What is a cluster bomb and why is it illegal?
The definition of a cluster munition under Article 2 is “a conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions.” Therefore the ban on cluster munitions, and all relevant Convention obligations such as …
What do cluster bombs do?
Cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing submunitions, or “bomblets,” that are dispersed over a large area, intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once. Cluster bombs can be delivered by planes, artillery and missiles, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
What area can a single cluster bomb cover?
Depending on the wind conditions and the altitude at which the submunitions are released, each bomb container can cover an area of up to 861,120 square feet with submunition strikes.
How much does a cluster bomb cost?
The bomb can be dropped by a variety of modern-day aircraft. It is 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 meters) long, has a diameter of 16 inches (41 centimeters), and weighs roughly 951 pounds (431 kg). The price is US$14,000 per bomb.
Who used cluster bombs?
1960s–1970s in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam: US forces make extensive use of cluster munitions in bombing campaigns. The ICRC estimates that in Laos alone, 9 to 27 million unexploded submunitions remain, and some 11,000 people have been killed or injured, more than 30 percent of them children.
What are submunitions?
Definition of submunition : any of a group of smaller weapons carried as a warhead by a missile or projectile and expelled as the carrier approaches its target.
Does the United States use cluster bombs?
They’re banned by 110 countries, though not by Russia or the US. Still, the US hasn’t used them since the first Gulf War, over 30 years ago. They’re used by the Russians in Ukraine, another sign of this war’s growing savagery.
Does the United States have cluster bombs?
The US last used cluster munitions during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with the exception of a single attack in Yemen in 2009. The US last budgeted funds to produce new cluster munitions in 2007 and since then has only manufactured them for foreign sales.
What countries use cluster bombs?
The following countries are contaminated by cluster munition remnants: Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan*, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Ukraine.
Does USA use cluster bombs?
United States and other NATO countries used large numbers of cluster munitions during the initial stage of the operation. 1,228 cluster bombs containing 248,056 bomblets were used by the Coalition.
Does Raytheon make cluster bombs?
No, Raytheon Technologies does not manufacture or sell cluster munitions (as defined in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions), land mines, nuclear warheads, or biological or chemical weapons.
What is wrong with cluster bombs?
Cluster munitions have been a persistent problem for decades. The wide area effects of these weapons and the large numbers of submunitions that fail to explode as intended have caused large numbers of civilian casualties.