According to Reuters, Ukraine is seeking the Mk-20 air-delivered cluster bomb to release its individual explosives from drones, the U.S. Representatives Jason Crow and Adam Smith say, who both serve on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. Moreover, Ukraine has already requested 155 mm artillery cluster shells.
Ukrainian officials urged the U.S. lawmakers to give those weapons at the Munich Security Conference in February, 2023.
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Ukraine hopes cluster munitions will give it an edge in the grinding fight against russian forces in the east of Ukraine, reads the report.
Cluster munitions, banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.
The Mk-20 Rockeye or the CBU-100 is a free-fall, unguided cluster weapon designed to kill tanks and armored vehicles produced by Textron Systems Corporation, American aerospace and defense company.
The system consists of a clamshell dispenser, a mechanical Mk-339 timed fuze, and 247 the Mk-118 Mod1 high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) submunitions.
The bomblet weighs 1.32 pounds (0.5 kg) and has a 0.4-pound (0.2-kg) shaped-charge warhead of high explosives, which allows penetration of approximately 7.5 inches (19.05 cm) of armor.
A detonating cord charge splits the outer casing into 4 pieces when the fuze functions. When the cluster bomb casing splits, the nose section is one piece, the tail section a second piece and the middle section breaks into 2 halves. The cluster bomb is white or dark green in colour and has a yellow band. The body of the Mk 20 is made of high-grade aluminium.
The Mk-20 bomb is usually delivered by aircraft. But classical way to use this weapon isn’t particularly available to the Ukrainian Air Force, as the craft has to be right above the target.
That’s why Ukraine is interested in the Mk-118 HEAT submunition more than in a whole bomb. It can be used with unmanned aerial vehicles.
Therefore, it can become an “individual” weapon and bypass the concerns about cluster munition usage.
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