HISTORY

Cluster Munitions

The most significant addition to the Ukrainian

arsenal during the observed period is American

cluster munitions. The announcement of their

delivery sparked controversial reactions.

Cluster munitions consist of a large number of

submunitions that disperse in the air and cover

a wide area. A relatively high percentage of

these submunitions, however, fail to detonate

immediately. On the ground, they pose a danger

to civilians for many years after the war. This

led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster

Munitions in 2008, which prohibits the use and

production of such weapons. To this day, 123

states have signed it, but Russia, the USA, and

Ukraine are not among them.

Russia deployed cluster munitions from

the first day of the war, and their use against

targets such as apartment complexes in

Kharkiv is documented not only by numerous

videos but also by UN reports. Ukraine likely

deployed cluster munitions from old Soviet

stocks in a smaller quantity. The country has

now committed to using American cluster

munitions only on its own territory and solely

against military targets, refraining from

using them in populated areas. Each use will

be documented to aid in locating unexploded

submunitions. This is not a problem, considering

the densely mined battlefield; demining efforts

will be essential once the conflict ends.

Ukraine needs cluster munitions to bridge

the gap until it can increase the production and

supply of conventional artillery ammunition.

One projectile with submunitions can replace

a larger number of shots from howitzers or

mortars. The USA has several types of cluster

munitions for howitzers, rocket launchers, and

aircraft. Ukraine received 155 mm howitzer

grenades. The M483A1 shell contains 88

submunitions, and the M864 shell with longer

range contains 76 submunitions. These are

dual-purpose improved conventional munitions

(DPICM) that can be effective against both

infantry and vehicles. Their development

focused primarily on minimizing malfunctions.

The munitions were deployed in combat almost

immediately and proved highly effective in

halting Russian counterattack attempts.

Turkish SARP Dual system on M113 vehicle.

Czech MR-2 Viktor systems proved their worth in the fight against suicide drones in Ukraine.

Machine Guns Against Drones

Through the destruction of Russian

ammunition depots and the suppression of

artillery radars with HARM missiles, Ukraine

managed to establish local artillery superiority

on the southern front in the Zaporizhzhia

region. The Russians are unable to destroy

Ukrainian howitzers with retaliatory artillery

fire, so they began to address this deficiency

by increasing the use of suicide drones like

the Lancet. This prompted the deployment of

September 2023

INFO Eduard

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