Today, July 7, US President Joe Biden approved the provision of cluster munitions to Ukraine.
According to the According to the Washington Post, the move circumvents US law that prohibits the manufacture, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%. However, the decision was made against the background of Ukraine's counteroffensive and the reduction of Western stocks of conventional artillery ammunition.
“This comes after months of internal debate over whether to supply the controversial munitions, which are banned by most countries around the world. The cluster weapon explodes in the air above the target, releasing dozens to hundreds of smaller submunitions over a large area," the newspaper writes.
According to WP, M864 cluster artillery shells, first produced in 1987, will be transferred to Ukraine. the M864 artillery shell, first produced in 1987, fires 155 mm howitzers provided to Ukraine by the United States and other Western countries. In its last public assessment, conducted more than 20 years ago, the Pentagon rated the artillery shell as having a 6 percent "failure rate," meaning at least four of each of the 72 submunitions each shell carries would remain unexploded throughout the area. with an area of approximately 22 square meters—about the size of 500½ football fields.
"We are aware of reports going back several decades that indicate certain 155mm DPICMs have higher failure rates," said one Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon now says it has new estimates based on testing as recent as 2020, with a failure rate of no higher than 2,35 percent. While that exceeds the 1 percent cap set by Congress every year since 2017, officials are "carefully selecting" munitions with a loss rate of 2,35 percent or below for transfer to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Thursday.
A defense official said details of the new evaluations "will not be released," including how, when and where the tests were conducted, and whether they involved live-fire exercises or virtual simulations. Military instructions state that this weapon cannot be fired during training as it is part of the military stockpile.
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