Oryx, or Oryxspioenkop, is a Dutch open-source intelligence defence analysis website[1][2] and warfare research group.[3] According to Oryx, the term spionkop (Afrikaans for "spy hill") "refers to a place from where one can watch events unfold around the world".[4]
Oryx was created by Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans, who have also written two books on the Korean People's Army.[5][6] Both have previously worked for Netherlands-based Bellingcat.[7][8] Oliemans also worked for Janes Information Services, a British open-source military intelligence company.[8] After Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans retired from the Oryx Blog, long-time contributor Jakub Janovsky took over as the site administrator.[9]
The blog gained international prominence through its work during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, counting and keeping track of material losses based on visual evidence and open-source intelligence from social media.[11][12][13] It has been regularly cited in major media, including Reuters,[14]BBC News,[15]The Guardian,[16]The Economist,[17]Newsweek,[18]CNN,[12] and CBS News.[19]Forbes has called Oryx "the most reliable source in the conflict so far", calling its services "outstanding".[20][21][22] Because it reports only visually confirmed losses, Forbes claimed that Oryx's tallies of equipment losses have formed absolute minimum baselines for loss estimates.[1][20]
In June 2023, former General David Petraeus commended Oryx: "In this and age of open source media and intelligence, there is a website that actually tracks absolutely confirmed, verified destruction of, say, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. (...) This is confirmed by photograph[s], with metadata, so that you make sure you don't double-count, etc."[23]
On 19 June 2023, Oryx announced that the blog would end on 1 October 2023. In the statement posted on Twitter, Oryx explained that the blog had been created a decade earlier "out of boredom", and that the project – which had been conducted "in our free time" and without any pay – had turned into an "all-consuming project" that had not resulted in any jobs and which "just doesn't make me happy anymore".[24] In a follow-up statement, Oryx clarified that the list covering losses in Russia's invasion of Ukraine would continue to be updated until the end of the war by long-time contributor Jakub Janovsky and the open-source intelligence group WarSpotting.[25][26]
Reception
On 11 July 2022, the Warsaw Institute stated that, "The data from Oryx is regarded as one of the most accurate sources, however, there are concerns that there is a pro-Ukrainian bias as there might be more photos published about Russian destroyed equipment."[27]
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