Arms Journal Wants To Promote Asian Military Industries

This week marked the official launch of Arms Journal, a hybrid trade media available online and in print, whose core mission is serving as a platform for Pakistan’s military industries. To this end the Defense Exports Promotions Organization (DEPO) is a key partner for the enterprise and Arms Journal will be supporting both events and institutions connected with the country’s military. Envisioned as an accessible trade publication for local subscribers–mainly government employees and armed forces personnel–the grunt work of putting it all together was led by Ehtesham Bari and his collaborators.

Arms Journal is also involved in promoting the IDEAS-series of arms shows that are held every two years and similar exhibitions elsewhere.

Visiting the Arms Journal website brings readers to a crowded homepage dominated by an endorsement from DEPO, which is a state-owned agency responsible for selling Pakistan’s military products abroad, with a collection of thumbnails below it. The format of Arms Journal is a familiar one, with advertising and publicity combined with fresh content. To fulfill its appointed goal, there’s a print edition of Arms Journal and paid subscriptions are actively solicited on the website starting at $240 for eight issues within a single year if the subscriber resides outside Pakistan.

In the coming months, Arms Journal is featuring content on regional military exhibitions alongside news and essays about the commerce in modern weapon systems. Since it’s based in Pakistan, the editorial team encourage casual readers, professionals, and members of the armed forces to patronize the magazine as a sure sign of support for a homegrown endeavor. After all, one of Arms Journal’s founding principles is to better represent its homeland as a market for military technology.

Arms Journal’s print edition welcomes advertisers with competitive rates. Organizations that want exposure in Pakistan can buy advertorials up to three pages long. An advertorial is tailored content for supporting a particular brand or company and is an alternative to regular ads that usually occupy smaller spaces. Arms Journal does maintain its own terms and conditions for advertising partners. For example, any agreement with outside organizations must be signed at least two months before publication.

For regular ads, Arms Journal offers these in six formats–full page, half page, half page horizontal/vertical, quarter page horizontal/vertical. Event organizers responsible for arms shows and security conferences are welcome to contact Arms Journal about media partnership opportunities. At this stage, Arms Journal already serves as a platform for the biennial IDEAS-series arms show that’s considered the largest in Pakistan.

Readers may notice some of the content on Arms Journal is sourced from 21AAR. This is deliberate, as both parties have an informal agreement to broaden their exposure. As a token of support for a new venture in military/security media, 21AAR shares some of its stories with Arms Journal and these are available in the print edition. This collaboration is limited in scope and motivated by goodwill.