Military

Cluster arms ban leave gap in UK inventory, says Jane's

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, April 11, IRNA
UK Ban-Cluster Bombs
The British government's decision to hasten the withdrawal of its 'dumb' cluster munitions leaves a gap in the country's air force inventory that remains unfilled, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

With regard to the army, it will retain AT2 anti-tank multiple launch rockets, which are classed as 'smart weapons because each submunition is fitted with a self-destruct fuse, Jane's said.

But the air force is left with no equivalent cluster weapon for the close air support role that has become a crucial tasking for the deployed fast jet fleet.

The gap comes after Defence Secretary Des Brown announced last month that all the air-force's remaining 3,650 RBL 755 cluster bombs and 536,550 submunitions would be immediately withdrawn following agreement at a cluster munitions conference in Oslo in February.

Some 43,200 M26 rockets that contain over 27 million submunitions that were used by the British army were also being scrapped.

But Jane's said that Brimstone missiles made by part-British MBDA were intended to replace the RBL 755 as a point weapon against heavy armoured targets, which was ordered in 1996 was still not
operationally deployed.

Brimstone's millimeter-wave radar seeker lacks the required discrimination against more regular targets within current rules of engagement, air force sources were said to have told the weekly.

As an alternative, Boeing, a partner in the original Brimstone development, proposed a laser-guided derivative, but this has yet to receive any official backing, it reported.

The weekly said that the air force was continuing to undertake close air support with rockets or precision/unguided bombs that are often overmatched to their intended targets.

British forces used both UK and Israeli-made cluster weapons during the Iraq war. Israel was also condemned for the extensive use of cluster bombs during its invasion of Lebanon last summer.

Jane's said that although the RBL 755 was an imperfect weapon with a submunitions failure rate of 6 per cent, its removal leaves British commanders in the field with one fewer option.

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