The US government announced a new round of military support to Ukraine on the 7th, including controversial cluster munitions. In the past few days, this decision of the US government has attracted opposition from many parties and caused concern in the US media. On the 7th, the Washington Post published an article saying that this action of the Biden administration bypassed the bill enacted by Congress to prohibit the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a "dud rate" of more than 1%.
Duds are warheads that have been fired but not immediately exploded. Because cluster munitions can leave unexploded submunitions on the ground, which can cause civilian casualties even long after the war has ended, the lower the "dud rate", the better.
The Washington Post article pointed out that the main thing that the United States is considering is the M864 cluster munition developed in 1987, which can be fired through 155 mm howitzers supplied to Ukraine by the United States and other Western countries. The Pentagon's public assessment more than 20 years ago said that the "dud rate" of this type of munition was 6%, which means that at least 4 of the 72 submunitions carried by each munition will not explode immediately, covering an area of about 22,500 square meters, about the size of 4 and a half football fields. It is understood that the Pentagon has now changed its tune and said that according to its most recent test results in 2020, the munition has a "dud rate" of no more than 2.35%.
In fact, as early as 2008, then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a directive prohibiting the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a dud rate of more than 1% and stipulating a 10-year period for the destruction of munitions with a dud rate exceeding the standard. In 2017, the U.S. Congress passed legislation prohibiting any form of funding for the use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions with a "dud rate" of more than 1%. At the same time, the U.S. Congress has no exemption clause for the 1% "dud rate" cap for cluster munitions, which has also been included in the Defense Department's appropriation bill for the past seven years. According to a White House official, Biden will bypass the bill and Congress to extract cluster munitions from existing defense stockpiles under a rarely used provision of the Foreign Assistance Act.
The US Department of Defense said that the assessment of dud rate is "hugely different."
On the 6th, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that although this exceeds the upper limit of 1% "dud rate" set by Congress every year since 2017, officials are "carefully selecting" cluster munitions with a "dud rate" of 2.35% or less to transfer to Ukraine. But Ryder said details of the new assessment "cannot be made public." According to a 2022 congressional Research Service report to lawmakers, there are "huge discrepancies" in the assessment of dud rates for cluster munitions in U.S. arsenals, with some manufacturers claiming a "dud rate" of only 2 to 5 percent, but mine clearance experts reporting 10 to 30 percent.
Why does the United States still provide cluster munitions to Ukraine?
In addition to the United States, opposition from the international community is also endless, but the United States is still determined to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine. So, what are the considerations and calculations behind the United States' approach?
Farhan Haque, Deputy Spokesman of the UN Secretary-General: The UN Secretary-General does not want to continue to use cluster munitions in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Mustafa Saeed, Executive Director of the Pakistan-China Society: The United States is providing cluster munitions to other countries, which is an outright crime.
Cambodia, Spain, Germany, Iran, Austria and other countries have expressed their opposition to the United States providing cluster munitions to Ukraine.
However, in the face of opposition at home and abroad, why does the United States still insist on going its own way?
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator of the US National Security Council, recently admitted in an interview with the US media that the United States is trying to increase the production of the most used shells to provide to Ukraine, but the production still does not meet expectations, so it began to provide cluster munitions.
ABC host: So cluster munitions are provided because we don't have enough ammunition that they (Ukraine) need?
John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator, National Security Council: Yes.
On the 7th, in response to a reporter's question on this issue, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Colin Carr said that the United States has a large number of such munitions, "hundreds of thousands of cluster munitions available for Ukraine", but he refused to disclose the specific number of cluster munitions that the United States plans to provide to Ukraine. In addition, Karl said that the Russian army has built a large number of fortifications such as trenches in forward positions, which are difficult to break through, and the United States must ensure that Ukraine has enough firepower to maintain the fighting.
Russia's "Viewpoint" said on the 8th that the cluster munitions provided by the United States to Ukraine are to take the opportunity to dispose of weapons stockpiles.
Source: CCTV News Client