Built a GCC airspace monitor that when airspace is closing, indicating inbound air threats. Methodology inside, roast welcome.
I’ll keep the “another Middle East conflict tracker” eye-roll to a minimum.
This isn’t about tracking who fired what at whom. It’s specifically about one problem I kept having as an expat in Saudi Arabia — finding out GCC airports had closed from a WhatsApp message sent by a panicking colleague 20 minutes after it happened.
So I built something that watches the aircraft instead of waiting for the announcement.
The core methodology:
When an airspace closure is imminent, the official announcement is never first. The flight data is. Aircraft already airborne start holding. Inbound clearances stop being issued. Ground queues freeze. Departures begin diverting. This happens before any NOTAM drops and well before any government statement.
Sandstorm OSINT monitors live ADS-B data across 11 GCC airports continuously — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, and others. It’s looking for exactly those behavioural signatures in real time.
It also detects GPS jamming events from positional inconsistencies across multiple aircraft simultaneously — useful given how frequently that’s been happening in the Gulf lately.
Verification pipeline (because single-source garbage is everyone’s problem):
Every item runs through multi-stage AI verification — cross-referenced across flight data, NOTAMs, official government feeds, whitelisted news sources, and regional Telegram channels. Confidence scored 1-10. Under 5 doesn’t publish. Single unverified source doesn’t publish. Whitelisted official accounts like CENTCOM and GCC MODs get a higher floor.
It’s not trying to be a war tracker. It’s trying to answer one specific question — is my airport about to close and do I have time to do something about it.
Free tier at www.sandstormosint.com — no card, hourly feed, airspace overview. Pro gets real-time and Telegram alerts.
Happy to get into the methodology in the comments. Genuine criticism welcome — this community will find the holes faster than anyone.