--- title: "Cluster Bombs: Ukraine's Controversial New Weapon" description: "They're among the most-notorious weapons on Earth. Banned by over 120 countries, including US-allies like Canada, France, and the UK. Yet they could also be something else: the key to helping Ukraine succeed in its ongoing counteroffensive.\n\nFirst pledged to Kyiv by Washington at the start of July, cluster munitions—also known by the American military as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (or DPICM)—are designed to rain destruction over a vast area. Consisting of a single missile or shell that scatters dozens of submunitions, they are powerful, deadly, and horribly effective.\n\nSadly, that effectiveness comes with a nasty downside. Cluster munitions are absolute champions at killing civilians.\n\nWith a high dud rate, bomblets can lie undiscovered for decades at former battle sites, only to explode when someone picks them up years down the line. Often brightly colored, they can be mistaken for anything from soda cans to toys.\n\nIn this article, we're taking a whirlwind tour through the history of cluster bombs—and asking if they really have the power to change the Ukraine War's tide, or merely pollute Kyiv's land for generations to come.\n\n## Steel Ball Rain\n\nNormally in warfare, firing a shell or a missile means exactly that: firing a single, unitary charge which will hopefully fall onto enemy positions and turn them into empty ones.\n\nNot so when you fire cluster munitions.\n\nRather than a single explosive payload, cluster bombs carry dozens upon dozens of tiny charges—each weighing less than 20 kg.\n\nOnce above a target, they disperse the bomblets: scattering them far and wide over an area about the size of a football field.\n\nThe official goal is to have all of those submunitions land and explode together, ideally in conditions where opposing forces are dug in and using complicated defense structures. Hence why the Center for Strategic and International Studies calls them:\n\n> \"Essentially grenades with tail fins.\"\n\nUnofficially, though, those bomblets serve a secondary purpose. Because not all of them will detonate on landing, those that remain can play a brand-new role: that of landmines.\n\nWhile not their intended purpose, this can be militarily useful. As the BBC has written:\n\n> \"(Cluster munitions) can be horribly effective when used against dug-in ground troops in trenches and fortified positions, rendering large areas too dangerous to move around in until carefully cleared.\"\n\nIn other words, they can still take troops they don't kill out the battle, simply by forcing them to remain fixed in one position until demining operations can be carried out.\n\nIt's thanks to these side effects that cluster munitions got their old nickname \"steel rain\". Not that you'll see that written on procurement forms.\n\nIf you're working for the US military, then the official name for cluster munitions is DPICM. Broadly, this refers to the category that can be fired from artillery, or loaded into missiles—although the ones in the press recently have all been the artillery type.\n\nOf these, the most-common in American stockpiles are likely the M483A1 and the M864. Each is a 155mm shell, and each contains either 88 or 76 bomblets, depending on which you use.\n\nNot that these are the only DPICM available. For example, there's the more-recent M77, which adds extra penetrating charges to the bomblets to ensure they can take out armored vehicles.\n\nIf this all sounds a little ghoulish—given we're discussing, y'know, things designed to mangle human bodies on a vast scale—rest assured you're not alone.\n\nIn 2010, 123 nations signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, banning their production, stockpiling, or usage on the battlefield. The only carve outs were for bomblets that contained self-destruct or self-deactivating features, meaning they either blow-up on impact, or become inert.\n\nAmong the signatories to the Convention were Germany, France, Canada, the UK, Australia, and many other nations you would probably think of as natural allies.\n\nThe United States, however, was not among them.\n\nIn Washington, the argument was that the US wants to retain the right to use them in an emergency.\n\nPartially, this is because they represent of the largest American weapon stockpiles. The Washington Post claims Uncle Sam is keeping nearly 5 million cluster munitions tucked away.\n\nThe other part, though, might have more to do with the other countries that didn't ban them.\n\nAlong with allies like Poland and Ukraine, the nations that continue to develop and stockpile cluster bombs include Russia, Iran, and China. In other words, a rouge's gallery of America's foes.\n\nNot that US politicians weren't influenced by the debate surrounding the 2010 Convention.\n\nAs we're about to see, Uncle Sam came close to ditching these weapons… only to step back at the last second.\n\n## A Tortured History\n\nWhen the Biden administration announced on July 7, 2023, that it was sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, there was immediate international outcry.\n\nIn the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Britain \"discourages\" the use of such weapons. In Canada, the government released a statement declaring:\n\n> \"We do not support the use of cluster munitions and are committed to putting an end to the effects cluster munitions have on civilians.\"\n\nGiven the opprobrium America's allies heaped upon it, you might assume DPICMs are almost as taboo as something like chemical weapons. A class of munition that no-one but mad dictators would ever use.\n\nYet this backlash hides a complicated truth. Multiple countries have deployed cluster bombs since WWII—including some of the same allies now criticizing the White House.\n\nThe exact number of nations to use these munitions varies depending on who is counting. But a 2022 report by the Congressional Research Service gives an estimate of 21.\n\nThat covers both modern rogue nations like Eritrea and Russia, as well as defunct states like the Soviet Union—which dropped them on Afghanistan—and Yugoslavia, where they were used by multiple factions in the 1990s Balkan Wars.\n\nHowever, it also includes allied nations like Israel, which deployed them in Lebanon in 2006; as well as the UK, which used them in the Falklands War.\n\nStill, it's hard to deny that the most-prolific user across the decades has been the United States.\n\nFrom the Korean War through Vietnam and onward into Iraq, Uncle Sam has consistently shown he's more than willing to dig deep into his cluster stockpile to try and gain an edge.\n\nIn the early-1950s, that involved the Air Force dropping anti-personnel versions across large swathes of North Korea. Fast forward a decade, and the Guardian reports that over 260 million cluster munitions were lobbed at Laos. Hundreds of thousands are still thought to remain—hidden in the jungle, waiting to detonate if touched by an unwitting passerby.\n\nOne major reason for this over-use of DPICMs is that they were simply the American standard munition at the time.\n\nWith the Soviet Union looming in Europe's east, the Pentagon needed weapons that could quickly decimate any massed force of Communists threatening NATO's borders. Cluster munitions ticked that box, but so many were produced they often got used elsewhere.\n\nIn the Invasion of Grenada, the Gulf War, the Invasion of Afghanistan, and the Invasion of Iraq, cluster bombs were repeatedly used.\n\nNot always the artillery or missile fired versions. In the Gulf War, it was mainly air-dropped BLU-97s that rained down on Iraq and Kuwait.\n\nStill—with the exception of the Invasion of Panama—these weapons seemed to go wherever the American military went.\n\nUntil, suddenly, they didn't.\n\nOn the third week of the 2003 Iraq War, the United States officially utilized cluster munitions for the final time. Although they weren't banned, the military supposedly hasn't used them since.\n\nWe say \"supposedly,\" because there's a lot of evidence that an American DPICM was used against a terrorist camp in Yemen in 2009. But even if we include this operation, then the 2000s still mark the final decade when the Pentagon was cool with clusters.\n\nIn 2008, a moratorium was placed on production. For a moment, it looked like Washington was on the verge of banning them.\n\nBut the ban never came. The US didn't sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2010.\n\nWhat the White House did do, was direct the Department of Defense to phase out all old stockpiles by 2018. That this never happened is entirely thanks to fears of war with North Korea in 2017 leading the department to quietly drop the plans.\n\nStill, even today there remains a taboo around cluster bombs in the US. One that doesn't override military imperatives, but still makes a whole lot of folks feel a whole lot queasy about exporting them.\n\nTo understand why, you simply need to understand two words. Two words that, despite seeming innocuous, hide a decades-long history of horror: dud rate.\n\n## Blast From the Past\n\nSo, here's the thing about munitions: sometimes, they don't work as they're supposed to. Bullets don't fire. Shells don't detonate. Bombs fail to explode.\n\nThis is what is known as the dud rate. The percentage of munitions out of all those fired that won't do what they're designed to do, but will instead fall harmlessly to Earth.\n\nThe reasons why are numerous. Maybe your shell landed in soft mud. Maybe it was faulty to begin with. Even today, Germans still regularly discover unexploded bombs in their cities, leftover from WWII.\n\nBut while some 1,000 kg monster dropped by the RAF in 1945 will probably be recognized for what it is—a dangerous weapon—the same isn't true of cluster munitions.\n\nAt under 20 kg, bomblets are often tiny things that even military personnel may have trouble recognizing as dangerous.\n\nBack in 2019, New York Times Magazine told the story of a Gulf War tragedy in which American combat engineers tasked with clearing an airfield of duds assumed hollow-looking bomblets were harmless.\n\nRather than carefully dispose of them one by one, they stacked them together, only for one to detonate and trigger all the others. Seven US servicemen were killed in the blast.\n\nIt goes without saying that if even trained soldiers are capable of underestimating these duds, then the regular civilian population has no chance.\n\nSubmunitions from DPICMs are notorious for being dug up by farmers or found by playing children who don't realize what they are and get killed or injured handling them.\n\nIn 2021, for example, the Cluster Munition Monitor estimates 144 people were killed by unexploded bomblets in places as diverse as Laos, Lebanon, Yemen, and the Balkans. 60 percent of them were kids.\n\nOverall, since WWII, it's estimated that anywhere from 56,000 to 86,500 civilians have died after encountering dud submunitions.\n\nOf course, this is true of almost all kinds of regular munitions, too. France and Belgium still occasionally record fatalities among farmers or construction workers who dig up shells from World War One.\n\nWhat's different though is that—by spraying so many submunitions—cluster bombs dramatically increase the amount of unexploded ordinance (known as UXO) in any given area.\n\nTo illustrate, let's take the dud rate that affects America's older cluster munitions: 14 percent.\n\nNow, that's a LOT lower than the dud rate of Russia's cluster munitions. It's estimated that the Kremlin has dropped DPICMs onto Ukraine with dud rates as high as 40 percent.\n\nConversely, it's a lot higher than the rate in the Pentagon's most-modern stockpiles. By the time production ended in 2008, America claimed to have lowered the rate to just 2.35 percent.\n\nRegardless, let's stick with 14 percent. Now let's say cluster munitions like this are fired during wartime. What happens next?\n\nPop Sci did the math. Assuming 72 bomblets per shell, that would translate to roughly ten duds for every munition fired.\n\nNot that you'd only be firing a single shell. In most realistic war scenarios—such as those taking place in Ukraine's east right now—the fire rate would be in the order of hundreds, if not thousands a day.\n\nThink about it. Thousands of shells. Each which, on average, leaves behind ten duds. Some of which will be completely inert. Some of which will be buried so deeply in mud they might never be found. But some of which will remain a risk for decades to come.\n\nAnd that's just in one day! Now imagine what months of grinding artillery war would leave behind, and you begin to see why they're so controversial.\n\nThis is why the US ceased production of DPICMs in 2008. The goal was to retire them until a munition with a dud rate of under one percent could be mass produced. But such a dream proved impossible.\n\nAs of 2019, duds had resulted in Uncle Sam coughing up over $3.4 billion on demining operations abroad. Quick as they may be to scatter, cluster munitions take a spectacular amount of time and money to clear up.\n\nToday, that's not just an abstract worry. With American DPICMs finally arriving on Ukraine's battlefields, it's a live problem that will soon affect hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of Eastern Europe.\n\nThe question is: is that enormous cost worth it?\n\n## Danger in the Field\n\nAlthough they've come to international attention in the last few weeks, cluster munitions are not new to the Ukraine War.\n\nSince Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, both armies have utilized old, Soviet stockpiles to inflict damage on one another.\n\nIn Russia's case, that's involved heavy targeting of civilian areas. On April 8, 2022, Moscow's forces hit a crowded train station at Kramatorsk with cluster munitions. 63 civilians—including 9 children—were killed.\n\nThis is just one strike among many. Truly living up to its reputation as an army as vicious as it is incompetent, Russia's military has dropped cluster bombs on cities such as Kharkiv, as well as on Ukrainian troops fighting on the front lines.\n\nIn this last part, though, Moscow is not alone.\n\nWhile Kyiv isn't deliberately targeting civilian populations, Ukraine's army has still dropped cluster munitions on Russia's frontline troops. Munitions that will have left UXO littering countless fields and roadways.\n\nUkraine's argument is that these fields and roads have already been polluted by Russian duds and landmines, so will need to be cleared after the war anyway.\n\nOr, as Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank put it:\n\n> \"These areas will be marked as dangerous for civilians whether there are unexploded DPICM submunitions present or not, and Ukraine will have to conduct a deliberate clearance operation after the war irrespective of whether DPICMs are used.\"\n\nAdmittedly, this somewhat glosses over the dangers DPICMs can pose to your own troops when the war is still raging.\n\nIn the Gulf War, for example, it's estimated a total of 24 US servicemembers were killed in the fighting and immediate aftermath by unexploded bomblets. That's more than the number of American soldiers killed in the infamous Black Hawk Down incident two years later.\n\nReally, though, these moral and technical issues are just a sideshow compared to the real reason Ukraine asked for American cluster bombs.\n\nWithout them, it's entirely possible Kyiv will lose the war.\n\nRight now, the Ukrainians are conducting a grueling counteroffensive characterized by vast artillery barrages, at a time when partner nations are not producing enough shells to keep their gun barrels fed.\n\n155mm shells everywhere are running low. NATO countries are boosting production, but doing so will take time.\n\nSadly, time is a luxury Ukraine does not have. As renowned military analyst Michael Kofman told the Financial Times, artillery ammunition for Kyiv is \"like sand in an hourglass\".\n\nOn Twitter, he fleshed his thoughts out further:\n\n> \"Ukraine's hardest limit is probably not manpower, or equipment, but (artillery) ammunition. This is foremost about the numbers. Providing DPICM gives access to a sizable stockpile of artillery ammo that can alleviate the time pressure on UA operations.\"\n\nTo put it another way, it's not the cluster munitions themselves the Ukrainians need, but ammo. Any kind of ammo.\n\nAnd, with millions and millions of shells in storage, DPICMs just happen to be the most-suitable type that Uncle Sam has to hand.\n\nBy Kofman's estimation, providing cluster munitions to Kyiv allows NATO to keep supporting Ukraine into next year. Time enough, hopefully, for enough regular 155 mm shells to be manufactured.\n\nThis, then, is the major reason the White House agreed to send these weapons. With a shortage of unitary shells, they didn't have a choice.\n\nYet simply keeping Ukraine in the fight isn't the only upside to DPICMs. They also have real military value.\n\n## Our Land, Our Rules\n\nHere's the thing with any weapon: it routinely requires maintenance. No matter how hi-tech your artillery is, it will eventually reach a point of inoperability if you can't keep servicing it.\n\nIn the case of the guns on Ukraine's frontline, RUSI estimates each barrel can fire around 1,800 rounds in total.\n\nThat might sound like a lot. But, when you're firing thousands of rounds a day, you hit that total pretty quick.\n\nOne advantage of cluster munitions is that they are effectively a barrel life hack. Firing 1,800 regular shells will give you roughly as many chances to kill enemy troops. Firing 1,800 DPICMs, though, will multiply the number of explosions you can unleash by a crazy factor.\n\nBack in the Vietnam War, the US Army gathered data on conventional high-explosive rounds versus cluster munitions.\n\nThey found that, on average, 13.6 regular shells needed to be fired to kill a single enemy combatant. Using DPICMs lowered that number to a mere 1.7.\n\nAs RUSI research fellow Sidharth Kaushal drily put it to Newsweek:\n\n> \"(Cluster munitions are) very useful for clearing out large numbers of infantry.\"\n\nIn Ukraine's case, this is doubly useful as Russia's defensive lines are so utterly impenetrable.\n\nStretching 30 kilometers deep across occupied Ukrainian land, Russia's trench networks and minefields represent a brutal challenge for Kyiv's forces. One they might find impossible to surmount.\n\nWhile cluster bombs don't negate these difficulties, they do have the potential to badly attrit the Russian servicemen waiting in those trenches. Suppressing one major obstacle keeping Ukraine's defenders from their goal.\n\nCombined with their ability to feed Kyiv's shell hunger, it's hoped that DPICMs will therefore keep the good fight going. Keeping Ukraine in the game until Russia can be defeated, and Putin's goons sent back where they came from.\n\nAfterall, the alternative is a genocidal maniac finally exacting his brutal revenge on the nation that dared defy him.\n\nAt the end of all that, then, you might find yourself feeling a bit conflicted about cluster munitions. Aware both of their ability to cause misery for decades to come, as well as help Ukraine's heroes triumph.\n\nBut that's the nature of war, really. Any weapons system will have its upsides and downsides.\n\nSometimes, as with napalm or mustard gas, we collectively decide that those downsides are simply too destructive. That these weapons must be banned, no matter what. Other times, as with regular artillery, we agree that the upsides outweigh the bad.\n\nCluster munitions are curious, because they sit between those two poles. Reviled and outlawed in some nations; still comfortably sat in the stockpiles of others.\n\nBut whichever side we fall on in the pro or anti debate, we at least have to admit that the other side has a point. That the moral question surrounding these weapons is a thorny one, especially in an era of horrific Russian aggression.\n\nWhether these bombs have the effect that their Ukrainian users hope for, though, is something we'll have to wait and see.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- Cluster munitions are banned by over 120 countries but may aid Ukraine's counteroffensive.\n- These weapons scatter dozens of submunitions over a large area, killing civilians and leaving unexploded ordnance.\n- The U.S. has nearly 5 million cluster munitions, retaining them for potential emergencies.\n- Cluster munitions have a high dud rate, posing long-term risks to civilians and soldiers.\n- Ukraine seeks cluster munitions to address artillery shell shortages and counter Russian defenses.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What are cluster munitions?\n\nCluster munitions, also known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), are weapons designed to scatter dozens of submunitions over a wide area, causing extensive destruction.\n\n### Why are cluster munitions controversial?\n\nCluster munitions are controversial due to their high dud rate, which leaves unexploded bomblets that can harm civilians for decades. They are banned by over 120 countries, including US allies like Canada, France, and the UK.\n\n### What is the history of cluster munitions in the US?\n\nThe US has used cluster munitions extensively since the Korean War, including in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The US ceased production in 2008 but has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, retaining the right to use them in emergencies.\n\n### What are the military advantages of cluster munitions?\n\nCluster munitions can be highly effective against dug-in ground troops and fortified positions, rendering large areas too dangerous to move around in until cleared. They also extend the lifespan of artillery barrels by multiplying the number of explosions per round fired.\n\n### Why did the US decide to send cluster munitions to Ukraine?\n\nThe US decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to address a severe shortage of artillery ammunition, allowing Ukraine to continue its counteroffensive against Russia. The munitions provide a large stockpile of artillery ammo that can alleviate time pressure on Ukrainian operations.\n\n### What is the dud rate of cluster munitions?\n\nThe dud rate varies by type and age. Older US cluster munitions have a dud rate of around 14%, while more modern ones have a rate as low as 2.35%. Russia's cluster munitions have been reported to have dud rates as high as 40%.\n\n### How have cluster munitions been used in the Ukraine War?\n\nBoth Ukraine and Russia have used cluster munitions in the Ukraine War. Russia has targeted civilian areas, while Ukraine has used them against Russian frontline troops, arguing that the areas will need to be cleared of unexploded ordinance regardless.\n\n### What is the impact of cluster munitions on civilians?\n\nCluster munitions pose a significant risk to civilians due to their high dud rate. Unexploded bomblets can lie undiscovered for decades, often resembling harmless objects like soda cans or toys, leading to injuries and deaths among civilians, particularly children.\n\n### What are the most common types of DPICM in the US stockpiles?\n\nThe most common types of DPICM in US stockpiles are the M483A1 and M864, which are 155mm shells containing either 88 or 76 bomblets. There are also more recent types like the M77, which have extra penetrating charges.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original MegaProjects video: Cluster Bombs: Ukraine's Controversial New Weapon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxpgxyUxONw)\n- [https://www.csis.org/analysis/cluster-munitions-what-are-they-and-why-united-states-sending-them-ukraine](https://www.csis.org/analysis/cluster-munitions-what-are-they-and-why-united-states-sending-them-ukraine)\n- [https://www.popsci.com/technology/cluster-munitions-ukraine-russia/](https://www.popsci.com/technology/cluster-munitions-ukraine-russia/)\n- [https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/7/7/23785820/cluster-bombs-ukraine-united-states-biden-treaty](https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/7/7/23785820/cluster-bombs-ukraine-united-states-biden-treaty)\n- [https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/giving-ukraine-cluster-munitions-necessary-legal-and-morally-justified](https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/giving-ukraine-cluster-munitions-necessary-legal-and-morally-justified)\n- [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66133527](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66133527)\n- [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/world/europe/ukraine-cluster-munitions.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/world/europe/ukraine-cluster-munitions.html)\n- [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/magazine/cluster-munitions-history.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/magazine/cluster-munitions-history.html)\n- [https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1677435161514737665](https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1677435161514737665)\n- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Monument_to_Mykhailo_Hrushevsky%2C_sheltered_from_Russian_shelling._Kyiv%2C_2023.jpg) by Ввласенко / openverse, by-sa.\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://megaprojects.pub/article/cluster-bombs-ukraine-controversial-new-weapon.md canonical: https://megaprojects.pub/article/cluster-bombs-ukraine-controversial-new-weapon datePublished: 2026-06-16 dateModified: 2026-06-16 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://megaprojects.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: MegaProjects image: https://media.megaprojects.pub/articles/XxpgxyUxONw/hero.jpg type: Article contentHash: 0f7c90a7c1f498bd561f3c6208d246339f0dc78e8aae115e6094b42f7bda9614 tokens: 6199 summaryUrl: https://megaprojects.pub/article/cluster-bombs-ukraine-controversial-new-weapon.md.summary.md --- They're among the most-notorious weapons on Earth. Banned by over 120 countries, including US-allies like Canada, France, and the UK. Yet they could also be something else: the key to helping Ukraine succeed in its ongoing counteroffensive. First pledged to Kyiv by Washington at the start of July, cluster munitions—also known by the American military as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (or DPICM)—are designed to rain destruction over a vast area. Consisting of a single missile or shell that scatters dozens of submunitions, they are powerful, deadly, and horribly effective. Sadly, that effectiveness comes with a nasty downside. Cluster munitions are absolute champions at killing civilians. With a high dud rate, bomblets can lie undiscovered for decades at former battle sites, only to explode when someone picks them up years down the line. Often brightly colored, they can be mistaken for anything from soda cans to toys. In this article, we're taking a whirlwind tour through the history of cluster bombs—and asking if they really have the power to change the Ukraine War's tide, or merely pollute Kyiv's land for generations to come. ## Steel Ball Rain Normally in warfare, firing a shell or a missile means exactly that: firing a single, unitary charge which will hopefully fall onto enemy positions and turn them into empty ones. Not so when you fire cluster munitions. Rather than a single explosive payload, cluster bombs carry dozens upon dozens of tiny charges—each weighing less than 20 kg. Once above a target, they disperse the bomblets: scattering them far and wide over an area about the size of a football field. The official goal is to have all of those submunitions land and explode together, ideally in conditions where opposing forces are dug in and using complicated defense structures. Hence why the Center for Strategic and International Studies calls them: > "Essentially grenades with tail fins." Unofficially, though, those bomblets serve a secondary purpose. Because not all of them will detonate on landing, those that remain can play a brand-new role: that of landmines. While not their intended purpose, this can be militarily useful. As the BBC has written: > "(Cluster munitions) can be horribly effective when used against dug-in ground troops in trenches and fortified positions, rendering large areas too dangerous to move around in until carefully cleared." In other words, they can still take troops they don't kill out the battle, simply by forcing them to remain fixed in one position until demining operations can be carried out. It's thanks to these side effects that cluster munitions got their old nickname "steel rain". Not that you'll see that written on procurement forms. If you're working for the US military, then the official name for cluster munitions is DPICM. Broadly, this refers to the category that can be fired from artillery, or loaded into missiles—although the ones in the press recently have all been the artillery type. Of these, the most-common in American stockpiles are likely the M483A1 and the M864. Each is a 155mm shell, and each contains either 88 or 76 bomblets, depending on which you use. Not that these are the only DPICM available. For example, there's the more-recent M77, which adds extra penetrating charges to the bomblets to ensure they can take out armored vehicles. If this all sounds a little ghoulish—given we're discussing, y'know, things designed to mangle human bodies on a vast scale—rest assured you're not alone. In 2010, 123 nations signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, banning their production, stockpiling, or usage on the battlefield. The only carve outs were for bomblets that contained self-destruct or self-deactivating features, meaning they either blow-up on impact, or become inert. Among the signatories to the Convention were Germany, France, Canada, the UK, Australia, and many other nations you would probably think of as natural allies. The United States, however, was not among them. In Washington, the argument was that the US wants to retain the right to use them in an emergency. Partially, this is because they represent of the largest American weapon stockpiles. The Washington Post claims Uncle Sam is keeping nearly 5 million cluster munitions tucked away. The other part, though, might have more to do with the other countries that didn't ban them. Along with allies like Poland and Ukraine, the nations that continue to develop and stockpile cluster bombs include Russia, Iran, and China. In other words, a rouge's gallery of America's foes. Not that US politicians weren't influenced by the debate surrounding the 2010 Convention. As we're about to see, Uncle Sam came close to ditching these weapons… only to step back at the last second. ## A Tortured History When the Biden administration announced on July 7, 2023, that it was sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, there was immediate international outcry. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Britain "discourages" the use of such weapons. In Canada, the government released a statement declaring: > "We do not support the use of cluster munitions and are committed to putting an end to the effects cluster munitions have on civilians." Given the opprobrium America's allies heaped upon it, you might assume DPICMs are almost as taboo as something like chemical weapons. A class of munition that no-one but mad dictators would ever use. Yet this backlash hides a complicated truth. Multiple countries have deployed cluster bombs since WWII—including some of the same allies now criticizing the White House. The exact number of nations to use these munitions varies depending on who is counting. But a 2022 report by the Congressional Research Service gives an estimate of 21. That covers both modern rogue nations like Eritrea and Russia, as well as defunct states like the Soviet Union—which dropped them on Afghanistan—and Yugoslavia, where they were used by multiple factions in the 1990s Balkan Wars. However, it also includes allied nations like Israel, which deployed them in Lebanon in 2006; as well as the UK, which used them in the Falklands War. Still, it's hard to deny that the most-prolific user across the decades has been the United States. From the Korean War through Vietnam and onward into Iraq, Uncle Sam has consistently shown he's more than willing to dig deep into his cluster stockpile to try and gain an edge. In the early-1950s, that involved the Air Force dropping anti-personnel versions across large swathes of North Korea. Fast forward a decade, and the Guardian reports that over 260 million cluster munitions were lobbed at Laos. Hundreds of thousands are still thought to remain—hidden in the jungle, waiting to detonate if touched by an unwitting passerby. One major reason for this over-use of DPICMs is that they were simply the American standard munition at the time. With the Soviet Union looming in Europe's east, the Pentagon needed weapons that could quickly decimate any massed force of Communists threatening NATO's borders. Cluster munitions ticked that box, but so many were produced they often got used elsewhere. In the Invasion of Grenada, the Gulf War, the Invasion of Afghanistan, and the Invasion of Iraq, cluster bombs were repeatedly used. Not always the artillery or missile fired versions. In the Gulf War, it was mainly air-dropped BLU-97s that rained down on Iraq and Kuwait. Still—with the exception of the Invasion of Panama—these weapons seemed to go wherever the American military went. Until, suddenly, they didn't. On the third week of the 2003 Iraq War, the United States officially utilized cluster munitions for the final time. Although they weren't banned, the military supposedly hasn't used them since. We say "supposedly," because there's a lot of evidence that an American DPICM was used against a terrorist camp in Yemen in 2009. But even if we include this operation, then the 2000s still mark the final decade when the Pentagon was cool with clusters. In 2008, a moratorium was placed on production. For a moment, it looked like Washington was on the verge of banning them. But the ban never came. The US didn't sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2010. What the White House did do, was direct the Department of Defense to phase out all old stockpiles by 2018. That this never happened is entirely thanks to fears of war with North Korea in 2017 leading the department to quietly drop the plans. Still, even today there remains a taboo around cluster bombs in the US. One that doesn't override military imperatives, but still makes a whole lot of folks feel a whole lot queasy about exporting them. To understand why, you simply need to understand two words. Two words that, despite seeming innocuous, hide a decades-long history of horror: dud rate. ## Blast From the Past So, here's the thing about munitions: sometimes, they don't work as they're supposed to. Bullets don't fire. Shells don't detonate. Bombs fail to explode. This is what is known as the dud rate. The percentage of munitions out of all those fired that won't do what they're designed to do, but will instead fall harmlessly to Earth. The reasons why are numerous. Maybe your shell landed in soft mud. Maybe it was faulty to begin with. Even today, Germans still regularly discover unexploded bombs in their cities, leftover from WWII. But while some 1,000 kg monster dropped by the RAF in 1945 will probably be recognized for what it is—a dangerous weapon—the same isn't true of cluster munitions. At under 20 kg, bomblets are often tiny things that even military personnel may have trouble recognizing as dangerous. Back in 2019, New York Times Magazine told the story of a Gulf War tragedy in which American combat engineers tasked with clearing an airfield of duds assumed hollow-looking bomblets were harmless. Rather than carefully dispose of them one by one, they stacked them together, only for one to detonate and trigger all the others. Seven US servicemen were killed in the blast. It goes without saying that if even trained soldiers are capable of underestimating these duds, then the regular civilian population has no chance. Submunitions from DPICMs are notorious for being dug up by farmers or found by playing children who don't realize what they are and get killed or injured handling them. In 2021, for example, the Cluster Munition Monitor estimates 144 people were killed by unexploded bomblets in places as diverse as Laos, Lebanon, Yemen, and the Balkans. 60 percent of them were kids. Overall, since WWII, it's estimated that anywhere from 56,000 to 86,500 civilians have died after encountering dud submunitions. Of course, this is true of almost all kinds of regular munitions, too. France and Belgium still occasionally record fatalities among farmers or construction workers who dig up shells from World War One. What's different though is that—by spraying so many submunitions—cluster bombs dramatically increase the amount of unexploded ordinance (known as UXO) in any given area. To illustrate, let's take the dud rate that affects America's older cluster munitions: 14 percent. Now, that's a LOT lower than the dud rate of Russia's cluster munitions. It's estimated that the Kremlin has dropped DPICMs onto Ukraine with dud rates as high as 40 percent. Conversely, it's a lot higher than the rate in the Pentagon's most-modern stockpiles. By the time production ended in 2008, America claimed to have lowered the rate to just 2.35 percent. Regardless, let's stick with 14 percent. Now let's say cluster munitions like this are fired during wartime. What happens next? Pop Sci did the math. Assuming 72 bomblets per shell, that would translate to roughly ten duds for every munition fired. Not that you'd only be firing a single shell. In most realistic war scenarios—such as those taking place in Ukraine's east right now—the fire rate would be in the order of hundreds, if not thousands a day. Think about it. Thousands of shells. Each which, on average, leaves behind ten duds. Some of which will be completely inert. Some of which will be buried so deeply in mud they might never be found. But some of which will remain a risk for decades to come. And that's just in one day! Now imagine what months of grinding artillery war would leave behind, and you begin to see why they're so controversial. This is why the US ceased production of DPICMs in 2008. The goal was to retire them until a munition with a dud rate of under one percent could be mass produced. But such a dream proved impossible. As of 2019, duds had resulted in Uncle Sam coughing up over $3.4 billion on demining operations abroad. Quick as they may be to scatter, cluster munitions take a spectacular amount of time and money to clear up. Today, that's not just an abstract worry. With American DPICMs finally arriving on Ukraine's battlefields, it's a live problem that will soon affect hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of Eastern Europe. The question is: is that enormous cost worth it? ## Danger in the Field Although they've come to international attention in the last few weeks, cluster munitions are not new to the Ukraine War. Since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, both armies have utilized old, Soviet stockpiles to inflict damage on one another. In Russia's case, that's involved heavy targeting of civilian areas. On April 8, 2022, Moscow's forces hit a crowded train station at Kramatorsk with cluster munitions. 63 civilians—including 9 children—were killed. This is just one strike among many. Truly living up to its reputation as an army as vicious as it is incompetent, Russia's military has dropped cluster bombs on cities such as Kharkiv, as well as on Ukrainian troops fighting on the front lines. In this last part, though, Moscow is not alone. While Kyiv isn't deliberately targeting civilian populations, Ukraine's army has still dropped cluster munitions on Russia's frontline troops. Munitions that will have left UXO littering countless fields and roadways. Ukraine's argument is that these fields and roads have already been polluted by Russian duds and landmines, so will need to be cleared after the war anyway. Or, as Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank put it: > "These areas will be marked as dangerous for civilians whether there are unexploded DPICM submunitions present or not, and Ukraine will have to conduct a deliberate clearance operation after the war irrespective of whether DPICMs are used." Admittedly, this somewhat glosses over the dangers DPICMs can pose to your own troops when the war is still raging. In the Gulf War, for example, it's estimated a total of 24 US servicemembers were killed in the fighting and immediate aftermath by unexploded bomblets. That's more than the number of American soldiers killed in the infamous Black Hawk Down incident two years later. Really, though, these moral and technical issues are just a sideshow compared to the real reason Ukraine asked for American cluster bombs. Without them, it's entirely possible Kyiv will lose the war. Right now, the Ukrainians are conducting a grueling counteroffensive characterized by vast artillery barrages, at a time when partner nations are not producing enough shells to keep their gun barrels fed. 155mm shells everywhere are running low. NATO countries are boosting production, but doing so will take time. Sadly, time is a luxury Ukraine does not have. As renowned military analyst Michael Kofman told the Financial Times, artillery ammunition for Kyiv is "like sand in an hourglass". On Twitter, he fleshed his thoughts out further: > "Ukraine's hardest limit is probably not manpower, or equipment, but (artillery) ammunition. This is foremost about the numbers. Providing DPICM gives access to a sizable stockpile of artillery ammo that can alleviate the time pressure on UA operations." To put it another way, it's not the cluster munitions themselves the Ukrainians need, but ammo. Any kind of ammo. And, with millions and millions of shells in storage, DPICMs just happen to be the most-suitable type that Uncle Sam has to hand. By Kofman's estimation, providing cluster munitions to Kyiv allows NATO to keep supporting Ukraine into next year. Time enough, hopefully, for enough regular 155 mm shells to be manufactured. This, then, is the major reason the White House agreed to send these weapons. With a shortage of unitary shells, they didn't have a choice. Yet simply keeping Ukraine in the fight isn't the only upside to DPICMs. They also have real military value. ## Our Land, Our Rules Here's the thing with any weapon: it routinely requires maintenance. No matter how hi-tech your artillery is, it will eventually reach a point of inoperability if you can't keep servicing it. In the case of the guns on Ukraine's frontline, RUSI estimates each barrel can fire around 1,800 rounds in total. That might sound like a lot. But, when you're firing thousands of rounds a day, you hit that total pretty quick. One advantage of cluster munitions is that they are effectively a barrel life hack. Firing 1,800 regular shells will give you roughly as many chances to kill enemy troops. Firing 1,800 DPICMs, though, will multiply the number of explosions you can unleash by a crazy factor. Back in the Vietnam War, the US Army gathered data on conventional high-explosive rounds versus cluster munitions. They found that, on average, 13.6 regular shells needed to be fired to kill a single enemy combatant. Using DPICMs lowered that number to a mere 1.7. As RUSI research fellow Sidharth Kaushal drily put it to Newsweek: > "(Cluster munitions are) very useful for clearing out large numbers of infantry." In Ukraine's case, this is doubly useful as Russia's defensive lines are so utterly impenetrable. Stretching 30 kilometers deep across occupied Ukrainian land, Russia's trench networks and minefields represent a brutal challenge for Kyiv's forces. One they might find impossible to surmount. While cluster bombs don't negate these difficulties, they do have the potential to badly attrit the Russian servicemen waiting in those trenches. Suppressing one major obstacle keeping Ukraine's defenders from their goal. Combined with their ability to feed Kyiv's shell hunger, it's hoped that DPICMs will therefore keep the good fight going. Keeping Ukraine in the game until Russia can be defeated, and Putin's goons sent back where they came from. Afterall, the alternative is a genocidal maniac finally exacting his brutal revenge on the nation that dared defy him. At the end of all that, then, you might find yourself feeling a bit conflicted about cluster munitions. Aware both of their ability to cause misery for decades to come, as well as help Ukraine's heroes triumph. But that's the nature of war, really. Any weapons system will have its upsides and downsides. Sometimes, as with napalm or mustard gas, we collectively decide that those downsides are simply too destructive. That these weapons must be banned, no matter what. Other times, as with regular artillery, we agree that the upsides outweigh the bad. Cluster munitions are curious, because they sit between those two poles. Reviled and outlawed in some nations; still comfortably sat in the stockpiles of others. But whichever side we fall on in the pro or anti debate, we at least have to admit that the other side has a point. That the moral question surrounding these weapons is a thorny one, especially in an era of horrific Russian aggression. Whether these bombs have the effect that their Ukrainian users hope for, though, is something we'll have to wait and see. ## Key Takeaways - Cluster munitions are banned by over 120 countries but may aid Ukraine's counteroffensive. - These weapons scatter dozens of submunitions over a large area, killing civilians and leaving unexploded ordnance. - The U.S. has nearly 5 million cluster munitions, retaining them for potential emergencies. - Cluster munitions have a high dud rate, posing long-term risks to civilians and soldiers. - Ukraine seeks cluster munitions to address artillery shell shortages and counter Russian defenses. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What are cluster munitions? Cluster munitions, also known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), are weapons designed to scatter dozens of submunitions over a wide area, causing extensive destruction. ### Why are cluster munitions controversial? Cluster munitions are controversial due to their high dud rate, which leaves unexploded bomblets that can harm civilians for decades. They are banned by over 120 countries, including US allies like Canada, France, and the UK. ### What is the history of cluster munitions in the US? The US has used cluster munitions extensively since the Korean War, including in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The US ceased production in 2008 but has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, retaining the right to use them in emergencies. ### What are the military advantages of cluster munitions? Cluster munitions can be highly effective against dug-in ground troops and fortified positions, rendering large areas too dangerous to move around in until cleared. They also extend the lifespan of artillery barrels by multiplying the number of explosions per round fired. ### Why did the US decide to send cluster munitions to Ukraine? The US decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to address a severe shortage of artillery ammunition, allowing Ukraine to continue its counteroffensive against Russia. The munitions provide a large stockpile of artillery ammo that can alleviate time pressure on Ukrainian operations. ### What is the dud rate of cluster munitions? The dud rate varies by type and age. Older US cluster munitions have a dud rate of around 14%, while more modern ones have a rate as low as 2.35%. Russia's cluster munitions have been reported to have dud rates as high as 40%. ### How have cluster munitions been used in the Ukraine War? Both Ukraine and Russia have used cluster munitions in the Ukraine War. Russia has targeted civilian areas, while Ukraine has used them against Russian frontline troops, arguing that the areas will need to be cleared of unexploded ordinance regardless. ### What is the impact of cluster munitions on civilians? Cluster munitions pose a significant risk to civilians due to their high dud rate. Unexploded bomblets can lie undiscovered for decades, often resembling harmless objects like soda cans or toys, leading to injuries and deaths among civilians, particularly children. ### What are the most common types of DPICM in the US stockpiles? The most common types of DPICM in US stockpiles are the M483A1 and M864, which are 155mm shells containing either 88 or 76 bomblets. There are also more recent types like the M77, which have extra penetrating charges. ## Sources - [Original MegaProjects video: Cluster Bombs: Ukraine's Controversial New Weapon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxpgxyUxONw) - [https://www.csis.org/analysis/cluster-munitions-what-are-they-and-why-united-states-sending-them-ukraine](https://www.csis.org/analysis/cluster-munitions-what-are-they-and-why-united-states-sending-them-ukraine) - [https://www.popsci.com/technology/cluster-munitions-ukraine-russia/](https://www.popsci.com/technology/cluster-munitions-ukraine-russia/) - [https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/7/7/23785820/cluster-bombs-ukraine-united-states-biden-treaty](https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/7/7/23785820/cluster-bombs-ukraine-united-states-biden-treaty) - [https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/giving-ukraine-cluster-munitions-necessary-legal-and-morally-justified](https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/giving-ukraine-cluster-munitions-necessary-legal-and-morally-justified) - [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66133527](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66133527) - [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/world/europe/ukraine-cluster-munitions.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/world/europe/ukraine-cluster-munitions.html) - [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/magazine/cluster-munitions-history.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/magazine/cluster-munitions-history.html) - [https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1677435161514737665](https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1677435161514737665) - [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Monument_to_Mykhailo_Hrushevsky%2C_sheltered_from_Russian_shelling._Kyiv%2C_2023.jpg) by Ввласенко / openverse, by-sa. ## Related Coverage