Cluster munition

A US B-1 Lancer releasing its payload of cluster bombs

Cluster Munitions or Cluster Bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions ("bomblets"). The most common types are intended to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles. Submunition based weapons designed to destroy runways, electric power transmission lines, deliver chemical or biological weapons, or to scatter land mines have also been produced. Some submunition based weapons can disperse non-munition payloads, such as leaflets.

Cluster bombs are not specifically covered by any international legal instrument, although the general rules of international humanitarian law aimed at protecting civilians apply as they do to the use of all other weapons. An initiative by the Government of Norway launched an international treaty development process commonly known as the Oslo Process in February 2007 to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians by 2008. According to the Cluster Munition Coalition, 84 governments (see below) are participating in the process including over half of the world's stockpilers and half of the producers. The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is campaigning for an international treaty banning cluster munitions. In the absence of an internationally agreed definition of cluster munition and while such a definition is being developed the CMC is calling for "a prohibition on cluster munitions, as defined." Through an effects-based description, the CMC has provided some guidance on the types of weapons that it considers to be cluster munitions, i.e. weapons that are prone to indiscriminate use and that pose severe and lasting risks to civilians from unexploded submunitions.

Development

The first cluster bomb used operationally was the German SD-2 or Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg, commonly referred to as the Butterfly Bomb. It was used during the Second World War to attack both civilian and military targets. The technology was developed independently by the United States of America, Russia and Italy (see Thermos Bomb). Cluster bombs are now standard air-dropped munitions for many nations, in a wide variety of types. Currently produced by 34 countries and used by at least 23.

Artillery shells that employ similar principles have existed for decades. They are typically referred to as ICM (Improved Conventional Munitions) shells. The US military slang terms for them are "firecracker" or "popcorn" shells, for the many small explosions they cause in the target area.

Types of cluster bombs

A US Vietnam era BLU-3 cluster bomblet.

A basic cluster bomb is a hollow shell (generally streamlined if intended for carriage by fast aircraft) containing from three to more than 2,000 submunitions. Some types are dispensers that are designed to be retained by the aircraft after releasing their munitions. The submunitions themselves may be fitted with small parachute retarders or streamers to slow their descent (allowing the aircraft to escape the blast area in low-altitude attacks).

Modern cluster bombs and submunition dispensers are often multiple-purpose weapons, containing mixtures of anti-armor, anti-personnel, and anti-materiel munitions. The submunitions themselves may also be multi-purpose, such as combining a shaped charge, to attack armour, with a fragmenting case, to attack infantry, materiel, and light vehicles. Modern multipurpose munitions may have an incendiary effect.

A growing trend in the design of submunition-based weapons is the smart submunition, which uses guidance circuitry to locate and attack particular targets, usually armored vehicles. Recent weapons of this type include the U.S. CBU-97 sensor-fused weapon, first used in combat during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Munitions specifically intended for anti-tank use may be set to self-destruct if they reach the ground without locating a target, theoretically reducing the risk of unintended civilian deaths and injuries. One limitation of the smart submunition is cost: such weapons are many times more expensive than standard cluster bombs, which are cheaper and simpler to manufacture.

Incendiary

Incendiary cluster bombs are intended to start fires, just as conventional incendiary bombs (also called firebombs). They are specifically designed for this purpose, with submunitions of white phosphorus or napalm, and they often include anti-personnel and anti-tank submunitions to hamper firefighting efforts. When used in cities they have often been preceded by the use of conventional explosive bombs to break open the roofs and walls of buildings to expose flammable contents to the incendiaries. One of the earliest examples is the so-called Molotov bread basket first used by the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939-40. This type of munition was extensively used by both sides in the strategic bombings of World War II. Bombs of this type were used to start firestorms in cases such as the bombing of Dresden in World War II and the firebombing of Tokyo.

Anti-personnel

Anti-personnel cluster bombs use explosive fragmentation to kill troops and destroy soft (unarmored) targets. Along with incendiary cluster bombs, these were among the first forms of cluster bombs produced by Germany during WWII. They were famously used during the Blitz with delay and booby-trap fusing to prevent firefighting and other damage control efforts in the bombed areas. They were also used with a contact fuse when attacking entrenchments. These weapons were most widely used during the Vietnam War when millions of tons of submunitions were dropped on Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Anti-tank

Most anti-armor munitions contain shaped charge warheads to pierce the armor of tanks and armored fighting vehicles. In some cases, guidance is used to increase the likelihood of successfully hitting a vehicle. Modern guided submunitions, such as those found in the U.S. CBU-97 can use either a shaped charge warhead or an explosively formed penetrator. Unguided shaped-charge submunitions are designed to be effective against entrenchments that incorporate overhead cover. To simplify supply and increase battlefield effectiveness by allowing a single type of round to be used against nearly any target, submunitions that incorporate both fragmentation and shaped-charge effects are produced. In United States Army and Marine Corps Field Artillery units, this is a common type of shell used in ground warfare.

Anti-runway

Anti-runway submunitions such as the British JP233 are designed to penetrate concrete before detonating, allowing them to shatter and crater runway surfaces. In the case of the JP233, the cratering effect is achieved through the use of a two-stage warhead that combines a shaped charge and conventional explosive. The shaped charge creates a small crater inside which the conventional explosive detonates to enlarge it. Anti-runway submunitions are usually used along with anti-personnel submunitions equipped with delay or booby-trap fuses that act as anti-personnel mines to make repair more difficult.

Mine-laying

When submunition-based weapons are used to disperse mines, their submunitions do not detonate immediately, but behave like conventional land mines that detonate later. The submunitions usually include a combination of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. Since such mines usually lie on exposed surfaces, the anti-personnel forms, such as the US Area Denial Artillery Munition normally deploy tripwires automatically after landing to make clearing the minefield more difficult. In order to avoid rendering large portions of the battlefield permanently impassable, and to minimize the amount of mine-clearing needed after a conflict, scatterable mines used by the United States are designed to self-destruct after a period of time from 4-48 hours. The internationally agreed definition of cluster munitions being negotiated in the Oslo Process may not include this type of weapon, since landmines are already covered in other specific international instruments.

U.S. Honest John missile warhead cutaway, showing M139 Sarin bomblets (photo circa 1960)

Chemical weapons

During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union developed cluster weapons designed to deliver chemical weapons. The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 banned their use. Six nations declared themselves in possession of chemical weapons. The US and Russia are in the process of destroying their stockpiles, although they have received extensions for the full destruction.

Anti-electrical

An anti-electrical cluster weapon. the CBU-94/B, was first used by the U.S. in the Kosovo War in 1999. These consist of a TMD (Tactical Munitions Dispenser) filled with 202 BLU-114/B submunitions. Each submunition contains a small explosive charge that disperses 147 reels of fine conductive fiber, either carbon fiber or aluminum-coated glass fiber. Their purpose is to disrupt and damage electric power transmission systems by producing short circuits in high-voltage power lines and electrical substations. On the first attack, these knocked out 70% of the electrical power supply in Serbia. There are reports that it took 500 people 15 hours to get one transformer yard back on line after being hit with the conductive fibers.

Leaflet dispensing

The LBU-30 is designed for dropping large quantities of leaflets from aircraft operating at altitude. (Dispensing leaflets from the air is a common propaganda tactic in wartime.) Enclosing the leaflets within the bomblets ensures that the leaflets will fall on the intended area without being dispersed excessively by the wind. The LBU-30 consists of SUU-30 cluster munition dispensers that have been adapted to leaflet dispersal. The dispensers are essentially recycled units from old bombs. The LBU-30 was tested at Eglin Air Force Base in 2000, by an F-16 flying at 20,000 feet.

Threat to civilians

While all weapons are potentially dangerous to civilians, cluster bombs pose a particular threat to civilians for two reasons: they have a wide area of effect, and they have consistently left behind a large number of unexploded bomblets. The unexploded bomblets remain dangerous for decades after the end of a conflict.

File:Deadshooper.JPG

At least 16 civilians were killed and more than 80 injured in repeated attacks on housing flats and central Niš, Serbia (19.4.1999, 7.5.1999 and 12.5.1999) during which NATO planes dropped cluster bombs

98% of 13,306 recorded cluster munitions casualties that are registered with Handicap International are civilians. Cluster munitions are opposed by many individuals and hundreds of groups, such as the Red Cross, the Cluster Munition Coalition and the United Nations, because of the high proportion of civilians that have fallen victim to the weapon. Since February 2005, Handicap International called for cluster munitions to be prohibited and collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to support its call.

The area affected by a single cluster munition, known as its footprint, can be as large as two or three football fields Because of the weapon's broad area of effect, they have often been documented as striking both civilian and military objects in the target area. This characteristic of the weapon is particularly problematic for civilians when cluster munitions are used in or near populated areas and has been documented by research reports from groups such as Human Rights Watch, Landmine Action, Mines Action Canada and Handicap International. In some cases, like the Zagreb rocket attack, civilians were deliberately targeted by such weapons.

One of the worst incidents involving civilian deaths and the use of cluster bombs was the 1999 NATO Cluster bombing of Niš.

Unexploded ordnance

The other serious problem is unexploded ordnance (UXO) of cluster bomblets left behind after a strike. These bomblets may be duds or in some cases the weapons are designed to detonate at a later stage. In both cases, the surviving bomblets are live and can explode when handled, making them a serious threat to civilians and military personnel entering the area. In effect, the UXOs can function like land mines.

Even with cluster bombs that are designed to fully explode, there are always some individual submunitions that do not explode on impact. The US-made MLRS with M26 warhead and M77 submunitions are supposed to have a 5% dud rate but in reality have a rate of 16%. The rate for this type tested during the Gulf War was as high as 23%. The M483A1 DPICM artillery-delivered cluster bombs have a reported dud rate of 14% .

Given that each cluster bomb contains hundreds of bomblets and are fired in volleys, even a small failure rate can lead each strike to leave behind hundreds or thousands of UXOs scattered randomly across the strike area. For example, after the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, UN experts have estimated that as many as one million unexploded bomblets may contaminate the hundreds of cluster munition strike sites in Lebanon. Hezbollah also used a much smaller number of bomblet-dispersing rockets in its shelling of northern Israel.

In addition, some cluster bomblets, such as the BLU-97/B used in the CBU-87, are brightly colored to increase their visibility and warn off civilians. However, the color, coupled with their small and nonthreatening appearance, has caused children to interpret them as toys. This problem was exacerbated in the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), when US forces dropped humanitarian rations from airplanes with similar yellow-colored packaging as the BLU-97/B. The rations packaging was later changed first to blue and then to clear in the hope of avoiding such hazardous confusion.

The US military is developing new cluster bombs that it claims could have a much lower (less than 1%) dud rate. However, in the past, manufacturers' claims about new cluster munitions have proven unreliable and the same problems with unexploded ordnance have persisted. Previous claims for example about the reliability of the CBU-87 with BLU-97 submunitions were not borne out by reality in Afghanistan and Kosovo. Sensor-fused weapons that contain a limited number of submunitions that are capable of autonomously engaging armored targets may provide a viable, if costly, alternative to cluster munitions that will allow multiple target engagement with one shell or bomb while avoiding the civilian deaths and injuries consistently documented from the use of cluster munitions.

On 20 March 2007 the United Kingdom announced the withdrawal of 'dumb' cluster munitions, but retaining cluster munitions which have self-destruct mechanisms reducing the risk to civilians.

Civilian deaths from unexploded cluster bomblets

• In Vietnam, people are still being killed as a result of cluster bombs and other objects left by the US and South Vietnamese military forces. Estimates range up to 300 people for every year.
• In post-war Kosovo unexploded cluster bomblets caused more civilian deaths than landmines.
• It is claimed that at least 18 civilians have been killed and 136 wounded in Lebanon by unexploded bomblets since the August 14 2006 ceasefire in the 2006 Lebanon War. In August 2006, the UN's Mine Action Coordination Center in Tyre, Lebanon, raised an alarm over the post-conflict impact on returning civilians of unexploded cluster bombs allegedly used by Israel against Hezbollah occupied village staging areas. Israel immediately after the cease-fire gave the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) maps indicating the likely locations of unexploded ordnance, to aid the international attempt to clear these areas and avoid injury to the population. However, these maps only showed the general location of unexploded ordnance and were not useful for systematic clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munitions. Immediately after the ceasefire, Israel distributed warning notices to the residents in the areas of warfare, and recommended that they wait a few days before returning to the south until the UNIFIL forces cleared the area of unexploded ordnance. Clearance experts have estimated that it will take 12-18 months to remove the immediate threat from unexploded ordnance from southern Lebanon.

Areas with significant unexploded cluster bomb submunitions

• Lebanon
• Indochina, especially in Laos and central Vietnam's former demilitarized zone.
• Kosovo
• Afghanistan
• Iraq

Countries that have been affected by cluster munitions include:

Afghanistan Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Cambodia Chad Croatia Eritrea Ethiopia

Iraq Israel Kuwait Laos Lebanon Montenegro Pakistan Russia (Chechnya)

Saudi Arabia Serbia (including Kosovo) Sierra Leone Sudan Syria Tajikistan Vietnam

International legislation

Although cluster bombs fall under the general rules of international humanitarian law, they are not specifically covered by any international legal instrument. An initiative by the Government of Norway launched the international Oslo Process in February 2007 to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians by 2008. The process was launched largely in response to the failure of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), as the past five years of discussions have failed to find an adequate response to these weapons that have killed and injured civilians in every conflict they have been used in over the past 40 years. The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is campaigning for a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions based on essential Treaty Principles.

However, a number of sections of the Protocol on explosive remnants of war (Protocol V to the 1980 Convention), 28 November 2003 occasionally address the use of cluster munitions, in particular Article 9, which mandates States Parties to "take generic preventive measures aimed at minimising the occurrence of explosive remnants of war". Belgium was the first country to issue a ban on the use (carrying), transportation, export, stockpiling, trade and production of cluster munitions, and Austria followed suit on 2007-12-07.

There has been parliamentary activity on cluster munitions in several countries, including Austria, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. In some of these countries, there are ongoing discussions concerning draft legislation banning cluster munitions, along the lines of the legislation adopted in Belgium. Norway has also committed itself to an international ban on cluster munitions and recently announced a moratorium on the weapon, as did Hungary. Austria has also committed itself to an international, legally binding instrument on cluster munitions, after the Parliament passed a resolution on cluster munitions in July. On December 5, 2006, Australian Democrats leader Lyn Allison introduced a private bill, titled the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006, to prohibit Australia's use, manufacture and possession of cluster munitions. This bill is not supported by the Australian Government and as a result is unlikely to be passed by Parliament. Moreover, the Australian Defence Force does not currently possess stocks of cluster munitions. In a move similar to Australia there have also been two private members bills introduced into the United Kingdom's parliament, one in the Lords, the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill, and another in the Commons, the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition of Development and Acquisition) Bill. However, as in Australia these do not have the support of the government, despite the Lords bill passing though committee unopposed, and therefore seem unlikely to become law.

International treaties

Other weapons, such as land mines, have been banned in many countries under specific legal instruments for several years, notably the Ottawa Treaty and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Cluster bombs, however, are not yet banned by any international treaty and are considered legitimate weapons by some governments. International governmental deliberations in the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons still turn on the broader problem of explosive remnants of war, a problem to which cluster munitions have contributed in a significant way. However, despite calls from humanitarian organizations and approximately 30 governments, international governmental negotiations to develop specific measures that would address the humanitarian problems cluster munitions pose have not proven possible in the conventional multilateral forum.

Against this background, a new flexible multilateral process similar to the process that led to the ban on anti-personnel land mines in 1997 (the Ottawa Treaty) began with an announcement in November 2006 in Geneva as well at the same time by the Government of Norway that it would convene an international meeting in early 2007 in Oslo to work towards a new treaty prohibiting cluster munitions. This announcement followed Belgium's decision to ban the weapon in February 2006, Austria's decision to work for an international instrument on the weapon and the international controversy over the use and impact of cluster munitions during the war between Hezbollah and Israel in July and August 2006. 49 governments attended the meeting in Oslo February 22-23, 2007 in order to reaffirm their commitment to a new international ban on the weapon. During the meeting Austria announced an immediate moratorium on the use, production and transfer of cluster munitions until a new international trety banning the weapons is in place. A follow-up meeting in this process was held in Lima in May where around 70 states discussed the outline of a new treaty, Hungary became the latest country to announce a moratorium and Peru launched an initiative to make Latin America a cluster munition free zone. Further meetings will take place in Vienna from December 4-7, in Wellington from 18-22 February and in Dublin in May or June 2008, in the hope to conclude by 2008 a new treaty. In addition, the ICRC held an experts meeting on cluster munitions in April 2007 which helped clarify technical, legal, military and humanitarian aspects of the weapon with a view to developing an international response.

Oslo process participants

As of 2 November 2007, the 84 states participating in the Oslo process include:

Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lao PDR, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, UK, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen and Zambia.

See also

• Cluster Munition Coalition
• Bomb disposal
• Demining
• Clear Path International
• CBU-100 Cluster Bomb, an American cluster bomb
• JP233, a British anti-runway cluster bomb
• CBU-97, an American submunition-based smart weapon system which contains a small number of individually guided submunitions.
• BL755, a British cluster bomb used in the Falklands War, Gulf War / Operation Granby, and 2003 Invasion of Iraq / Operation Telic.

External links

• Cluster Munition Coalition
• Clear Path International
• Global Security.org LBU-30
• Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities
• Disarmament Insight website
• Council on Foreign Relations: The Campaign to Ban Cluster Bombs

Manufacturers

• Textron Systems Produces sensor-fuzed weapons.
• Insys Ltd.

Products

• CBU 97 Cluster Bomb

Technical

• Federation of American Scientists article on the CBU97 and CBU105 cluster bombs with smart munitions.
• Federation of American Scientists article on the BLU-114 anti-electrical weapon.

Inquiries

• Inquiry by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee of the Australian Senate into the provisions of the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006