1、Author Date The United States is unilaterally divesting itself of its cluster munitions by 2018.It is doing so based on a 2008 policy decision to comply with the Oslo Treaty,which restricts the use of cluster munitions,even though the United States is not a signatory to this treaty.Much has changed
2、since 2008.Russia is using cluster munitions,also called improved conventional munitions(ICM),in Ukraine and Syria.Furthermore,both Russia and China are proliferating these weapons to other countries.Further removal of ICMs from the U.S.arsenal should be halted,pending a suitable replacement.Backgro
3、und ICM weapons employ submunitions(small bomblets)to effectively blanket an area with multiple targets such as dispersed enemy formations and elusive mobile systems including artillery,rocket,missile,and air defense units.These area targets are the types of challenges the U.S.military will face in
4、the future;the kinds of military problems the United States confronted over the past decade in Afghanistan,Iraq,and elsewhere were better addressed with precision unitary warheads to avoid collateral damage.Criticisms of ICMs and other cluster munitions concern unexploded ordnance(UXO),which can cre
