The US military slang terms for them are "firecracker" or "popcorn" shells, for the many small explosions they cause in the target area. They are typically referred to as ICM ( Improved Conventional Munitions) shells.
Īrtillery shells that employ similar principles have existed for decades. They have been produced by 34 countries and used in at least 23. The US used the 9-kilogram (20 lb) M41 fragmentation bomb wired together in clusters of 6 or 25 with highly sensitive or proximity fuzes.įrom the 1970s to the 1990s cluster bombs became standard air-dropped munitions for many nations, in a wide variety of types.
The technology was developed independently by the United States, Russia and Italy (see Thermos bomb). It was used in World War II to attack both civilian and military targets. The first significantly operationally used cluster bomb was the German SD-2 or Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg, commonly referred to as the Butterfly Bomb. Wings rotate as bomb falls, unscrewing the arming spindle connected to the fuze. Development SD2 Butterfly Bomb circa 1940. As of 10 February 2022, a total of 123 states have joined the Convention, as 110 states parties and 13 signatories. The Convention entered into force and became binding international law upon ratifying states on 1 August 2010, six months after being ratified by 30 states. This failure rate ranges from 2 percent to 40 percent or more.Ĭluster munitions are prohibited for those nations that ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, adopted in Dublin, Ireland, in May 2008. Unexploded bomblets can kill or maim civilians and/or unintended targets long after a conflict has ended, and are costly to locate and remove. Other cluster munitions are designed to destroy runways or electric power transmission lines.īecause cluster bombs release many small bomblets over a wide area, they pose risks to civilians both during attacks and afterwards. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicles. cluster munition, Vietnam War A cluster bomb is dropped at the Nightmare Range in South KoreaĪ cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Honest John missile warhead cutaway around 1960, showing M134 bomblets filled with Sarin Half of a surface-to-air missile site in North Vietnam blanketed in exploding bomblets dispersed by a U.S.
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