Weapons banned. Part 1: Napalm
November 12, 2014

The fact that the same is napalm, many Soviet citizens learned only in the 1960s, despite television reports of the belligerent Vietnam. Affected people, terrible burns, dead children, burning villages just indignation aroused citizens. Even the air strike, which was filmed from a distance, looked terrible. Over Vietnam's jungles on the combat course the release of "Phantom" or "Skyhawk", at some point in time separated from their belly big cigar-shaped tank that looked like a tank of fuel. Then the tank tumbled erratically in the sky as long as does not touch the ground. At this point, it bursts out of it and spread over a sea of ​​fire, from which it was impossible to escape.

Ban

Napalm was banned on the basis of the document, which entered into force December 2, 1983.

January 2012 This document ratified the 99 countries of the world, including Russia.

The main document forbidding: Protocol 3 (on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons). This protocol was adopted by the UN in addition to 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons.

Subject to the prohibition of Protocol 3 was the use of napalm and other types of incendiary weapons against civilians.



Napalm

Gasoline as a fuel has a very high energy density - one filled with enough beer bottles to vehicle weight of more than 1 ton was able to drive 5, and even more kilometers. However, if you splash it on thick wet logs, fire breaks out, but the fire you can not get. The fire quickly calm down. As an incendiary means simply was not good enough gasoline. The ideal agent was napalm which represents benzene (sometimes other fuel) which is connected with a thickener, and various additives, the main function of which - increase the combustion temperature of the mixture.

The resulting mixture is able to adhere to various surfaces, even arranged vertically, as it burns much longer than regular gasoline. Napalm as a weapon invented the Americans during the Second World War. Initially, as a thickener for the mixture they used natural rubber. But as South-East Asia (the main producer of rubber tree juice) was occupied by Japan, he had to look for a replacement.

The word "napalm" by chance resembles the word "palm". Instead of rubber, it was decided to use a mixture based on aluminum salts of fatty acids, - naphthenic and palmitic. These salts have the consistency that is similar to the soap. Palmitic acid was once isolated by scientists from ordinary coconut oil, growing on the palms (hence the name). Word of napalm was also derived from the first two syllables of the names of the acids used.



Napalm was first established in 1942-43 at Harvard University, the leader of this project was Professor Louis F. Fieser. Professor engaged with their counterparts of the powder mixing salts of fatty acids with benzene, after which the mixture was transformed into a sticky and viscous liquid, which had a brown color.

For the first time in combat new weapon was tested July 17, 1944 with air strikes on German fuel depot, located near the town of Coutances (France). After that, the novelty and tested on another theater of war - in the Pacific against the Japanese troops. Napalm was used to fumigate the Japanese soldiers from the bunkers and pillboxes in the occupied islands. Used napalm and during marked cruelty bombing of the German city of Dresden, which occurred in February 1945: the unbearable heat in the arms of the ancient city of fire literally melted human bodies.

However, after World War II, the formulation of napalm significantly changed. After the end of the conflict in Korea in the interests of the US Army established a new view - napalm-B. In this form, more napalm palmitic acid was not used. New fire mixture consisted of 33% of gasoline, 21% benzene and 46% of polystyrene. New weapon was much stronger than the previous one. Napalm-B burning substantially longer - not 15-30 seconds and up to 10 minutes. It was almost impossible to remove from the skin, while during combustion it is not just burned through it, but also causes a person terrible pain (its combustion temperature was 800-1200 ° C). In the process of burning napalm actively emit carbon and carbon gases, burning all the oxygen in the county, which made it possible to hit the enemy soldiers, who were able to escape in dugouts, bunkers, caves. These unfortunates died from suffocation and terrible heat.



itional munitions: bombs, artillery shells, mines, hand grenades, a mechanized and wearable (knapsack) flamethrowers, incendiary cartridges. Napalm was used to destroy enemy personnel and equipment of the enemy, creating fires. It is widely used in many conflicts of the XX century, since the Second World War. It was used by American aircraft in Korea in 1950-1953, respectively, and particularly high during the Vietnam War in 1964-1973, respectively, as it used the Turkish army to quell uprisings of the Kurds.

In Vietnam against the Viet Cong (National Front for the Liberation of the country), the US Army is widely applied in almost its entire arsenal of weapons, except for nuclear weapons. Thus he napalm could be attributed to weapons of mass destruction. For napalm did not care how many living creatures are at his defeat, he is ready to burn all that fall. Realizing this, the United Nations and adopted a document that prohibit the use of napalm. The use of incendiary weapons has been officially recognized barbaric methods of warfare.

Although as the liquid fuel while creating napalm commonly used gasoline, its color could be different. He depended on the brand used fuel and thickener, varying from completely colorless and transparent liquid to brown or pink. All napalm mixture is highly flammable and burned, creating at the time of combustion temperatures up to 1200 degrees Celsius (calorific value reached 10 000 kcal / kg). The rate at which the mixture is burnt out, depended on the thickener used and the degree of thickening. The density of most of the mixture reached 0.8-0.9 g / cm3. When adding the mixture of light metals (magnesium, sulfate) or phosphorus can be obtained "supernapalm". This type of napalm most actively ignited on wet surfaces and on snow (that is, it was particularly effective in humid jungle or in the northern countries, such as Russia).



Napalm is very flammable, but it slowly burns (separate clumps continue to burn up to 10 minutes). In this case, the highest temperature in the combustion 800-1200 degrees is achieved in the first minute, and then gradually decreases. The combustion rate napalm mixtures can be adjusted using additives in the form of wood flour, asphalt, as well as various resins. In this case, the effect of the use of napalm was impossible to predict, since the damaging effect of the mixture spread in an uncontrolled manner. There is an enormous number of cases where the use of napalm suffered any innocent civilians.

Due to the huge combustion temperature of the substance just burns up all the oxygen within a few meters from the fire. Besides, the use of napalm parts asphyxiation, which occurs in humans when produced by combustion of toxic products, for example, carbon monoxide. All this posed a serious threat even for people who are at the moment of impact were in shelters. Since napalm lighter than water, it does not sink, floating on the surface thereof, and quenched with water. Hit only 1 gram of napalm in the human skin is able to cause very heavy defeat. Napalm has a very strong moral and psychological impact on the people of stifling the ability to provide resistance. What scared infantry fire was set in the years of the First World War. Marines could stoically to wait shelling and bombing, but the use of flamethrowers often plunged into horror.

Taking into account the strong damaging effect and uncontrolled spread of flame, in 1983, adopted a Protocol 3 (on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons), which was signed in addition to the UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons. This protocol set napalm outlawed. But the document is not signed by all countries. It was signed by a little less than 100 countries, with the United States adopted a protocol with reservation, reserving the right to the use of incendiary weapons when attacking military objectives located among the "clusters of civilians," if such an attack would entail minimal casualties. As a result, all depends on the definition of what a victim can be considered minimal. It is worth noting that a protocol is not joined by some former Soviet republics. So, after the collapse of the Soviet Union did not sign the Protocol 4 of the former republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Weapons banned. Part 2: Cluster munitions
November 20, 2014
Starting from the most ancient times, people designed everything new, ever more powerful weapons systems. However, in the XX century the military realized that in some situations, a lot of small bombs are better than one heavy duty. In general, the prototype of cluster munitions that are commonplace in the XX century, is a common hunting gun shot and buckshot. Buckshot as a form of artillery shells designed to destroy enemy personnel in open terrain at close distances (typically up to 300 meters), during the Napoleonic Wars buckshot was truly terrible weapon.

Ban

Cluster munitions were banned on the basis of the document, which came into force on 3 December 2008. January 2012 This document ratified by 107 States. The main banning document: Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of cluster munitions. It was signed December 3, 2008 at a ceremony in Oslo (Norway).

Subject ban: Conventional Munitions, which are designed to release or projection explosive submunitions. Each munition weighing less than 20 pounds and consists of explosive submunitions (except smoke, lighting, pyrotechnics, chaff, ammunition solely for the purpose of air defense weapons to provide electronic and electrical effects, as well as homing, homing and equipped with self-destruct mechanisms or deactivation) .



At the same time, the largest producing countries of cluster munitions, as well as the owners of the largest arsenals - the US, Russia and China - the agreement simply ignored. In light of the events that unfolded in eastern Ukraine in the spring and summer of 2014, it is worth noting that the contract is not signed and Ukraine. In addition to these countries, refused to accept the agreement, Brazil, India, Pakistan, South Korea, and Israel, which consider cluster munitions necessary and effective weapon. Moreover, in the US in 2010 have been updated some types of cluster munitions (unlike ordinary cluster bombs, each element of the new warhead did not explode and used to engage the enemy only the kinetic energy).

Cluster ammunition

The first who invented the "break up" the damaging effect in space, were not representatives of the military profession, and the hunters, to whom the task was to defeat high-speed and small goals - for example, snipe or ducks. These birds can soar up and very quickly get out of the affected area, the hunter was very difficult to aim, to calculate the pre-emption and hit the target with a single bullet. However, if you replace the bullet a few dozen small ammunition (shot, buckshot), it is possible to compensate for the error in aiming a much wider area of ​​the lesion. That is why an ordinary shotgun can be called a forerunner of modern cluster munitions.

It is worth noting that the military very quickly able to assess and implement this principle in the fighting. When firing at close range instead of the nuclei in the gun began to charge buckshot. Kernel, and eventually began to stuff the shells with explosives, which created a large number of fragments, which are well impressed manpower (whole kernel to get a soldier, or even in the rider was quite problematic). Direct ancestor of cluster weapons became shrapnel. Shrapnel shells is a hollow shell, which was packed with dozens and sometimes hundreds of small round bullets. When approaching shrapnel projectile to the target at the descending part of the trajectory breakdowns expelling powder charge that throws bullets diverging beam. Shelter from flying from the sky death in the open country was impossible.



The action of such shells at enemy infantry was so effective that the Russian army at the beginning of the XX century in general decided to abandon all types of ammunition for field artillery, except shrapnel. Were later developed special segment incendiary shells filling which includes individual segments incendiary substance, they were provided with an igniting device. With the explosion of such a shell segments scattered in different directions, and lit up, forming a large number of small fires. These shells can also be attributed to the first type of cluster munitions.

However, ancestors of the full cluster munitions are Germans. Luftwaffe pilots already during the Polish campaign in 1939 began to use against the Polish cavalry and infantry cluster bombs of different types. For example, ammunition AB 250-3, having the form of an ordinary 250-kg bombs, equip 108 small-sized fragmentation bombs SD-2. Each of these bombs equipped with a parachute-propeller, which can reduce its rate of descent and provided bombochek dissipation in an area of ​​several hundred square meters after the disclosure of the tape in the air. SD-2 had quite a romantic name Schmetterling (Butterfly), since the rotation of the propeller wings flying bombs SD-2 was like a fluttering butterfly. Depending on the used fuses bomb undermined from hitting the ground after 5-30 minutes after landing, or still in the air. Some of them were anti-fragmentation mines. Affecting the effectiveness of these cluster bombs against enemy infantry was much higher than the explosion of one, even 250-kg bomb: the damage radius increased from 30 to 300 meters, 10 times.

Cluster bombs actively used during the Second World War. They were used not only against enemy personnel, but also against his technique, particularly tanks. Get into the tank one bomb could only be accidental, therefore, Soviet designers have developed a special compact anti-cumulative bomb PTAB 2.5-1.5. In one tape type KMB can be placed 48 such munitions. The use of such bombs helped dramatically increase the efficiency of the applied for tank columns with bomb assault against.



High-performance cluster munitions has caused their wide use and after the Second World War. They were used during the war in Korea and Vietnam. During the Korean War, the US military used the same German bombs Schmetterling, giving them a new designation - AN M83. Later in the US were created and own cluster bombs, for example, SUU-31 ​​/ B, which was packed with several dozen submunitions BLU 26 / B, received for his characteristic form nicknamed "Guava". These munitions, the size of an ordinary apple, had walls made of light alloy, which were fused with 300 small steel balls 5.5 mm. This dramatically increases the filling striking features of this bomb. In 1974, one of the UN military observers who worked in Egypt, described the action of such weapons: "Imagine a container resembling a suspension tank of fuel, which is stuffed with several hundred bombochek, each of which is only the size of a tennis ball. At the moment of the explosion of such a "ball" goal literally turns into a sieve. "

Modern cluster munitions are special housing cassettes filled with lots of inside (from a few tens to hundreds) of small weapons (mines or bombs) small caliber. Such small-caliber ammunition is called cluster submunitions. By appointment data combat elements can be divided into 3 types:

1) Cluster submunitions with shrapnel fuses instant action. They are used to destroy convoys, aircraft parked, storage tanks and other similar purposes.

2) Cluster bomblets antitank (cumulative), used to fight the enemy armor: his tanks, self-propelled guns, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other armored targets (armor can reach up to 300 mm).

3) Cluster submunitions fragmentation mine with fuse type, which are designed for mining airports, railway stations, port facilities m. D.



In design distinguish discharged unmanaged tape cassette installation and lifetime. Typically, non-resettable cluster installations are streamlined, they are placed on the outside of combat aircraft. Shooting ammunition with them is carried out using pyrotechnic charges through the tubular guide when flying combat aircraft carrier on enemy positions. At the same time dumped cassettes resemble ordinary bombs. Release of ammunition from them after a certain specified period of time after their separation from the aircraft carrier.

The procedure for using cluster bombs as follows. After dropping bombs from the plane of them pulled the drogue parachute, which allows you to bomb the brake and its stabilization in level flight. Thereafter, ejection of a specific sequence is made small bombs, each of which also has its own braking device which helps to achieve trajectory near vertical incidence that increases the damaging effect. Scattered, cluster bomblets able to cover a huge area, affecting a large number of targets. Some modern cluster munitions are able to scatter over the terrain to 650 explosive elements, covering an area of ​​30 thousand square meters.

It should be remembered that these munitions are highly inaccurate, moreover, quite often when they hit the ground they just do not explode. Duds can be composed of an additional fuse that turns them into anti-personnel mines. On such a large amount of ammunition undermined civilians. After the combat use of the elements of cluster munitions may be in unexploded state for a long time, and also spontaneously explode.



One of the most inhumane and cruel cluster munitions were so-called ball bombs, which were widely used by the US military in Vietnam. In fact, it has been modernized kind of shrapnel, the main purpose of these bombs were killing people. After the Vietnam War, like bombs were armed and other armies in the world. Another achievement in the field of military thought became cluster bombs, which were filled with militant elements in the form of plastic balls or needles. Such "fragments" were difficult to see, even on X-rays, making it difficult to provide medical assistance to the wounded. The use of such needle and ball bombs were prohibited under the UN Convention of 1980.

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