The widely banned munition is wreaking havoc on Russian infantry, but concerns about unexploded ordnance remain.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/5026301

Full article: https://imgur.com/a/JVKx6Rn

Selected excerpt:

The cluster munitions the Biden administration is sending to Ukraine are much older, and pose an even greater threat to civilians. The bomb is called the dual-purpose improved conventional munition, or DPICM, and production of it ended in the 1990s. The longer the munition stays in storage, the higher the “dud rate” — the share of bomblets that remain unexploded after a cluster bomb is fired. Biden’s decision to send the munitions — a choice he described as “difficult” — bypassed a U.S. law prohibiting the transfer of cluster munitions with a dud rate of more than 1 percent.

  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    102·
    1 year ago

    Especially when you use said cluster munitions on your own soil that has already been mined by the russians anyways, you could even argue that the increased threat to your own civilians once they move back into the areas is small-ish. The threat is high, but it’s not much higher than before.