AFG-ARMS-IMPORT

The Arms Transfers Programme uses a wide variety of sources when collecting information for the database. The one common criterion is that the sources are open; that is, published and available to the general public. The sources include: - Newspapers and other periodicals - Monographs and annual reference works - Press releases, annual reports and other information published by arms producing companies - TV broadcasts - Blogs, discussion fora and other Internet publications - Defence white papers and similar policy documents - The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UN Register) - National reports on arms exports and imports - Defence budget documents and parliamentary records The most frequently used sources are commercial periodicals specializing in military issues such as Defense News and Jane's Defence Weekly, newspapers and official governmental publications and the UN Register.