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US ends CBU production


Slater

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The future is notoriously hard to predict. I wonder if some new form of CBU will make an appearance in time?:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/31/last-remaining-u-s-maker-of-cluster-bombs-stops-production/

I doubt very much that you'll see new CBU type weapons coming out of America. After the Convention on Cluster Munitions came into effect in 2008, the market for such weapons among American allies dried up substantially.

A number of the countries who were signatories to the convention are on good terms with America or full allies through NATO. Those potential markets for CBU weapons are now gone.

It is also notable that both France and the UK, countries that have produced CBU weapons in the past, are signatories to the convention.

It's a weapon of growing unpopularity.

Edited by upnorth
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, from the military point of view, I don't see them of much use anymore anyway. As the armies are getting smaller on both sides, there are not so many opportunities left where you can use them (like large areas with many soft-skin-vehicles). A SDB or a small GBU will do the job as good as a CBU.

Alex

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While many armies are getting smaller, some armies have giant excess vehicle parks just waiting for a chance to be re-activated. And as many air forces are also getting smaller, when the need arises for the large-scale destruction of vehicles each asset will need to have a large potential destructive capability.

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The most effective US CBU against targets such as troop concentrations and thin-skinned or lightly protected vehicles is the CBU-87/-103 series (the "Combined Effects Munition"). I believe this particular weapon will phase out in the next few years, though, and evidently will not be replaced.

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