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Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report for Congress)

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Release Date Revised Dec. 16, 2024
Report Number RS22907
Report Type Report
Authors Andrew Feickert, Specialist in Military Ground Forces; Paul K. Kerr, Analyst in Nonproliferation
Source Agency Congressional Research Service
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Summary:

Cluster munitions are air-dropped or ground-launched weapons that release a number of smaller submunitions intended to kill enemy personnel or destroy vehicles. Cluster munitions were developed in World War II and are part of many governments’ weapons stockpiles. Cluster munitions have been used frequently in combat, including the early phases of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cluster munitions have been criticized for causing a significant number of civilian deaths. The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which bans the use of cluster munitions, entered into force in 2010; the United States is not a party to this convention. The Department of Defense (DOD) continues to argue that cluster munitions are a military necessity, but in 2008 instituted a policy to reduce the failure rate of cluster munitions (a major contributor to civilian casualties) to 1% or less after 2018. In November 2017, DOD issued a new policy that essentially reversed the 2008 policy. The 2017 policy permits combatant commanders, in extreme situations to meet immediate warfighting demands, to use cluster munitions that do not meet the 1% or less unexploded submunitions standard. In addition, the 2017 policy does not establish a deadline to replace cluster munitions exceeding the 1% rate and states that DOD “will retain cluster munitions currently in active inventories until the capabilities they provide are replaced with enhanced and more reliable munitions.” A number of governments, UN agencies, and nongovernmental organizations have accused Russia of using cluster munitions during its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In July 2023 and again in September 2023, the United States announced cluster munitions transfers to Ukraine. Congress may consider whether these transfers signal a change in U.S. policy on cluster munitions, whether the United States is able to provide other types of cluster munitions to that country, and whether Ukrainian use of such munitions affects international and U.S.-sponsored demining efforts in the country.