Editing Cluster munition (section)

===United States policy===
[[File:CBUbombs.jpg|thumb|USAF [[Rockwell B-1 Lancer|B-1 Lancer]] dropping CBU cluster bombs]]

According to the [[US State Department]], the US suspended operational use of cluster munitions in 2003,<ref name="fas30june13"/> however, Amnesty International published a report that the US used them in Yemen during the 2009 [[al-Majalah camp attack]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Richard |date=2010-06-07 |title=US cluster bombs 'killed 35 women and children' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/7806882/US-cluster-bombs-killed-35-women-and-children.html |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-06-07 |title=Yemen: Images of missile and cluster munitions point to US role in fatal attack |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2010/06/yemen-images-missile-and-cluster-munitions-point-us-role-fatal-attack-2010/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}}</ref>

US arguments favoring the use of cluster munitions are that their use reduces the number of aircraft and artillery systems needed to support military operations and if they were eliminated, significantly more money would have to be spent on new weapons, ammunition, and logistical resources. Also, militaries would need to increase their use of massed artillery and rocket barrages to get the same coverage, which would destroy or damage more key infrastructures.<ref name="fas30june13"/>

The US was initially against any CCW limitation negotiations, but dropped its opposition in June 2007. Cluster munitions have been determined as needed for ensuring the country's national security interests, but measures were taken to address humanitarian concerns of their use, as well as pursuing their original suggested alternative to a total ban of pursuing technological fixes to make the weapons no longer viable after the end of a conflict.<ref name="fas30june13">[https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS22907.pdf Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress] – Fas.org, 30 June 2013</ref>

In May 2008, then-Acting [[Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs]] [[Stephen Mull]] stated that the US military relies upon cluster munitions as an important part of their war strategy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-06 |title=Cluster Munitions |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/t/pm/wra/c25930.htm |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=2001-2009.state.gov}}</ref> Mull emphasized that "US forces simply cannot fight by design or by doctrine without holding out at least the possibility of using cluster munitions."

The US Army ceased procurement of GMLRS cluster rockets in December 2008 because of a submunition dud rate as high as five percent. Pentagon policy was to have all cluster munitions used after 2018 to have a submunition unexploded ordnance rate of less than one percent. To achieve this, the Army undertook the Alternative Warhead Program (AWP) to assess and recommend technologies to reduce or eliminate cluster munition failures, as some 80 percent of US military cluster weapons reside in Army artillery stockpiles.<ref name="fas30june13" /> In July 2012, the US fired at a target area with 36 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) unitary warhead rockets. Analysis indicated that capability gaps existed as cluster munitions require approval by the Combatant Commander which reduced the advantage of responsive precision fire. The same effect could have been made by four Alternative Warhead (AW) GMLRS rockets under development by the AWP to engage the same target set as cluster munitions. Without access to the AW, the operation required using nine times as many rockets, cost nine times as much ($3.6&nbsp;million compared to $400,000), and took 40 times as long (more than 20 minutes compared to less than 30 seconds) to execute.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dau.mil/publications/DefenseATL/DATLFiles/Nov-Dec2013/Hill.pdf|title=PageNotFound|website=www.dau.mil|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201005633/http://www.dau.mil/publications/DefenseATL/DATLFiles/Nov-Dec2013/Hill.pdf|archive-date=2017-02-01|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Starting with the [[Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009]] (P.L. 111-8) annual [[Consolidated Appropriations Act]] legislation has placed export moratorium language on cluster weapons since then. On 19 May 2011 the [[Defense Security Cooperation Agency]] issued a memorandum prohibiting the sale of all but the CBU-97B [[CBU-105]] [[Sensor Fuzed Weapon]] because the others have been demonstrated to have a unexploded ordnance rate of greater than 1%.<ref name="icbl">{{cite news |title=United States Cluster Munition Ban Policy |url=http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2020/united-states/cluster-munition-ban-policy.aspx#ftnref38 |publisher=ICBL - CMC |date=24 November 2020 |access-date=23 February 2023 |archive-date=29 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029102928/http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2020/united-states/cluster-munition-ban-policy.aspx#ftnref38 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="crscm">{{cite news |title=Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress |url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/weapons/RS22907.pdf |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=9 March 2022}}</ref>

On 30 November 2017, the Pentagon put off indefinitely their planned ban on using cluster bombs after 2018, as they had been unable to produce submunitions with failure rates of 1% or less. Since it is unclear how long it might take to achieve that standard, a months-long policy review concluded the deadline should be postponed; deployment of existing cluster weapons is left to commanders' discretion to authorize their use when deemed necessary "until sufficient quantities" of safer versions are developed and fielded.<ref>[https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/11/30/us-putting-planned-ban-its-use-cluster-bombs.html US Putting Off Planned Ban on Its Use of Cluster Bombs] – Military.com, 30 November 2017</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Feickert|first1=Andrew|last2=Kerr|first2=Paul K.|title=Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress|date=December 17, 2017|publisher=Congressional Research Service|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS22907.pdf|access-date=24 January 2018}}</ref>