Cluster bomb Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Commonly known as a cluster bomb, the cluster bomblet unit (or CBU) is a single air-dropped bomb which ejects about 200 small bomblets. These are often stabilized with small parachutes or streamers. They may explode on contact with the ground or be fused with a delay. The bomblets have an anti-personnel function, and sometimes are designed to pierce tank armor as well. Cluster bombs are part of a family of weapons called 'submunitions' (i.e. a munition contained within another munition). The other type of submunition is known as a FASCAM, or Field Artillery SCatterable Mines (see entry on Landmine).Artillery shells that employ similar principles have existed for decades, 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 in the target area created by the many small grenades or bomblets they contain.
CBUs are designed to scatter over a specific area, referred to as its 'footprint', causing significant damage to buildings and people. One common type of bomblet - the Bomb Live Unit (BLU) 97, produced by the United States - has the shape and size of a soft drink can, is bright yellow, and weighs 1.5 kg. They are designed to fragment at high velocity into hundreds of pieces of shrapnel.
Different types of cluster bomb containers, ranging from the small Rockeye II (490 pounds fully loaded) to the CBU52A/B (770 pounds fully loaded) to the CBU87 (950 pounds fully loaded) exist and can be loaded with different types of bomblet or grenade for the anticipated target. The BLU97 is very common, but other types exist, such as incendiary. During the 1950s and 1960s, the US even manufactured bomblets containing nerve gas for use in cluster bombs. Different types of bomblet can be mixed within a cluster bomb to achieve a desired effect.
CBUs were developed in order to improve the efficiency of aircraft bombing raids, as aircraft carrying CBU can make an effect on a far larger footprint than an aircraft carrying an equivalent tonnage of conventional bombs.
CBUs are able to ignite combustible materials. Some types of CBU can pierce through 125 mm of armoured steel, or more, making them quite useful against armored vehicles, because the armor on the top is always thinnest.
The use of these weapons is hotly opposed by many individuals and groups, such as the Red Cross and the United Nations, because about 10% of the bomblets do not explode on impact. These unexploded ordnance act like anti-personell land mines (which have been bannen in many countries under the Ottawa Treaty) for many years. The small size and bright colours of some bomblets make them attractive to passers-by, especially small children. CBUs are still a danger in Indochina, especially in Laos and southern Vietnam. More recently, in Afghanistan, several civilians have been killed by unexploded bomblets.
In the United States military action against Afghanistan in 2002, military forces faced an embarrassing problem in that humanitarian rations dropped from airplanes initially had the same yellow colored packaging as unexploded cluster bombs. The rations packaging was later changed first to blue and then to clear packaging.
Cluster bomb technology was first used by Germany against the United Kingdom in the Second World War, and developed independently by America and Russia, and is now widely available.
The current trend in cluster bomb design is smart submunitions, such as those used in the CBU97 used by the US Air Force and US Navy, first used in combat against Serbia in 1999 and used again against Iraq in 2003. The smart submunitions used in the CBU97 are themselves very large, approximately the size of a smallish artillery shell (8 to 9cm diameter, 60 to 70cm long), and contain guidance circuitry allowing them to lock onto and engage armored vehicles. They are also designed to self-destruct upon reaching the ground, if they fail to achieve a target lock. They are by all accounts highly lethal and efficient, and may reduce the danger to civilians of unexploded cluster munitions. On the other hand, they're also very expensive.
There are rumors that smart submunition cluster bombs are entering production in Russia as well.
- http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/cbu-97.htm : Federation of American Scientists article on the CBU97 and CBU105 cluster bombs with smart munitions
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