I really don’t have a lot of background on cluster munitions; it only really came into my perception in response to the controversy over the US providing them to Ukraine. As I understand it, the controversy is because they often don’t all explode reliably, and unexploded munitions can then explode months or years later when civilians are occupying the territory, making it similar to the problems caused by landmines.
In an age where things like location trackers, radio transmitters, and other such local and long-range technology to locate objects are common place, what’s stopping the manufacturers of these munitions from simply putting some kind of device to facilitate tracking inside each individual explosive, to assist with detection and safe retrieval after a conflict? I get that nothing is a 100% effective solution, but it seems like it’d solve most of it.
Can someone with actual knowledge explain why this is still a problem we’re having?
Well, technically it is a solved problem. Spain fielded electronically fused cluster bomblets that were disabled via a drained capacitor if not exploded in 5 minutes. This eliminated the possibility of live duds.
This Espin system has since been removed from service. Not sure if there are any similar system currently in use.
That’s really interesting!
This Espin system has since been removed from service.
Do you know why this is? That seems like a functional and easy to implement solution.
I believe is was pulled from service after Spain signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Active transmitters need high capacity batteries to be able to transmit signals for long periods after deployment. And batteries don’t like heat in general. They will also require fairly complex electronics which again need to be designed to handle the forces involved. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before (eg. GPS guided shells), but it’s just very costly and needs a good amount of physical space.
Instead, most modern cluster munitions (and mines) have mechanisms to disable themselves after a certain period of time. But like you said, nothing is perfect.
that need to be a strong ass gps to withstand the laubch, impact, pression, heat, etc, and it’s gonna cost more, war is always about short-term gains, future problems is for future people, so cheap ammunition is what they want, let the loser bear with the burden of pos-war
Most cluster munition is probally from the cold war and in an active conflict there really isnt a possibility to safely detonate leftover cluster munition. Plus they get buried under debry and dirt
Ah, that’s a great point - I hadn’t considered that we’d still be using the same cluster bombs that were made in the Cold War era, but that does make sense.
If the bomb-makers could make any sort of bomb they wanted, they would not make a bomb that lies around unexploded. They want that bomb to blow up the enemy and the enemy’s stuff, not sit around waiting for some noncombatant kid to pick it up weeks or years later. If it does not blow up in a timely fashion, it is not doing the job of a weapon in Western military doctrine — which is to stop the enemy from being able to continue to wage war.
The goals of “stop the enemy” and “don’t blow up some kid weeks or years later” are both met by making the bomb more reliable at blowing up right away. So they probably focus on that, not on adding extra bells & whistles that could potentially be used by the enemy to avoid being blown up.
Two words:
Lowest. Bidder.
