Used to target Ukraine, Israel & Saudi Arabia in recent years, Shahed 'kamikaze drones' are now among the world's best-known munitions. But how do they work?

The OSMP presents its guide to the Shahed-131 & -136, including a dual interactive 3D model. 🧵

osmp.ngo/collection/sha… The Shahed-131 & -136 are one-way attack (OWA) UAVs which fly along coordinates to pre-designated targets, exploding on impact. Originally designed in Iran, they are now also produced in Russia.

This thread breaks down their key features.



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The GBU-39 – a visual guide to Israel’s “weapon of choice” in Gaza.

This is the first in a series of articles using interactive 3D models alongside images from the OSMP archive to help researchers understand and identify widely-used munitions

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osmp.ngo/collection/sma… The GBU-39 is an American precision-guided air-delivered bomb in the 250-pound weight class. It has a glide-wing design, giving it a range of 110 km from aircraft release point.

This thread 🧵 provides a breakdown of the munition's key components:

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For the first time, Ukraine is now using American-designed munitions of a series called the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to strike military targets inside Russia.

What are ATACMS & how do they work?

A brief guide 🧵

osmp.ngo/model/mgm-140-… ATACMS (pronounced “attack ’ems”) are short-range ballistic missiles first used in combat in the 1990-1 Gulf War.

They have a number of variants with effective ranges of 165–300 km, can travel at speeds of Mach 3, and are highly manoeuvrable in flight

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Following recent Israeli strikes on Iran, images of missile debris scattered across Iraq were shared on social media.

The OSMP identified some of these munitions as the little-known Blue Sparrow air-launched ballistic missile.

A brief guide: 🧵

osmp.ngo/model/blue-spa… Air-launched ballistic missiles (ALBMs) are launched from aircraft, rather than more typical ground- or sea-based platforms.

This allows aircraft to maintain long stand-off distances from their targets, whilst being able to exploit gaps in ballistic missile defences.

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Among images recently published on the OSMP are three of a Russian 9K729 Iskander-series missile delivering cluster munitions, originally researched by @bellingcat.

What are cluster munitions, how are they used & why are they considered controversial?

osmp.ngo/osmp544/ Cluster munitions are deployed by a range of different delivery systems, including artillery projectiles, missiles & air-delivered bombs.

They scatter a range of submunitions - sometimes called 'bomblets' - over a wide area. This can increase the probability of hitting a target.

Today we launch the new and improved Open Source Munitions Portal to help the general public better understand modern conflict.

This thread highlights 9 new features of the tool

osmp.airwars.org A joint project of @airwars and @Arms_Research, the OSMP launched in beta late last year.

After the launch, we spent months talking to journalists, researchers and lawyers to understand how the tool could be more useful for them.