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22-598: Development work for DPICM projectiles began in the late 1950s. The first projectile, the 105 mm M444 entered service in 1961. Its submunitions were simple bounding anti-personnel grenades (ICM). Production of the M444 ended in the early 1990s. The first true DPICM was the 155 mm M483, produced in the 1970s. By 1975, an improved version, the M483A1, was being used. The projectile carried 88 M42/M46 grenade-like dual purpose submunitions. The grenades are very similar, but M42 side wall

44-502: A United States Army study of the Vietnam War had found that while it took approximately 13.6 high explosive shells for each enemy soldier killed. A shell firing DPICMs relied on average only 1.7 shells to kill an enemy soldier making it eight times as effective in producing casualties as standard high explosive projectiles. RUSI used an example of a trench, a direct hit by a high explosive round will spread shrapnel "within line of sight of

66-457: A small slow-burning charge at the base of the projectile would alleviate the low pressure behind the shell, hence increasing the range by lessening the difference between the pressure due to aerodynamic drag on the nose of the shell and the low pressure behind the base. The first full-scale tests took place in 1969 with modified 10.5 cm steel shells, with excellent results, and the Swedish patent

88-572: Is Russia. Human Rights Watch has reported that at least 10 types of cluster munitions are already being used on the battlefield, including munitions which were left over from USSR weapons stockpiles, and including the use of cluster munitions by Russia since 2014. It is reported, though officially denied, that Turkey has provided other types of cluster munitions to Ukraine in the past. On 14 August, Ukrainian forces released drone footage from Urozhaine , in Donetsk Oblast . The two videos appear to show

110-709: Is being developed by Lockheed Martin and Alliant Techsystems . The first AW rockets were ordered in September 2015. On July 7, 2023, the US announced that it would supply DPICM munitions to Ukraine. The weapon system could be used in both HIMARS and 155 mm shell projectiles. President Biden justified the move by saying "the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition”. Colin H. Kahl , Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, told reporters that DPICMs were needed by Ukraine. Russian defences are making Ukraine’s offensive “hard sledding, because

132-417: Is optimized for fragmentation characteristics while M46s have thicker walls strengthened to withstand additional setback loads in the last three aft layers of the projectile, where they are placed. The 155 mm M864 projectile entered production in 1987, and featured a base bleed that enhances the range of the projectile, although it still carries the same M42/M46 grenades. The base bleed mechanism reduces

154-598: Is the M1122, built from recycled D563s mostly filled with concrete topped with some explosive filling. As a training round, the M1122 has one-seventh the explosive impact at one-third the cost of a standard M795 high-explosive shell. The U.S. Army is seeking a replacement of DPICMs from the Alternative Warhead Program (AWP). The AWP warheads have an equal or greater effect against materiel and personnel targets, while leaving no unexploded ordnance behind. The program

176-588: The Russo-Ukrainian War , objections have been raised by some NATO members which had signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions , including Germany, France and the United Kingdom. However neither Ukraine nor the United States have signed the agreement. Several other NATO member states, including Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Turkey, are also not signatories of this agreement, nor

198-744: The M916 developed for the M101 / M102 howitzers. DPICMs were developed for several reasons: Large quantities of munitions bought during the Cold War were put into war reserve stockpiles. By the mid-2010s, many were reaching the end of their useful life and required disposal, an expensive process. The submunitions, which became old and less reliable, had to be extracted. After a careful "soft touch" disassembly fully intact D563 shell casings from M483-series 155-mm projectiles were being refilled with explosives, recycling them for use as inexpensive training ammunition. One such round

220-517: The Russians had six months to dig in.” Their usage also takes pressure off of US stockpiles of unitary high explosive rounds, such as those by HIMARS and the M982 Excalibur , allowing domestic production of these rounds to catch up to demand. Kahl also claimed that DPICMs can “scatter over a wide[r] area” than standard rounds, including Russian defences such as trenches. An unnamed Pentagon official put

242-537: The Swedish military. Since FMV was to contract a company in the US to manufacture the gas generator for the 12 cm sjömålsgranat m/70 (12 cm anti-ship shell m/70), used in the 12 cm TAP m/70 fixed coastal artillery gun, the classification secret was removed from the patent. Shortly thereafter the international rights were sold, eventually ending up with the Space Research Corporation (SRC), then owned by aeronautical engineer Gerald Bull . By

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264-417: The base of the shell or profiling it (as is done with sabot projectiles ) by adding a small ring of metal extending just past the base, and placing a small gas generator to the rear part of the shell. The gas generator provides little to no thrust , but fills the vacuum in the area behind the shell with an inflow of gas, dramatically reducing drag. This means that, at a cost of only very little space to fit

286-433: The figure of these rounds at “hundreds of thousands”. The expected fail rate is less than 2.35%. Kahl claimed that Russian cluster munitions have a fail rate of 30-40%. Ukraine has had to enter into guarantees not to use them in civilian areas and to mark areas where they have been used. On 10 July, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) published an article supporting the supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine, arguing that

308-706: The gas generator in the casing, The principles were developed in Sweden in the mid-1960s by the Försvarets forskningsanstalt (abbreviated FOA) and the Artillery bureau at the Kungliga Materielförvaltningen (later the Försvarets Materielverk (FMV) ) while working on a rocket-assisted projectile called "reatil". Their goal was to increase the range of coastal artillery. By 1966, it had been concluded that

330-540: The low-pressure area behind the shell to reduce base drag (it does not produce thrust; if it did it would be a rocket-assisted projectile ). Since it extends the range by a percentage, it is more useful on longer-range artillery where an increase of approximately 5–15 kilometres (3.1–9.3 mi) can be achieved, and it also was found that the reduced turbulence gave the projectiles a more consistent trajectory, resulting in tighter grouping, and efficient shelling more than 40 kilometres (25 mi) away. Base bleed technology

352-411: The outcome of the poorly-executed Russian retreat, Axe cites Russian military bloggers who blame the carnage on “the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade for failing to send tanks to support the infantry”, as well as “brigade troopers [who] were drunk”. Base bleed Base bleed or base burn (BB) is a system used on some artillery shells to increase range, typically by about 20%–35%. It expels gas into

374-459: The point of detonation". This also reduces the wear and tear on the barrels of 155 mm artillery weapons systems. On 12 July, Ukrainian Army Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi , the commander of the Ukrainian Tavriia military sector deployed in the southern front, told CNN that they had received the cluster munitions pledged by the United States in 7 July. During the course of

396-509: The remaining Russian forces in the town retreating under fire, as the Ukrainians deploy DPICMs in their path. Forbes writer David Axe has described the resulting scene as "murder" and a "bloodbath", given that Ukrainian artillery spotters were afforded an unobstructed view of the Russian retreat in the clear light of day, and the retreating Russian infantrymen were completely unsupported by tanks or other vehicles. Regarding this lack of support and

418-408: The shell's kinetic energy and therefore reduce its airspeed. Shaping the shell properly effectively reduces this component of drag; however, in regular flat-base artillery shells, the other large component is the so-called "base drag", caused by the low-pressure ("suction") area created directly behind the shell as it travels through the air. Base drag can be reduced --without significantly extending

440-617: The submunition count to 72. Work was budgeted in 2003 to retrofit the M42/M46 grenades with self-destruct fuses to reduce the problem of "dud" submunitions that do not initially explode, but may explode later upon handling. Work on 105 mm projectiles started in the late 1990s based around the M80 submunition. The eventual results were two shells, the M915 intended for use with the M119A1 light towed howitzer, and

462-454: Was developed in Sweden in the mid-1960s but took some time to spread and find its niche between cheaper classical ordnance and even more expensive rocket-assisted projectiles. It is now a fairly common option. Most (50–60%) of the drag on an artillery shell derives from the nose portion of the shell. Artillery shells travel through the air at supersonic speeds; as the shell pushes the air out of its way, it creates shock waves that bleed off

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484-418: Was granted to FOA in 1971 although both application and patent were classified. Since the development was done, the patent was transferred to FMV for procurement to the armed forces of Sweden. The concept was quickly implemented into the 7.5 cm sjömålsgranat m/66 (7.5 cm anti-ship shell m/66) used in the 7.5 cm tornpjäs m/57 fixed coastal artillery gun, and then rapidly into all anti-ship shells in

#518481