What are cluster munitions?
Cluster munitions, also known as cluster bombs, are canisters containing dozens to hundreds of smaller bomblets, also known as secondary munitions. These canisters can be dropped from aircraft, launched from missiles, or from military artillery.
The canisters would then be released at a set height, depending on the target area, and then the bomblets would be spread out over a wide area. They would be detonated by a trigger when they were close to or touching the ground, releasing multiple pieces of shrapnel to kill soldiers or destroy armored vehicles such as tanks.
What type of cluster munitions does the US supply to Ukraine?
The US has an arsenal of DPICM cluster munitions, or improved conventional munitions, which have been out of service since 2016.
According to a post on the US military website eArmor, the DPICM cluster munitions supplied to Ukraine by the US will be fired from 155mm howitzer guns, with each canister carrying 88 bomblets. Each bomblet has a lethal range of about 10m, so each canister will be able to cover an area of up to 30,000m 2 , depending on the altitude at which they will release the bomblets.
The article also said that DPICM's bomblets have a mechanism that when they explode and hit tanks or armored vehicles, they create metal fragments that break the metal shell. It takes about 10 bomblets to destroy an armored vehicle, but just one piece of metal is enough to disable the vehicle's weapons or make it lose its ability to move.
Close-up inside a cluster bomb.
Have cluster munitions been used on the battlefield in Ukraine before?
Both Ukraine and Russia have used cluster munitions since Russian forces invaded in February 2022. Recently, the Ukrainian military began using cluster munitions supplied by Türkiye on the battlefield.
Since last year, however, Ukrainian officials have begun pressing the United States to supply them with American cluster munitions, arguing that they would provide additional ammunition for the ground weapons equipment the West has provided, thereby narrowing Russia's numerical advantage in artillery.
Why are cluster munitions more controversial than other types of bombs and munitions?
Because the bomblets are spread over a large area, they can pose a danger to civilians.
Additionally, the Red Cross says that 10-40% of cluster munitions fail to detonate. But these cluster munitions can then be detonated by civilian activity years or even decades later.
The Cluster Munition Coalition, an organization that works to ban the weapons, believes that many deadly cluster munitions may still be scattered across Laos and Vietnam, years after they were dropped.
In a statement on Friday, Human Rights Watch said both Ukraine and Russia have killed many civilians through the use of cluster munitions.
“Cluster munitions remain among the world’s most horrifying weapons,” Gilles Carbonnier, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said at a meeting in Switzerland last year on munitions. “They are deadly and can easily cause uncontrolled casualties. Any use of cluster munitions anywhere, by anyone, must be banned.”
Much of the world has banned the use of these weapons through the Cluster Munitions Treaty (CCM), which prohibits their stockpiling, production and transfer.
However, while 123 countries have joined the treaty, the US, Russia, Ukraine and 71 other countries have not.
According to the Human Rights Organization, using live ammunition to attack enemy troops or vehicles is not a violation of international law, but attacking civilians with weapons can be considered a war crime.
When have cluster munitions been used before?
Cluster munitions have been used since World War II, and in more than three dozen conflicts since.
The last time the US used this type of weapon was in Iraq, in the years 2003-2006.
According to a 2017 statement from the US Central Command, the US military has begun to eliminate this type of weapon because of the danger they can pose to civilians .
Nguyen Quang Minh
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