Wampum

Belgium was the first European state to address the issue of anti-personnel mines, and drove the Mine Ban Treaty. This week I was pleased to see, both in Le Soir (Bruxelles) and Le Monde (Paris), that Belgium has decided to destroy its stocks of US made cluster munitions. Here's why, and why its EU news.

Four types of US made cluster munitions have a history of producing high numbers of hazardous submunition duds. High dud rates have been documented in testing for Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) M77 submunitions and 155mm artillery projectiles with M42 and M46 Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) submunitions. Two types of air-dropped cluster munitions--older Rockeye (CBU99/CBU-100) bombs and newer Combined Effects Munitions (CBU-87)--have produced high numbers of hazardous duds in combat operations in Iraq, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan.

The United States stockpiles over one billion submunitions in weapons currently in service. Nearly three-quarters of this stockpile of submunitions are contained in MLRS rockets and 155mm artillery projectiles. Given reported failure rates, a stockpile of that size creates the specter of well over 100 million explosive duds, each posing a danger to civilians similar to antipersonnel landmines.

The four cluster munitions of concern and their reported failure rates include:

1. MLRS with M26 warhead: 16 percent dud rate for the M77 submunition.1 Some lots were reported to have dud rates as high as 23 percent, based on testing done to accept newly produced batches.2 Each M26 warhead contains 644 submunitions. Thus, the standard volley of twelve MLRS rockets would likely result in more than 1,200 dud submunitions scattered randomly in a 120,000 to 240,000 square meter impact area. The U.S. stockpile of MLRS rockets contains over 309 million submunitions.3 This could equate to more than 49.4 million explosive duds.

2. 155mm DPICM M483A1 & M864 artillery projectiles: 14 percent dud rate for the M42 and M46 DPICM submunitions.4 The M483A1 artillery projectile contains sixty-four M42 and twenty-four M46 DPICM submunitions. The M864 projectile contains forty-eight M42 and twenty-four M46 DPICM submunitions. Based on the dud rate established by testing existing stocks of these projectiles, each M483A1 round fired would result in twelve dud submunitions and each M864 round would result in ten dud submunitions. The U.S. stockpile of 155mm projectiles contains over 434 million submunitions.5 This could equate to more than 60.7 million hazardous duds.

3. Rockeye CBU-99/CBU-100: Each Rockeye bomb contains 247 Mk 118 submunitions. These cluster bombs were used extensively in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. While no reliable estimate of the failure rate is available, clearance agencies in Kuwait encountered a very large number of dud Rockeye submunitions in their operations.6 One U.S. company reported clearing 95,799 M118 Rockeye submunitions in their sector of Kuwait, which constituted 18% of the total area cleared.7 In 2002, 451 Rockeye submunitions were detected and destroyed by mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal teams in Kuwait.8 Rockeyes, which were developed in the 1950s, were also used in great numbers in the Vietnam War. The number of Rockeye bombs currently in the U.S. arsenal is unknown, but is still believed to be high.

4. Combined Effects Munition CBU-87: dud rates of at least 5 to 7 percent for the BLU-97 submunition in operations in Yugoslavia/Kosovo and Afghanistan.9 The CBU-87 is an air-dropped bomb that contains 202 BLU-97 submunitions. Using the 7 percent submunition failure rate documented in Kosovo, each bomb dropped would result in fourteen explosive dud submunitions over an area about the size of a U.S. football field. The U.S. used a total of 10,035 CBU-87s, with more than 2 million submunitions, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The size of the U.S. stockpile of this older version of the Combined Effects Munition (CBU-87), which was first produced in 1984, is not known. But large numbers are believed to be held, even though newer models (CBU-103) are being fielded with improved accuracy, due to the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser, and fuze modifications.
   

A typical fire mission of 36 MLRS rockets could produce an average of 1368 unexploded submunitions. A battalion-2 (24 cannon firing 2 rounds each for a total of 48 rounds) with a 95 percent submunition reliability produces, on average, 212 unexploded submunitions, per football field sized area.

In a nutshell, cluster munitions are anti-personnel mine delivery systems. Anti-personnel mines are no longer legitimate weapons, so cluster munitions are also no longer legitimate weapons. That won't slow supermen like the current SecDef, but command level officers have to plan for manuver and tempo in an UneXploded Ordinance (UXO) environment, and some even think about the field after the battle moves on, or ends, and year after year, UXOs lop the limbs off of civilians.

Even the writers for The West Wing have worked the military value of landmines into their material. But what is the real value of an area denial munition? Does anyone think that US national policy is made, or unmade, but the presence or absence, of systems designed to scatter 3lb bomblets over 40 acres, leaving on the order of 1,000 unexploded bomblets per 40 acres of "area denied"? How many times are US or allied forces going to face the threat of hostile marching bands unsupported by armor, artillery, air assets, choreographers and a tolerable score?

40 acres, a mule, and 1,000 banana peels that go "bang". Now there's a deal that hard to resist.

Prior posts on mines: 802.11x. Don't miss the comments. Links: SUBMUNITION UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE (UXO) HAZARDS at John Pike's GS.O. Cluster Munitions a Foreseeable Hazard in Iraq at the Human Rights Watch site.