The Ukrainian military is already using cluster munitions against the Russian army at the front. Now the first picture of the shells that Ukraine received from the USA has appeared online.
This was reported by the Ukraine Weapons Tracker community.
Thus, the M864 long-range projectile contains 72 cartridge subelements - 24 cumulative M46 and anti-personnel M42, weighing 208 and 213 grams, respectively.
The capabilities of the projectile, which hits targets from above, allow you to penetrate approximately 70 mm of armor, which is generally enough to defeat even tanks.
The M864 is equipped with a gas generator to increase the range of fire, and the ballistics of the projectile is considered identical to the high-explosive M549. When firing from the M777 howitzer, its flight range is slightly more than 30 km, when using the 52-caliber artillery system, this indicator increases to approximately 40 km.
It is believed that the effectiveness of one cluster artillery ammunition corresponds to 7-15 high-explosive fragmentation shells. This is of crucial importance in the conditions of shortage of ammunition and a smaller number of artillery in the ZSU than in the Russian army.
Cluster ammunition for Ukraine
This month, the US transferred cluster munitions to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden said that such shells will help Ukrainian fighters to continue their counteroffensive.
It should be noted that the transfer of cluster munitions is a temporary solution for a transitional period until the West can produce more than 155 mm artillery shells of other types.
At the same time, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov dispelled fears about the transfer of cluster munitions and named five main principles in their use. In particular, Ukraine will use them only to liberate the territories of Ukraine, that is, it will not hit Russia.
Let us add that Russia has been using cluster shells for a long time, killing the Ukrainian population.
It should be noted that the White House confirmed that our fighters are already using cluster munitions.
