Cluster munitions or cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapons that eject smaller submunitions: a cluster of bomblets. The most common types are designed to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles. Other submunition-based weapons designed to destroy runways, electric power transmission lines, disperse chemical or biological weapons, or to scatter land mines have also been produced. When dropped from an aircraft, a cluster bomb unit separates into several smaller bombs and makes many little explosions covering a larger area than a typical bomb would cover. The bomb is not necessarily used for precision, but for destroying multiple targets at once or making sure something gets hit along with the outer perimeter of the target getting hit as well. The bomb is designed to be dropped by plane at any altitude and any air speed. It is a free-falling bomb and relies on the aircraft to aim it before it drops. Once it is dropped, it needs no further instruction, as opposed to guided munitions or smart bombs. The bomb can be dropped by a variety of modern-day aircraft. Some submunition-based weapons can disperse non-munitions such as leaflets. Because cluster bombs release many small bomblets over a wide area they pose risks to civilians both during attacks and afterwards. During attacks the weapons are prone to indiscriminate effects, especially in populated areas. After a conflict unexploded bomblets can kill or maim civilians long after a conflict has ended. Unexploded submunitions are costly to locate and remove. Cluster munitions are prohibited for those nations that ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, adopted in Dublin, Ireland in May 2008. The Convention will enter into force after it has been ratified by 30 states; as of November 2009, 24 states have ratified it and another 78 have signed but not yet ratified it. The general rules of international humanitarian law aimed at protecting civilians also apply to cluster bombs as they do to all weapons. The use of the BLU-97/B in Afghanistan caused some controversy as the bright yellow color of the bomblet was the same as humanitarian ration packs handed out to civilians by U.S. forces.[2] This reportedly led to 'dud' bomblets being mistakenly picked up resulting in death or injury. The color of the ration packs was subsequently changed. [READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE]
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