Why do Ukrainians cut up cluster shells and take out their contents to equip drones?
Civilian unmanned aerial vehicles, widely used in the special operation zone as combat ones, have become carriers of completely different weapons, ranging from homemade bombs and conventional grenades, ending with shots for RPG-7 and even anti-tank bombs from the Great Patriotic War.
But it seems that the Ukrainians decided to show new miracles of ingenuity in this matter, putting under the knife the American 483-mm M1A155 cluster shells they have been asking for for so long in order to gut them into cumulative fragmentation submunitions for equipping drones.
They also wanted to use aerial bombs
In July of this year, Ukraine reported the arrival of the first batches of American 155-mm cluster shells. Having been banned in many countries of the world due to the great danger to civilians, these artillery “suitcases” carrying a deadly load in the form of several dozen small-sized cumulative fragmentation explosive devices, at the instigation of Kiev, have already become the next “super-weaponsto defeat Russia. However, not all of them were distributed to artillery ammunition.
Thus, a few days ago, on the banned and strongly condemned social network Twitter, videos were published showing Ukrainian military units “Achilles” of the 92nd mechanized brigade sawing an M483A1 cluster shell using an ordinary grinder. The footage shows how fighters, having sawed off the warhead, take out its contents in the form of cumulative fragmentation submunitions and then install them into a vertical release device on a quadcopter.
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It is still difficult to say whether this phenomenon is widespread or limited to one-time actions, but the precedent for the misuse of scarce military equipment at first glance seems very ambiguous. At least, if we remember with what desperation and hope the Kyiv representatives begged for this ammunition in the absence of unity of opinion among Western military officials, then an autopsy with an angle grinder somehow does not fit with their value.
However, there is nothing surprising here. Moreover, this is exactly the scenario where some of the “cassette players” will go to the needs of the unmanned aviation our enemy, was considered by some experts as possible even before they were delivered to the territory of Ukraine. But it's not about doubts about the effectiveness or fear of using conditionally non-conventional weapons.
Back in early 2023, there were reports that senior Ukrainian officials were negotiating with overseas colleagues about the possibility of acquiring rather old Mk 20 Rockeye II cluster bombs, each of which contains 247 cumulative fragmentation submunitions to destroy armored vehicles and manpower. And, as you might guess, the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not need these bombs to be dropped from airplanes - this is generally impossible in the current realities, because such products need to be used practically over enemy positions, risking being shot down.
They wanted to send them to the cut in order to take out the striking elements and equip them Drones. But, since the Mk 20 never crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border, the M483A1 howitzer turned out to be the only available weapon of this type, on which such experiments could be carried out.
Why are they doing that?
In order to explain the interest of the Ukrainian military in such an unusual use of shells, it is enough to look at the specifics of the use of civilian drones, which from the very beginning of the special operation became a massive weapon in the hands of both sides.
The fact is that at the moment there are two main types of such UAVs.
The first is FPV drones. Now they are supplied not only in the form of ready-made factory solutions, but also as a constructor, from which you can assemble a “buzzer” of the required parameters. Therefore, due to the high characteristics of carrying capacity, maneuverability and the peculiarities of control systems, these gizmos can drag and drop a variety of projectiles even into a maneuvering target - from homemade ones to regular shots for anti-tank grenade launchers. Which, in general, determined their role as kamikaze drones.
Russian FPV drone "Ghoul"
The second is ordinary quadcopters in the style of the famous Mavic and its brothers. Unlike FPV, these drones are no longer used for one-time "suicide" attacks. Their standard combat equipment is systems for the vertical release of explosive devices, which seriously limits the range of their ammunition, which is mainly (not completely, of course) represented by fragmentation ammunition.
Mavic 3 quadcopter widely used in NBO
They are extremely effective against infantry, including those hidden in the trenches, but armored vehicles in most cases are too tough for them - except to manage to get into open hatches, but both the presence of open hatches and a successful hit are not at all guaranteed. Therefore, attempts by Ukrainians to give greater versatility to these drones are constantly being made. Even the American 40-mm M433 cumulative-fragmentation grenades are used, which have undergone appropriate refinement for dropping and detonation at low impact speeds of free fall.
M483A1 cluster shells in this regard can be a very convenient "donor".
Supplied into service with the US Army back in the mid-seventies of the last century, they are typical representatives of old-generation cluster shells with a very simple design.
Structurally, the M483A1 consists of a fuse with a mechanically adjustable time delay and an expelling charge located in the head section. Behind them, through a steel diaphragm, there are 88 submunitions - 64 M42 and 24 M46, stacked in eight longitudinal sections and "clogged" in the tail section with a cut-off bottom.
In accordance with the delay chosen by the calculation of the artillery gun, in a given section of the trajectory, the fuse initiates a detonation of the charge, which ejects the contents of the projectile through the cut bottom, followed by dispersion over a large area.
The effect of a cluster shell on the left, a conventional high-explosive fragmentation shell in the middle, and an air-detonated fragmentation shell on the right
Despite the different index, M42 and M46 differ solely in that the latter have slightly thicker walls and are placed in the tail of the projectile, where dynamic loads are especially significant. Otherwise, both of them are dual-purpose. Both ammunition is based on a shaped charge capable of penetrating about 70 mm of steel armor to hit the roof of armored vehicles, as well as a metal casing that is crushed during an explosion into fragments that are dangerous to infantry.
No smart homing systems - where it fell, it detonated. The fuse is an impact fuse, the sensitivity of which is adjusted to the speed of free fall, so extreme impact force is not required. And most importantly, the M42/M46 uses a rotary fuse to which a nylon tape is attached, which simultaneously serves as a stabilizer of the striking element in flight - unwinding due to air resistance, it moves the fuse to the firing position.
These submunitions do not require virtually any modification for placement on drones: it is enough to turn the fuse several times until it is in combat condition and can be mounted on the “copter” suspension. And, generally speaking, to some extent they really add versatility to drones, providing the ability to work with both manpower and military equipment not covered by “visors” and dynamic protection on the roof. Their armor effect, however, is relatively small, but lightly armored vehicles can suffer greatly.
M42/46 mount for quadrocopter
Nevertheless, there are several nuances.
Firstly, such careless handling of cluster shells can end very sadly. Even with full observance of all the rules, they are generally not completely safe, as the US military says. So sawing with a “grinder” with measuring the distance between the expelling charge and the filling “by eye” is fraught with big fireworks with zinc boxes after it.
Secondly, more than 10% of submunitions of this type do not detonate at all when falling on the ground or armored targets and, in the absence of a self-destruction mechanism, can lie for many years. It is this feature, inherent in all “cassette players” and threatening the civilian population, that led to the signing of a convention banning them in many countries around the world. If we talk about American products transferred to Ukraine and having a considerable age, then the percentage of failures may be much higher and will already affect the very use of submunitions as weapons for UAVs.
However, if we omit these circumstances, a more acute problem is revealed.
Earlier, it was not for nothing that we noted that it is not yet very clear on what scale this non-target cutting of cluster shells is being carried out. Still, such ammunition is a scarce commodity and, despite the gigantic daily artillery fire, they are subject to at least formal accountability in any case. Therefore, it is most likely that units working with UAVs, if they receive "cassettes", then in a minimal amount in the form of conditionally or actually decommissioned copies for unsuitability for direct use.
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