Cluster bomb facts for kids

A cluster munition is a type of weapon that is dropped from planes or fired from the ground. It opens up in the air and releases many smaller bombs called submunitions or bomblets. Often, these are cluster bombs that release explosive bomblets. These bomblets are designed to spread out over a wide area. They can harm people and destroy vehicles. Other types of cluster munitions are made to damage runways or power lines, or to scatter landmines. Some can even drop things that aren't weapons, like leaflets.

Because cluster bombs release many small bomblets over a wide area, they are very dangerous for regular people, called civilians. This danger exists both during attacks and long after a conflict has ended. Many bomblets don't explode right away. They can lie hidden for years, like land mines, and hurt or kill people long after a fight is over. It is also very expensive to find and remove these unexploded bomblets.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, cluster bombs became a common weapon for many countries. They were made by 34 countries and used in at least 23 conflicts.

Cluster munitions are now banned for countries that have agreed to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This agreement was made in Dublin, Ireland, in May 2008. It became a binding international law for the countries that signed it on August 1, 2010. By October 1, 2015, 118 countries had joined the Convention.

The "Convention on Cluster Munitions" bans the keeping, using, and trading of almost all existing cluster bombs. It also requires countries to clear up unexploded munitions. By the time it took effect, 108 countries had signed it, and 38 had officially agreed to follow it. However, many of the world's major military powers, like the United States, Russia, Brazil, and China, have not signed this treaty.

In May 2008, Stephen Mull, who was a U.S. official, said that the U.S. military relies on cluster munitions. He stated that these weapons are a very important part of their defense strategy.

"Cluster munitions are available for use by every combat aircraft in the U.S. inventory, they are integral to every Army or Marine maneuver element and in some cases constitute up to 50 percent of tactical indirect fire support. U.S. forces simply cannot fight by design or by doctrine without holding out at least the possibility of using cluster munitions."

—Stephen Mull

The U.S. military argues that using cluster munitions means they need fewer aircraft and artillery systems to support their operations. They also say that if these weapons were removed, a lot more money would be needed for new weapons, ammunition, and supplies.

How Cluster Bombs Were Developed

The first cluster bomb used in a real war was the German SD-2. It was also called the Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg, or commonly the Butterfly Bomb. It was used by Nazi Germany in World War II to attack both civilian and military targets.

Other countries, like the United States, Russia, and Italy, also developed similar technology on their own. For example, the U.S. used 20-pound M41 fragmentation bombs. These were wired together in groups of 6 or 25 and had very sensitive fuzes.

Images for kids

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  U.S. Honest John missile warhead cutaway around 1960, showing M134 bomblets filled with Sarin

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  Half of a surface-to-air missile site in North Vietnam blanketed in exploding bomblets dispersed by a U.S. cluster munition, Vietnam War

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  A US Vietnam era BLU-3 cluster bomblet

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  During the Winter War of 1939–1940, the Soviet Union dropped RRAB-3, nicknamed Molotov bread baskets, which scattered incendiary bomblets, on Finland.

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  A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6E Intruder drops CBU-59 cluster bombs over Iranian targets in 1988

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  A US Navy F/A-18C Hornet launches from USS Nimitz to a mission in Southern Iraq. Among other weapons, the plane carries CBU-100 "Rockeye" cluster bombs.

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  M77 submunition of type fired against Lebanon in 1986. Each MLRS rocket has 644 M77 packed in the warhead.

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  Ban Advocates from Afghanistan and Ethiopia demonstrating outside of the Dublin conference

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  Erik Thorstvedt leads a Norwegian parade celebrating the effectuation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 31 July 2010. (Photo: Norsk Folkehjelp)

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  Ugandan demonstrator at the May 2008 Dublin conference for the Convention on Cluster Munitions

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  USAF B-1 Lancer dropping CBU cluster bombs

See also

In Spanish: Bomba de racimo para niños