USA TODAY December 11, 2003
Ground forces won't use improved cluster bombs until at least 2005
By Paul Wiseman
The U.S. Air Force used new, improved cluster bombs in Iraq that pose fewer dangers to civilians. But U.S. ground forces used old cluster munitions with a history of leaving unexploded bomblets (duds) that can detonate any time after they are deployed, causing civilian casualties.
"The bulk of civilian casualties caused by cluster munitions (in Iraq) appear to have resulted from ground-launched munitions . . . rather than by aircraft," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., an advocate on behalf of civilian war victims, recently wrote Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Defense Department began to review its use of cluster submunitions after the 1991 Gulf War, when unexploded cluster munitions killed 22 U.S. troops and injured 58.
Starting in the mid-1990s, the Air Force outfitted some cluster bombs with fins and a navigation system that adjusts for the wind. The new cluster bombs land within 70 feet of a target, compared with 700 or 800 feet in some cases for the models they replaced, Air Force Col. James Knox says. The CBU-105 (CBU stands for cluster bomb unit) carries 40 "skeet" bomblets. These "smart" bomblets are designed to self-destruct if they do not detect a valid target and deactivate within minutes if they hit the ground and do not explode.
In Iraq, the Air Force also tried out two new cluster bombs. Each carried thousands of darts instead of bomblets; the darts can kill and destroy targets. But there is no dud problem because they don't explode.
U.S. ground forces won't get improved cluster bombs until at least 2005. So in Iraq, they used cluster bomblets with dud rates well above the 1% the Pentagon set as its goal in 2001.
"As far as I can tell, it's an Army problem, not an Air Force problem," says John Pike, director of the non-partisan defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org.
The Army's new version of the multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) warhead is supposed to have nearly twice the range (37 miles vs. 20) of existing rockets. It also would land within 10 yards of a target compared to within 120 yards. A global positioning system would improve the rockets' accuracy to contain bomblets to target areas. Tests are scheduled for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2005.
Self-destruct fuses for submunitions were tested last summer at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in an effort to eliminate duds. The Army is adding self-destruct fuses to M42 and M46 bomblets fired by 155 mm artillery.
© Copyright 2003, Gannett Company, Inc.
