Global Courant
The US is leaning toward supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions, and the announcement could come early next month, two senior US officials said.
A third US official said the US is considering supplying Ukraine with improved dual-purpose conventional munitions, or DPICMs, but declined to give a timeline for an announcement.
DPICMs are ground-to-ground warheads that explode and scatter multiple small rounds or bombs over vast areas – causing more devastation than single rounds. The rounds can be shaped charges that penetrate armored vehicles, or they can shatter or fragment to be more dangerous and lethal to personnel.
Some human rights groups oppose their use because of concerns that unexploded bombs or duds could explode after combat, potentially injuring or killing innocent civilians.
Ukraine has been asking the US for DPICMs since last year, but the idea has met with resistance due to an international treaty banning the transfer, use and stockpiling of the weapon, the so-called Treaty on Cluster Munitions.
The US, Ukraine and Russia are not signatories to the treaty, but more than 100 countries are, including many US allies.
The US developed cluster munitions during the Cold War and later built up a large number of stockpiles, many of which were now nearing the end of their shelf life. This week, a bipartisan group of members of Congress sent a letter asking the Biden administration to unleash its “untapped, vast arsenal” on Ukraine.
DPICMs can be fired from artillery systems that the US has already supplied to Ukraine.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a member of the Armed Services Committee, sent a letter Thursday asking Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for details, including DPICM dud rates and variants in the US stockpile that could be sent to Ukraine.
“As you know, the United States has placed restrictions on the use of cluster munitions, both by law and policy,” Crow wrote. “I believe that any policy change needs public debate and more public information is needed to achieve that.”
