Cluster munitions. Cluster bombs

Exacerbation civil war in Yemen: coalition forces and the use of cluster bombs

Coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia have admitted that they may have used cluster bombs during military operations in Yemen. The international community wants to ban the use of this type of bomb due to its inhumanity. There is a danger that the deterioration of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia could lead to a proxy war. If fighting will begin in Sanaa, the number of victims will increase.

Spokesman denies using cluster bombs against people

On January 25, in an interview with our newspaper, the spokesman for the Saudi coalition, Major General Ahmed Asseri, said that cluster bombs were used against the Houthis, who advocate the overthrow of the Yemeni government.

In March last year, a coalition of ten countries, which included Saudi Arabia and the UAE, began fighting in Yemen at the request of President Hadi.

The international community intensified criticism of their intervention after the coalition's use of cluster bombs became known. The UN noted this month that the actions could constitute a war crime. After this, the Yemeni authorities asked the head of the Yemen office of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to leave the country.

Last May, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the coalition used four types of cluster bombs. In August, several dozen people died in Hajjah province. In January of this year, bombs fell on residential areas in Sanaa.

Responding to criticism, Ussery said that the fighting was in its early stages and cluster bombs were only used against vehicles. He emphasized that wide application there were no bombs. Ussery acknowledged that the coalition used cluster bombs used against vehicles, such as the CBU-105, but rejected Human Rights Watch's accusations that the bombs were used against people. He noted that HRW appears to be making inputs based on debris collected by the Houthis. It is believed that this time the coalition admitted the use of cluster bombs in order to avoid criticism that could follow if it continued to deny the bombing of the capital and residential areas.

Proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran

In 2011, a wave of anti-government demonstrations swept across Yemen. In February 2012, with the participation of Saudi Arabia, elections for an interim president were held in the country. President Hadi took office. Nevertheless, the Shiite Houthi group has strengthened its influence in the north of the country. Last February it captured the capital.

Hadi fled to the south, and in March he had to leave for Saudi Arabia. Yemeni authorities criticize Iran for providing military assistance to the Houthis. Last March, the Saudi coalition began carrying out airstrikes to support government forces.

In January this year, Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after an attack on its embassy in Tehran. The civil war in Yemen increasingly resembles a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia

AP Photo, Hani Mohammed

“The problem is the Houthis, who have taken over the country, and Iran, which supports them. Iran supports armed groups in various countries, thereby destabilizing the situation,” Ussery’s press secretary criticized.

He emphasized that in 2013, the Hadi administration arrested two Iranian ships that were delivering ammunition to the Houthis. Usseri also said that he has evidence that Iran is training the Houthis and providing them with financial assistance.

According to the coalition, government troops have recaptured 80% of the country. The Houthis still control the capital and the northern part of the country, but government troops managed to advance into Sanaa province in January. Ussery is confident in the success of the military operation: “In a few weeks we will be in the capital.”

The capital is home to 1.75 million people, so retaking it will not be easy. Experts fear there will be many civilian casualties. UNESCO warned that it could be destroyed old town of cultural value.

« Best option- if the Houthis accept the UN resolution. If they don't do this, the only solution left is a military solution," Ussery said.

Media reported that coalition airstrikes caused serious harm to civilians. According to the UN, at the end of last year the number of civilian casualties was 2,800. Ussery explained that the coalition hired specialists from the US and UK to work on the mistakes. The coalition is making every effort to avoid repeating inaccurate strikes.

The Islamic State and Al-Qaeda are taking advantage of Yemen's chaos. Arabian Peninsula"(AQAP). “It is important that Yemen does not fall under the control of terrorists. If Yemen turns into a failed state, it will become a threat to the entire world community,” Ussery said, in once again justifying military action.

Due to unexploded bombs, victims appear even after the end of hostilities

In some cases, cluster bombs consist of several hundred small bombs. When a bomb explodes, the metallic explosive elements inside, which have a large blast radius, cause serious damage. Some bombs do not explode when they hit the ground. They turn into mines, because of which many people die after the fighting is over. In 2008, an agreement was signed banning the production and use of cluster bombs. It came into force in 2010. At the same time, the USA, China, Russia and some other countries refused to sign it. In the arsenal of these countries - large number similar bombs. Saudi Arabia also did not sign the agreement.

According to the NGO Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), since the end of World War II, cluster bombs have been used in 43 countries and regions. Between July 2014 and July 2015 they were used in Libya, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen. Between 1960 and 2014, approximately 19,868 people became their victims. According to SMS estimates, 55 thousand people died from cluster bombs worldwide. 92% of victims between 2010 and 2014 are civilian population. Half of them are children.

Since ancient times, man has designed more and more new, more and more powerful weapons systems. However, in the 20th century, the military realized that in some situations many small bombs are better than one super-powerful one. In general, the prototype of cluster munitions, which became very widespread in the 20th century, is ordinary hunting shot and artillery buckshot.

Buckshot as a species artillery shells intended to defeat enemy personnel in open areas at close distances (usually up to 300 meters); during the Napoleonic Wars, grapeshot was a truly terrible weapon.

Ban

Cluster munitions were banned based on a document that came into force on December 3, 2008. As of January 2012 this document ratified by 107 states. Main prohibiting document: Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Cluster Munitions. It was signed on December 3, 2008 at an official ceremony in Oslo (Norway).

Prohibited Subject: Conventional ammunition that is designed to release or disperse explosive submunitions. Each munition weighs less than 20 kg and consists of explosive submunitions (excluding smoke, illumination, pyrotechnics, chaff, munitions solely for air defense purposes, munitions for electronic and electrical impact, as well as homing, self-aiming and equipped with self-deactivation or self-destruction mechanisms) .

At the same time, the most large countries manufacturers of cluster munitions, as well as the owners of the largest arsenals - the USA, Russia and China - simply ignored this agreement. In light of the events that unfolded in eastern Ukraine in the spring and summer of 2014, it is worth noting that Ukraine did not sign this agreement either.

In addition to the countries mentioned, Brazil, India, Pakistan refused to accept the treaty, South Korea, as well as Israel who consider cluster munitions necessary and effective weapon. Moreover, in the United States in 2010, some types of cluster munitions were updated (unlike ordinary cluster bombs, each element of the new warheads did not explode and used only kinetic energy to defeat the enemy).

Cluster munitions

The first to come up with the idea of ​​“fragmenting” the destructive effect in space were not representatives of the military profession at all, but hunters who were faced with the task of hitting high-speed and small targets - for example, snipe or ducks. These birds could take off and very quickly leave the affected area; it was very difficult for the hunter to take aim, calculate the lead and hit the target with one bullet.

However, if you replace the bullet with several dozen small ammunition (shot, buckshot), you can compensate for the error in aiming with a significantly wider affected area. That is why an ordinary shotgun can be called the forerunner of the modern cluster weapons.

It is worth noting that the military was very quickly able to evaluate and introduce this principle into combat operations. When firing at close ranges, buckshot began to be loaded into the cannons instead of cannonballs. The cannonballs, and later shells, began to be stuffed with explosives, which created a large number of fragments that were good at hitting enemy personnel (it was quite problematic to hit a soldier or even a horseman with a solid cannonball).

Direct ancestor cassette types weapons became shrapnel. Shrapnel shells were hollow shells filled with dozens and sometimes hundreds of small round bullets. When a shrapnel projectile approached the target on the downward part of the trajectory, the ejector was triggered powder charge, which ejected bullets in a diverging beam. It was impossible to hide from death flying from the sky in open areas.

The effect of such shells on enemy infantry was so effective that the Russian army at the beginning of the 20th century decided to abandon all types of shells for field artillery, with the exception of shrapnel. Later, special segmental incendiary shells, the filling of which included separate segments incendiary substance, they were equipped with ignition devices. When such a projectile exploded, the segments scattered into different sides and caught fire, forming a large number of small fires. Such projectiles could also be classified as the first types of cluster munitions.

However the founders of full-fledged cluster weapons are the Germans. Luftwaffe pilots already during Polish campaign 1939 began to use cluster bombs against Polish cavalry and infantry different types. For example, the AB 250-3 ammunition, which looked like an ordinary 250-kg aerial bomb, was equipped with 108 small-sized SD-2 fragmentation bombs. Each such bomb was equipped with a parachute-propeller, which made it possible to reduce its rate of descent and ensure the dispersion of bombs over an area of ​​several hundred square meters after opening the cassette in the air.

The SD-2 received the rather romantic name Schmetterling (butterfly), since when the propeller wings rotated, the flight of the SD-2 bombs was similar to the fluttering of a butterfly. Depending on the fuses used, the bomb exploded on impact with the ground 5-30 minutes after landing or while still in the air. Some of them were anti-personnel fragmentation mines. The destructive effectiveness of such cluster bombs against enemy infantry was much higher than the explosion of one, even a 250-kg bomb: the damage radius increased from 30 to 300 meters, 10 times.

Cluster bombs were used quite actively during the Second World War. They were used not only against enemy manpower, but also against their equipment, in particular tanks. It was only possible to hit a tank with one bomb by accident, so Soviet designers developed special small-sized anti-tank cumulative bombs PTAB-2.5−1.5. One KMB-type cassette could accommodate 48 such ammunition. The use of such bombs helped to dramatically increase the effectiveness of bombing and assault strikes against tank columns.

The high efficiency of cluster munitions led to their widespread use after the end of World War II. They were used during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. During Korean War The American military used the same German Schmetterling bombs, giving them a new designation - AN M83.

Later, the United States created its own cluster bombs, for example, SUU-31/B, which was stuffed with several dozen BLU 26/B submunitions, which received characteristic shape nickname "Guava". These ammunition, the size of an ordinary apple, had walls made of a light alloy into which 300 small 5.5-mm steel balls were fused. This filling dramatically increased the destructive capabilities of this bomb.

In 1974, one UN military observer working in Egypt described the effect of such weapons: “ Imagine a container resembling an overhead fuel tank filled with several hundred bombs, each only the size of a tennis ball. At the moment such a “ball” explodes, the target literally turns into a sieve».

Modern cluster munitions are special cassette casings equipped inside a large number(from several tens to hundreds) of small ammunition (mines or bombs) of small caliber. Such small-caliber munitions are usually called cluster munitions. Based on their purpose, these combat elements can be divided into 3 types::

1. Cluster fragmentation warheads with instantaneous fuses. They are used to destroy convoys, parked aircraft, oil storage facilities and other similar targets.

2. Anti-tank (cumulative) cluster combat elements are used to combat enemy armored vehicles: their tanks, self-propelled guns, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other armored targets (armor penetration can reach up to 300 mm).

3. Cluster fragmentation warheads with mine-type fuses, which are intended for mining airfields, railway stations, port facilities, etc.

By design a distinction is made between resettable uncontrolled cassettes and non-resettable cassette installations. Typically, non-resettable cassette launchers have a streamlined shape; they are placed outside the combat aircraft. Ammunition is fired from them using pyrotechnic charges through tubular guides when a combat carrier aircraft flies over enemy positions. At the same time, ejectable cassettes resemble ordinary aerial bombs. The ammunition is released from them after a certain specified period of time after their separation from the carrier aircraft.

The procedure for using bomb clusters is as follows. After the bombs are dropped from the aircraft, a braking parachute is extended from them, which allows the bomb to slow down and ensures its stabilization in horizontal flight. After this, small bombs are thrown out in a certain sequence, each of which also has its own braking device, which helps to achieve a falling trajectory close to vertical, which increases the destructive effect.

By dispersing, cluster combat elements are able to cover a vast area, hitting a large number of targets. Some modern cluster munitions are capable of scattering up to 650 explosive elements over an area, covering an area of ​​30 thousand square meters.

It is worth remembering that these ammunition are highly inaccurate, and quite often they simply do not explode when they hit the ground. Unexploded combat elements may contain an additional fuse that turns them into anti-personnel mines. A large number of civilians are blown up with such ammunition. After combat use elements of cluster munitions can remain in an unexploded state for a long time, and also spontaneously explode.

One of the most inhumane and cruel cluster munitions were the so-called ball bombs, which were widely used by the US military in Vietnam. In fact, it was a modernized version of shrapnel; the main purpose of these bombs was to kill people. After the Vietnam War, similar bombs appeared in service with other armies of the world.

Another achievement in the field of military thought was cluster bombs, which were equipped with combat elements in the form of plastic balls or needles. Such “fragments” were poorly visible even on x-rays, which made it difficult to provide medical care wounded. The use of such needle and ball bombs was prohibited by the 1980 UN Convention.

Currently, cluster munitions continue to be in service in many countries around the world; they have been used many times in military conflicts varying degrees intensity: in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Lebanon. UN observers estimate that Israel dropped more than 4 million such bombs in southern Lebanon during the armed conflict that took place in 2006.

At the same time, we should not forget that all cluster bombs have a very wide destruction zone, but most often they simply do not have the means for fine-tuning the target. Therefore, when triggered from a height, such bombs can freely deviate from the intended target. It is for this reason that the use of cluster munitions in residential areas has been considered inhumane. Also, do not forget that each dropped bomb leaves a large number of unexploded mines on the ground, which can for many years pose a danger to civilians.

At one time, the Americans painted bombs in different colors so that in the future it would be more effective for sappers to detect them and carry out a mine clearance operation. But this measure also has a negative effect - bright small bombs attracted the attention of children, who were injured or died while trying to pick up these deadly traps. According to the UN, most often it is civilians, especially children, who suffer from unexploded mines that were loaded into cluster bombs.

It appears that Russia is using cluster bombs during its bombing campaign in Syria. On October 7, the Ukrainian pro-Russian website “Russian Spring” published a video filmed in the vicinity of Aleppo, reporting that the video captured the results of the use of the RBK-500 anti-tank cluster bomb. In Syria, Russia demonstrates military power: October 7 Russian troops launched for the first time cruise missiles from the ship. In other words, Moscow continues to deploy military operations, including using cluster bombs, despite criticism from the international community.

According to information from the Basalt company, which produces RBK-500, distinctive feature of these bombs is that they are aimed at tanks using infrared radiation, diving onto the target by parachute.

In Russia they are called self-aiming bombs. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a video of the bombing, which shows several small explosions occurring simultaneously on the ground. American newspaper The New The York Times reported that it appears that cluster bombs were indeed used.

Russia has not signed the convention

The problem with cluster bombs is that all the munitions do not always explode, which can result in civilian casualties after the fighting ends. Therefore, in 2010 it came into force international treaty, which prohibits the use, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions. However, Russia, along with the United States and China, did not sign this agreement.

In the 1990s, Russia used cluster munitions during the Chechen conflict. It is noted that similar bombs were also used during the Georgian conflict in 2008.

“Since Russia has not signed the convention on cluster munitions, then, from the point of view of the law, there are no problems. Countries such as the USA, Israel, India and Pakistan, which actively use military force, did not even sign the convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction,” notes Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer. By posting a video of the use of cluster bombs, the Russian Ministry of Defense also did not violate any laws.

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch in 2013 criticized the Assad administration for its use of cluster munitions during the civil war in Syria. It was also noted that the Syrian authorities used Russian-made cluster bombs.

On September 30, Russia began carrying out airstrikes in Syria. Mainly used in the region precision weapons using satellites and drones. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, by October 7, 112 airstrikes had been carried out; 40% of institutions were destroyed " Islamic State" Moreover, on October 7, President Putin’s 63rd birthday, 26 cruise missiles were launched from a ship in the Caspian Sea at targets in the region.

Cluster bombs

Aviation ammunition is an air bomb equipped with thousands of aircraft mines or small bombs for various purposes. They are dispersed by a bursting charge ignited by a remote fuse at a certain height over the target. Because not all mines explode, it is often civilians who suffer after a conflict. Countries that sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions must destroy such weapons within eight years of ratification. The signing took place in 2008. The agreement came into force in 2010. Japan joined the convention in 2009.

Anti-fighter cluster bomb CL-3, Fray-Tech Corporation

Mounted on the outer hulls of Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, Nebulon-B escort frigates, and other New Republic vessels, cluster bombs are effective at striking fighters at close range. Unlike turbolasers and laser cannons, which can only destroy one TIE fighter at a time, cluster bombs can destroy multiple ships at once. Like Diamond Boron missiles, they are most effective against enemy ship formations.

A cluster bomb (also known as a cluster trap) consists of a simple metal blister that blends smoothly into the hull of the carrier ship. The cluster bombs carried on Mon Calamari Star Cruisers appear identical to the dozens of egg-shaped emplacements and sensor blister arrays that encircle the hulls of these ships. For use on more angular ships, such as Nebulon-B class frigates and Corellian corvettes, cluster bombs are usually given a square shape and are disguised as regular cargo airlocks or sensor clusters. The design of some cluster bombs includes decoy generators that emit radiation identical to that produced by active sensor complexes. These signals misinform TIE fighters, encouraging them to attack seemingly tempting and helpless targets.

When activated by the ship's combat crew, the cluster bomb's short-range sensor module continuously scans its immediate surroundings in order to detect the transponder codes of enemy ships. Given the dependence on software settings, the cluster bomb can be activated after detecting any number of ships within the explosion radius ranging from one to six. (Combat crews typically monitor the activity of their cluster bombs and have the ability to send an emergency all clear signal to prevent the bomb from detonating in the event that New Republic ships are close enough to be damaged by the explosion.)

When a bomb detonates, the explosive charges and bomb accelerator release shrapnel into the surrounding area, as well as dozens of magnetized proton and impact grenades. As a result, a cloud of fragments and explosives is formed, reaching more than a hundred meters in diameter. The grenades are equipped with magnetic plates that are aimed at any ship located nearby and often trigger chain reactions that can turn the surrounding space into an explosive zone for all moving objects for several minutes.

New Republic ships broadcast warning signals to all friendly fighters, and most pilots memorize the location of these blisters to avoid being caught in the deadly explosions.

Explosive silencers protect the bomb-carrying ship at the time of initial detonation, and grenade explosions are not powerful enough to damage the armored plating of a heavy warship. The jammers are equipped with removable panels, allowing the maintenance team to install new cluster bombs on the ship's hull in less than ten minutes.

Since shock grenades do not have computer systems control or guidance, they are simply directed to the nearest ship. For this reason, cluster bombs have proven to be most effective in battles where enemy ships are vastly outnumbered by New Republic ships, making it much less likely that flying grenades will hit friendly fighters.

Anti-fighter cluster bomb CL-3, Fray-Tech Corporation

Mounted on the outer hulls of Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, Nebulon-B escort frigates, and other New Republic vessels, cluster bombs are effective at striking fighters at close range. Unlike turbolasers and laser cannons, which can only destroy one TIE fighter at a time, cluster bombs can destroy multiple ships at once. Like Diamond Boron missiles, they are most effective against enemy ship formations.

A cluster bomb (also known as a cluster trap) consists of a simple metal blister that blends smoothly into the hull of the carrier ship. The cluster bombs carried on Mon Calamari Star Cruisers appear identical to the dozens of egg-shaped emplacements and sensor blister arrays that encircle the hulls of these ships. For use on more angular ships such as Nebulon-B class frigates and Corellian corvettes, cluster bombs are typically given a square shape and can be disguised as regular cargo airlocks or sensor clusters. Some cluster bombs are designed with decoy generators that emit radiation identical to that produced by active sensor complexes. These signals misinform TIE fighters, encouraging them to attack seemingly tempting and helpless targets.

When activated by the ship's combat crew, the cluster bomb's short-range sensor module continuously scans its immediate surroundings in order to detect the transponder codes of enemy ships. Depending on the software settings, the cluster bomb can be activated after detecting any number of ships within the blast radius ranging from one to six. (Combat crews typically monitor the activity of their cluster bombs and have the ability to send an emergency all clear signal to prevent the bomb from detonating if New Republic ships are close enough to be harmed by the explosion.)

When a bomb detonates, the explosive charges and bomb accelerator release shrapnel into the surrounding area, as well as dozens of magnetized proton and impact grenades. As a result, a cloud of fragments and explosives is formed, reaching more than a hundred meters in diameter. The grenades are equipped with magnetic plates that target any nearby ship and often trigger chain reactions that can turn the surrounding area into an explosive zone for all moving objects for several minutes.

New Republic ships broadcast warning signals to all friendly fighters, and most pilots memorize the location of these blisters to avoid being caught in the deadly explosions.

Explosive suppressors protect the bomb-carrying ship during the initial detonation, and grenade explosions are not powerful enough to damage the armored plating of a heavy warship. The jammers are equipped with removable panels, allowing the maintenance team to install new cluster bombs on the ship's hull in less than ten minutes.

Since shock grenades do not have computer control or guidance systems, they are simply aimed at the nearest ship. Therefore, cluster bombs have proven to be most effective in battles in which enemy ships are vastly outnumbered by New Republic ships, making it much less likely that exploding grenades will hit friendly fighters.