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.

  • The Snark Urge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    172·
    1 year ago

    They always wait until near the end to tell the reader Russia has been using even higher dud rate cluster bombs since the beginning.

    On the other hand, it is good to hear the US plans to help with UXO remediation.