Forum on the Arms Trade

What Forum on the Arms Trade does

The Forum on the Arms Trade is a U.S.-based non-profit civil society network founded in 2015 that connects a globally distributed community of policy experts with government officials, journalists, and civil society stakeholders working on the humanitarian, economic, and security implications of arms transfers, security assistance, and weapons use. Its core offerings include a curated expert directory and referral service ("Ask the Arms Experts"), a Major Arms Sales Notifications Tracker monitoring U.S. Foreign Military Sales (tracking nearly $146B in 2024, $104B+ in 2025, and $79B+ through June 2026), a weekly newsletter ("The Week in Arms Trade Publications"), topic-specific resource pages covering U.S. arms transfers to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, India, landmine policy, and under-threshold sales, and structured cohort programs (English-language and Spanish-Portuguese Latin America-focused Emerging Expert Programs) that develop young professionals into the arms trade expertise community. The 2025-2026 Emerging Expert cohort spans 20 countries across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, and the organization has also published a multi-country Comparative Study on Arms Trade Transparency.

The underlying technology is a web-based content platform (forumarmstrade.org, hosted on Weebly) that delivers expert profiles, curated resource pages, and an ongoing transaction-tracking database; there is no disclosed API, mobile application, or proprietary software stack. The Forum operates on a non-profit, grant- and donation-based funding model and provides all of its services free of charge to government, media, and civil society users, with no commercial pricing, subscription tiers, or revenue-generating products. The organization is staffed by approximately 14 people and maintains an active operating posture with current events, cohorts, and continuously updated tracking data.

Name

Forum on the Arms Trade

Legal name

Forum on the Arms Trade

Website

https://forumarmstrade.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Forum on the Arms Trade is a U.S.-based non-profit network that connects a global community of civil society experts with government officials, journalists, and NGOs working on arms transfer policy, providing free expert referrals, resource pages, and a U.S. Foreign Military Sales notification tracker.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arms Trade Policy Research

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Information (51)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Peace, Security & Arms Control Organizations (BPADAAAF)

Keywords

• Arms trade policy
• Civil society network
• Expert directory
• Arms transfer analysis
• Humanitarian disarmament

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Non-profit/Grant-based funding: As a civil society network organization, the Forum on the Arms Trade operates as a non-profit entity relying on grants, donations, and member support rather than commercial revenue generation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Forum on the Arms Trade operates a non-profit, civil-society expert network that provides an online expert directory, curated resource pages, a weekly digest of arms trade publications, an Emerging Expert Program, and analytical content on arms transfers, security assistance, and weapons use. All resources are provided free of charge to governments, media, and non-governmental organizations working on conventional arms trade and humanitarian disarmament issues.

Product overview

Forum on the Arms Trade operates as a civil society knowledge platform and expert network rather than a traditional software product. The organization provides a portfolio of information resources including the Notification Tracker for monitoring U.S. arms transfer notifications, the Emerging Expert Program for cultivating new policy professionals, The Week in Arms Trade Publications newsletter, Ask the Arms Experts media referral service, the Comparative Study on Arms Trade Transparency report, and topic-specific resource pages on regional and policy-specific arms transfer issues. These offerings function as interconnected informational tools rather than a unified software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Expert Directory

Quantifiable outcome

• Calendar year 2024 total notifications tracked: nearly $146 billion in U.S. arms sales
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Arms Control Association: The Arms Control Association is a U.S.-based nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to public education on arms control and security issues. Both organizations operate as civil society knowledge platforms providing expert analysis, policy resources, and educational content on arms trade and weapons policy.
• Stimson Center: The Stimson Center is a nonpartisan policy research center with substantial work on arms trade, security assistance, and weapons policy. Both organizations serve as convening platforms connecting civil society experts with government and media stakeholders on arms transfer issues.
• Global Witness: Global Witness is an investigative NGO that exposes corruption, environmental and human rights abuses often linked to natural resources, conflict minerals, and arms trafficking. Both operate as civil society advocacy organizations focused on transparency in weapons flows and their humanitarian impact.
• Conflict Armament Research (CAR): CAR investigates and disseminates findings on weapons used in armed conflicts, tracking illicit arms flows and weapons identification. Both organizations focus on arms trade transparency and produce field-driven analysis consumed by humanitarian, policy, and journalistic audiences.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: RAND is a major global policy research institution with extensive work on defense trade, security cooperation, and military policy analysis. Both produce policy-relevant analysis on arms transfers and security assistance, though RAND operates at vastly larger scale as a federally-funded research center.
• Amnesty International (Arms and Military Security): Amnesty International conducts major research and advocacy on the global arms trade and its human rights implications through its Control Arms campaign. Both organizations work on arms trade transparency with a humanitarian focus, though Amnesty operates globally at significantly larger scale.
• Human Rights Watch (Arms Division): Human Rights Watch conducts extensive work on arms transfers and their human rights consequences, including advocacy against sales to abusive regimes. Both organizations document and publicize the humanitarian consequences of arms transfers, though HRW operates as a much larger global organization.
• International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS): IISS is a world-leading authority on global security and defense policy, producing authoritative analysis on arms transfers and military capabilities. Both provide strategic analysis consumed by governments, media, and policy professionals, though IISS operates at substantially larger scale as a membership-based think tank.
• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI): SIPRI is the leading global independent research institute on arms transfers, military expenditure, and conflict. Both SIPRI and the Forum produce independent analysis on international arms trade transparency, though SIPRI operates as a larger, government-funded intergovernmental institute with broader research scope.

Emerging players

• Center for a New American Security (CNAS): CNAS is a bipartisan national security research and policy organization producing analysis on defense trade, security assistance, and U.S. military policy. Both organizations produce substantive analysis on U.S. arms transfers consumed by policy and media audiences, though CNAS focuses more on policy recommendations than pure transparency tracking.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/forum-on-the-arms-trade

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forum on the Arms Trade