About Cluster Munitions

Cluster munitions differ from antipersonnel mines in a variety of ways, but their effects on civilian populations are often similar. A cluster munition consists of a canister designed to open in mid-air and disperse smaller submunitions, often referred to as bomblets or grenades. The impact area of a cluster munition, known as the “footprint,” includes the area covered by submunitions when they hit the ground. Depending on the type of munition and the delivery system, the footprint of one cluster munition can be as large as one square kilometer (250 acres). Cluster munitions can be delivered from aircraft, via rockets, missiles, or bombs, or they can be launched from ground-based systems such as artillery, from rockets, artillery shells, or missiles.

In the last 15 years, the U.S. has used cluster bombs in civilian populated areas of the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. The cluster bombs the U.S. dropped 40 years ago in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam are still killing people today. Since the last cluster bomb was dropped on Laos in 1973, the International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that 11,000 Laotian civilians, many of whom were not born when the bombs were dropped, have been killed or injured by an unexploded cluster dud.

The wide dispersal pattern of submunitions makes it very difficult to avoid civilian casualties if civilians are in the strike area. Moreover, while they are designed to explode on impact, many of the submunitions initially fail to detonate, leaving behind large numbers of hazardous explosive “duds” that are akin to landmines, injuring and killing civilians and contaminating the land long after conflicts. The percentage of unexploded submunitions from each canister is known as the failure rate or “dud rate.” Despite testing data indicating that some new cluster munitions have failure rates as low as 1 percent, when used in combat zones, actual dud rates typically range from approximately 5 percent to 30 percent. 

Some new cluster munitions are equipped with self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanisms intended to ensure that unexploded bomblets do not pose a lasting danger to civilians. However, these mechanisms can malfunction, leaving behind unexploded remnants that will endanger civilians for years to come. In addition to the civilian toll, unexploded cluster bomblets also remain a threat to “friendly” military forces operating in the vicinity.

For more on the Mine Ban Treaty, go to www.icbl.org

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