A cluster munition is an air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects a number of smaller submunitions, sometimes numbering more than two thousand in a single weapon, over a wide area to kill personnel, destroy vehicles, or damage infrastructure such as runways and power lines. Submunitions may be slowed by parachutes or streamers so a delivering aircraft can clear the blast area before they detonate, and modern payloads may be built for anti-armor, anti-personnel, or anti-material effect. The first operationally significant cluster bomb was Nazi Germany's SD-2 Butterfly Bomb, used against both civilian and military targets in the Second World War, including in raids on Tokyo and Kyushu. After the war the technology was developed independently by other nations, and from the 1970s onward cluster munitions became a standard air-dropped weapon of at least thirty-four countries.
Facts
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)Grenade / Explosive Device 1 Weapon Class Connections
Operated By
Source Cluster munition, Wikipedia
Source Cluster munition, Wikipedia
Used In
Source Cluster munition, Wikipedia
Source Cluster munition, Wikipedia
Source Cluster munition, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Cluster munition, Wikipedia
Introduction section
a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
- Correction: an explosive munition, not an aircraft (false match on 'delivering aircraft').
Used In: Gulf War, Wikipedia article text
Some modern bomb submunitions deliver a highly combustible thermobaric aerosol that results in a high pressure explosion when ignited, including the CBU-55 used by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and the CBU-72 used during the Gulf War.
Used In: Vietnam War, Wikipedia article text
Some modern bomb submunitions deliver a highly combustible thermobaric aerosol that results in a high pressure explosion when ignited, including the CBU-55 used by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and the CBU-72 used during the Gulf War.
Used In: Winter War, Wikipedia article text
One of the earliest examples is the so-called Molotov bread basket used by the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939-40.
Used In: World War II, Wikipedia article text
Cluster munitions were used in World War II to attack both civilian and military targets, including Tokyo and Kyushu.
Operated By: Royal Air Force, Wikipedia article text
Of these, 531 were RBL755s dropped by the Royal Air Force.
Operated By: United States Armed Forces, Wikipedia article text
Some modern bomb submunitions deliver a highly combustible thermobaric aerosol that results in a high pressure explosion when ignited, including the CBU-55 used by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and the CBU-72 used during the Gulf War.
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