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When the White House announced on Friday that it would approve the supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine, it followed assurances from pentagonal Officials said the weapons have been improved to reduce the risk to civilians.
The weapon, shunned by many nations, throws small grenades designed to destroy armored vehicles and troops in the open, but they often don’t explode instantly. After years or even decades, they can kill adults and children who find them.
The Pentagon has said the failure rate for the weapons they will be sending to Ukraine is 2.35% or less, much better than the usual rate common for cluster weapons. But the Pentagon’s own statements indicate that the cluster munitions in question contain older grenades that are known to have a failure rate of 14% or more. They are 155mm artillery shells that can each fly 20 miles before breaking through the air and releasing 72 small grenades that usually explode on impact along the perimeter of an elliptical area larger than a football field.
The Pentagon wanted to send to Ukraine an improved version of the type used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. But the reality is a bit more complicated. Al Vosburghretired Ùˆ army Once used, a colonel trained in bomb disposal said, it would take a massive education campaign to warn civilians of the dangers of unexploded grenades before they could safely return home.
Analysts say that up to 40% of the submunitions from Russian cluster munitions result in useless munitions.
The Pentagon built millions of these artillery shells from the 1970s to the 1990s, according to official records, and fired 25,000 of them during Persian Gulf War. Combined with 17,200 surface-to-air missiles that carry the same type of submunitions carried by the military and Marine Corps The United States launched more than 13.7 million grenades on Iraqi targets in the 1991 conflict.
Army and Marine Corps artillery shells of this type are tested at Yuma in a relatively flat area of ​​heavily packed soil, ideal for grenades to detonate on impact.
But in conflict, these shells are fired in a wide variety of places commanding detonation rates of up to 10%, and in some cases even higher, especially when they land in water, sand, mud, or soft ground such as plowed fields. The fuses on the grenades fired by the M864 are designed to detonate when they hit hard targets such as armored vehicles and bunkers.
The weapon, shunned by many nations, throws small grenades designed to destroy armored vehicles and troops in the open, but they often don’t explode instantly. After years or even decades, they can kill adults and children who find them.
The Pentagon has said the failure rate for the weapons they will be sending to Ukraine is 2.35% or less, much better than the usual rate common for cluster weapons. But the Pentagon’s own statements indicate that the cluster munitions in question contain older grenades that are known to have a failure rate of 14% or more. They are 155mm artillery shells that can each fly 20 miles before breaking through the air and releasing 72 small grenades that usually explode on impact along the perimeter of an elliptical area larger than a football field.
The Pentagon wanted to send to Ukraine an improved version of the type used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. But the reality is a bit more complicated. Al Vosburghretired Ùˆ army Once used, a colonel trained in bomb disposal said, it would take a massive education campaign to warn civilians of the dangers of unexploded grenades before they could safely return home.
Analysts say that up to 40% of the submunitions from Russian cluster munitions result in useless munitions.
The Pentagon built millions of these artillery shells from the 1970s to the 1990s, according to official records, and fired 25,000 of them during Persian Gulf War. Combined with 17,200 surface-to-air missiles that carry the same type of submunitions carried by the military and Marine Corps The United States launched more than 13.7 million grenades on Iraqi targets in the 1991 conflict.
Army and Marine Corps artillery shells of this type are tested at Yuma in a relatively flat area of ​​heavily packed soil, ideal for grenades to detonate on impact.
But in conflict, these shells are fired in a wide variety of places commanding detonation rates of up to 10%, and in some cases even higher, especially when they land in water, sand, mud, or soft ground such as plowed fields. The fuses on the grenades fired by the M864 are designed to detonate when they hit hard targets such as armored vehicles and bunkers.
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