The Omega Research Foundation has an extensive paper and electronic archive documenting the growth and evolution of the international arms industry. Compiled over 30 years, the collection is unique, containing information on the scope and nature of the industry, as well as on specific equipment used by military, policing, and prison agencies around the world.
Resources in our archive include, but are not limited to,
- Company marketing materials, including those used by companies to promote their products at arms and security trade fairs,
- Industry and other trade publications, and
- Arms and security trade fair directories and lists of exhibitors.
Our collection tells a story of the evolution and proliferation of the types of weapons and equipment manufactured, as well as the changes in their marketing and accepted. Our archive also tracks the establishment, expansion, and decline of companies, as well as the growth of domestic arms industries in some regions. We believe that ours is the only collection of its type in the world, as we are not aware of any other researcher or organisation that has obtained information from such a wide range of companies over such a long period of time. We estimate that the collection contains materials gathered by Omega researchers from over 10,000 companies around the world.
Omega uses the archive to support our own research into the manufacture, trade, and use of military and security equipment, but researchers from other organisations and academic institutions have also found the archive invaluable. Professor Anna Feigenbaum from Bournemouth University stated, “Omega’s unique archive has been essential to my research in the fields of critical military and police studies. Without their rich collection of corporate information, catalogues, manuals and ephemera, I would not have been able to write my book Tear Gas (Verso 2017) or a number of other peer review journal publications”. Materials from the archive have also been used in court cases, UN, media and UK parliamentary committee investigations, and by a an a range of non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International, Campaign Against Arms Trade, Drone Wars UK, Oxfam, Pax, and Privacy International as well as the artist Banksy.
Researchers interested in accessing our archive can contact us at info@omegaresearchfoundation.org