contact for strengthening public efforts to address the humanitarian, economic and other implications of arms transfers, security assistance, and weapons use. Managed from Washington DC, the Forum provides a venue for bringing its community's wide-ranging expertise together to amplify and strengthen its work, while also offering government and media members a one-stop resource for the latest information, analysis, and best contacts. Forum-listed experts are located around the world and work on diverse topics including human rights, development, arms control, humanitarian disarmament, cybersecurity, arms and the environment, anti-corruption, and related fields.

Notification Tracker

New FMS notifications: October 21 - Taiwan 11 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) M142 launchers ($1.008b), 135 AGM-84H land attack missiles ($436.1m), 6 Recce pods ($367.2m) October 16 - Romania $300 million for coastal defense systems October 9 - Finland $14.7 billion for 50 F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft, 8 F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, 14 EA-18G Growler aircraft; $12.5 billion for 64 F-35s October 1 - Egypt $417 million for marine domain awareness systems South Korea $158.1 million for 115 Sidewinder missiles September 30 - Switzerland $7.452 billion for F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft and weapons, $6.56 billion for 40 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and weapons, and $2.2. billion for Patriot missile systems; India $90 million for C-130J support  September 28 - Japan $55.311 million for 51 RAM tactical missiles September 24 - United Kingdom $401.3 million for C-17 support Netherlands $241 million for 34 Patriot (PAC-3) missiles September 2 - France $350 million for C-130 support Spain $248.5 million for 100 medium range air-to-air missiles    see resource 

U.S. Presidential Election

Our tracker of positions taken by Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden on four key issues: stopping arms supplies to Saudi Arabia, support for the Arms Trade Treaty, how oversight should be led on firearms exports, and the Mine Ban Treaty.

Resource Page - Int'l Trade of Firearms & Ammunition: Move to Commerce Control

Controversial changes that move export oversight on select firearms, including some assault weapons and sniper rifles, to the Commerce Department went into effect in March 2020..See resource page for concerns expressed and more information.

Experts Publications

​Highlighting publications in which Forum-listed experts were involved. Inclusion on the Forum on the Arms Trade expert list does not indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of others.
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan+, "In Search of Enemies: The Governments holding Humanitarian Disarmament Hostage,” Nonviolence International Canada, October 23, 2020.

Bonnie Docherty+, "New Weapons, Proven Precedent Elements of and Models for a Treaty on Killer Robots," Human Rights Watch and International Human Rights Clinic, October 20, 2020.

Elizabeth Minor+, "Regulating Autonomy in Weapons Systems," Article 36, October 2020.

Ray Acheson, "Confronting the Pandemic of Militarism at the First Committee," First Committee Monitor, vol. 18, no. 2, Reaching Critical Will, October 18, 2020.

Matthew Breay Bolton, "Youth and Disarmament Education," First Committee Monitor, vol. 18, no. 2, Reaching Critical Will, October 18, 2020.

Allison Pytlak, "Cyber," First Committee Monitor, vol. 18, no. 2, Reaching Critical Will, October 18, 2020.

Laura Boillot, "Explosive Weapons," First Committee Monitor, vol. 18, no. 2, Reaching Critical Will, October 18, 2020.

Cesar Jaramillo, "Nagorno-Karabakh a reminder of Canada's role as global arms dealer," Ottawa Citizen, October 16, 2020.

Iain Overton, "A decade of global IED harm reviewed," Action on Armed Violence, October 15, 2020.

Josh Ruebner, "Congress wants to let Israel nix US weapon sales," Mondoweiss, October 14, 2020.

William Hartung, "The U.S. of A(rms):The Art of the Weapons Deal in the Age of Trump," TomDispatch, October 13, 2020.

Elizabeth Minor, "'Autonomous' Weapons: Building Towards International Regulation from Contributions to the CCW," Article 36, October, 2020.

Iain Overton+, "Improvised Explosive Devices: Past, Present and Future," Action on Armed Violence, October 2020.

Pieter Wezeman,, Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, and Siemon Wezeman, "Transparency in Arms Procurement: Limitations and Opportunities for Assessing Global Armament Developments," SIPRI, October 2020.

Annie Shiel and Dan Mahanty+, "Great Responsibility: A Legislative Reform Agenda for U.S. Arms Transfers and Civilian Harm," Center for Civilians in Conflict and Stimson Center, October 13, 2020.

Ray Acheson, "Choosing well-being over weapons," First Committee Monitor, vol. 18, no. 1, Reaching Critical Will, October 8, 2020.
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View the full list of recent and past publications featuring Forum on the Arms Trade-listed experts.

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Updated Resource - U.S. Arms to Taiwan

On October 21, the State Department formally notified Congress of nearly $2 billion in proposed arms sales to Taiwan. See updated resource page.

Latest "This Week in Arms Trade Publications"

Click image above for the latest collection of publications by Forum-listed experts, and other updates on arms trade, security assistance and weapons use. Sign up to receive directly via email and check archived editions here. 

U.S. Landmine Policy

Changes to U.S. landmine policy to allow for greater use of the weapons were announced by the White House on Jan 31. On May 6, More than 100 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Esper expressing disappointment in new U.S. landmine policy and seeking answers to questions on the justification for the reversal and future plans. The Defense Department replied on September 5. Reaction and information available - resource page.

"Arms Trade FAQ" videos

See transcripts and more details here.

Experts

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