• slaeg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Looked like an air-burst munition of sorts? I thought that hit was the hit labelled as use of cluster munition and was readying my downvote, but then the next two was shown and yeah… clusters alright.

  • PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s about time they used these. It’s their land anyway and they should be able to defend it effectively.

    • DrNeurohax@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, but I can understand their hesitancy. Unexploded bomblets could be a hazard for their own advancing troops and a hazard for citizens that eventually use the land.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to log every one of these shot - source, target, altitude of actual explosion, number of explosions (is witnessed by drones), etc. I imagine they’ll want to do a sweep through there when things settle down.

  • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    I dunno, it just seems like the delay on the bomblets was too long. And also that a fragmentation round could have gotten them all without leaving unexploded ordinance all over the place.

    • Wilshire@sopuli.xyzOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      Just to provide clarity, the dud rate is approximately 2.5%, so about 1-2 per shell.

      • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Times how many hundreds of shells? With bomblets sitting around for decades after.

        And how many survived that hit, as opposed to a similar fragmentation strike? A few survivors aren’t actually a bad thing in a lot of cases too. They require resources to care for, draining man power that’s already stretched thin.

        It just strikes me as a less than efficient weapon choice. I’d be curious to see it compared to air burst flechette rounds in effectiveness.

        • Wilshire@sopuli.xyzOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          I agree with your points. Demining and EOD in eastern and southern Ukraine could take decades. Cluster munitions will hopefully be a stop-gap, and not the new norm.

    • Wilshire@sopuli.xyzOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      54
      ·
      1 year ago

      Russia has already been using cluster munitions since the beginning of the war, so how is this an escalation?

    • Cranakis
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m assuming the “it” in your sentence is Russia? They deploy a nuke of any sort and it will be the end of Russia.