President Biden sat down for a recent interview in which he said the United States is low on 155 mm artillery ammunition rounds, sparking outrage and questions of competency from conservatives on social media.
During the interview, which aired Sunday morning, Biden defended his administration for sending cluster munitions to Ukraine as a “transition period” until more munitions are produced.
However, the use of these weapons is banned by over 100 states across the world as part of The Convention of Cluster Munitions. While neither Ukraine nor the USA are part of this convention, the prospect of their use has garnered widespread condemnation from international communities.
Cluster bombs are particularly contentious because some submunitions fail to explode. When they land on the ground, they become like landmines that are extremely dangerous for civilians — particularly children who might pick them up.
The Biden administration recently made waves after agreeing to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions. That put the US at odds with key allies, like the UK, that disapprove of the move.
The explosives are versatile: They can be dropped from the air or fired from the ground or sea. Crucially, they might contain hundreds of smaller weapons — known as bomblets — that can be activated mid-air or on the ground. The combined fuze of these submunitions can cover an area the size of several football fields.
The munitions — which are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — are seen by the U.S. as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian front lines. U.S. leaders debated the thorny issue for months, before President Joe Biden made the final decision last week.
U.S. leaders have said the U.S. will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate,” meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. The unexploded rounds, which often litter battlefields and populated civilian areas, cause unintended deaths. U.S. officials said Washington will provide thousands of the rounds, but provided no specific numbers.
