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MAG Lebanon Technical Operations Manager Andy Gleeson gives visitors a tour of the range of ordnance and "battle area indicators" found by MAG clearance teams. In the garden are found examples of all three major types of cluster munition delivery systems: rocket launched warheads; artillery shells; and air dropped canisters. Examples of leaflet bombs are also on display. |
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| ROCKETS: Andy stands next to remnants from Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS). On th left is a US made M26 rocket and on the right is a Chinese made Type 81. |
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| As the signs indicate,
the rocket bodies on the left are M26 rockets (American made) and on the
right are Type 81 rockets (Chinese made). "FFE" means "Free From
Explosives," indicating the ordnance has been rendered safe for display
purposes.
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| 644 M77 submunitions
are packed into each M26 rocket.
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| Type 81 rockets with MZD-2 submunitions have been found in Lebanon by clearance personnel. It is not clear who possessed or used them in Lebanon. That said, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli government have reported that Hezbollah fired 113 of these rockets on to villages in northern Israel. |
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| AIR DROPPED: The CBU-58 cluster bomb is dropped from the air and contains 650 BLU-63 bomblets, each the size of a tennis ball. "BLU" means "Bomb Live unit." These weapons were manufactured in the early 1970s. Some CBU-58s failed to even open - the top munition apparently landed nose first. Fewer air-dropped cluster munitions were used than rocket and artillery launched ones. |
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| A BLU-63 submunition (bomblet). |
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| When a CBU-58 fails to open, the 650 bomblets inside generally are not armed. The arming process generally requires that each of the bomblets spins in order for its individual fuze to be armed. It appears in some cases that individual bomblets exploded from within the container after impact. This suggests two challenges: (1) not knowing whether others may be armed; and (2) paradoxically, indicating that the other bomblets were not set off by a chain reaction explosion caused by the first detonation. This makes it difficult to destroy entire containers filled with unexploded bomblets. |
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| More CBU-58 casings. These apparently did open. |
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| This CBU casing has two interesting features - (1) evidence of a post impact "blow-out" by one submunition; and (2) a 1973 warranty expiration date. |
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| This CBU-58 was likely manufactured in 1974. |
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| ARTILLERY: Cluster munitions are also delivered by artillery shells. |
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The signs above give details about how many Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) are in each. |
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This is an M42 bomblet from an artillery shell. |
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Leaflet Bombs |
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