US likely to supply Ukraine with deadly Cluster Bombs. All you need to know about controversial weapon
Joe Biden led United States administration is likely to announce that US will provide Ukraine a new military aid package that will include cluster munitions for the first time, according to several international reports. However, it is to be noted that cluster ammunitions also entail considerable controversy all over the world, one being banned in Australia and 120 other countries. Russia, Ukraine and US have declined to sign the treaty under the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008.
CNN had reported that US President Joe Biden’s administration was strongly considering approving the transfer of the controversial weapons to Ukraine, whose forces have been struggling to make major gains in a weeks-long counteroffensive. Russia and Ukraine have earlier also used cluster bombs which break apart in the air and release large numbers of smaller bomblets across a wide area.
Cluster munitions, also called cluster bombs, are canisters that carry tens to hundreds of smaller bomblets, also known as submunitions. This increases damage on the target area almost ten times more than a single bomb. The canisters can be dropped from aircraft, launched from missiles or fired from artillery, naval guns or rocket launchers.
The bomblets are designed to detonate on hitting the ground, but do not always explode, posing a risk to civilians for years afterwards. The canisters break open at a prescribed height, depending upon the area of the intended target, and the bomblets inside spread out over that area.
They are fused by a timer to explode closer to or on the ground, spreading shrapnel that is designed to kill troops or take out armoured vehicles such as tanks. The US has a stockpile of cluster munitions known as DPICMs, or dual-purpose
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