The CB Battlefield Legacy: Understanding the Potential Problem of Clustered CB Weapons

The millions of pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) littering former battlefields are a lingering legacy of World War I. In the Verdun, French démineurs dispose of about 30 tons of chemical ordnance each year; they have been doing so since 1945. China, too, has a chemical battlefield legacy, with more than 120 tons of abandoned Japanese chemical weapons from World War II. The removal of these weapons is costly and time-consuming, requiring specialized administrative programs that often operate for decades. The safety measures, including the temporary evacuation of inhabitants, during removal operations conducted at these weapons sites has resulted in underrating the perceived lethality potential of a contemporary chemical-biological (CB) battlefield. The chemical weapons of World Wars I and II were composed principally of unexploded artillery shells, and they contained agents that were less toxic than the nerve agents of today. The remnants of a contemporary CB battlefield will include airand missile-delivered submunitions. Unlike the fragmentation and highexplosive remnants of the Kosovo and Laos conflicts, an accident involving contemporary UXO may affect people far from the immediate vicinity of the accident. A comparison of fragmentation and CB-clustered weapons is important in understanding this potential problem. Bombs and Warheads