US will keep older cluster munitions

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will allow the U.S. military to once again arm itself with older cluster munitions, a type of weapon that has been banned by 102 countries largely because of concerns that they disproportionately harm civilians.

The change, detailed in a memo to be released Friday, reverses a prohibition issued under President George W. Bush, and appears to be a concession by the United States that finding safer variants of the weapons has so far failed.

Most U.S. cluster munitions held abroad appear to be positioned for a possible war with North Korea. Under a 2008 agreement, the Pentagon maintains a stockpile of more than 1.5 million cluster munitions, containing over 90 million bomblets, in South Korea.

Cluster munitions include a wide variety of rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery projectiles that scatter smaller weapons, called submunitions, over a target area. Some dispensers can release as many as several hundred bomblets.

Though the United States is not a signatory to the international treaty banning the weapons, it pledged in June 2008 to sharply restrict their use and reduce risks to civilians.

Submunitions may strike civilians who are not even close to intended targets, and many fail to detonate, resulting in “duds” that can explode years later and kill civilians.