New Army Cluster Bomb Rains Down Thousands of Deadly Darts

Cluster bombs are increasingly frowned upon—there’s an international agreement banning them, though the US hasn’t signed on—in part because even low dud rates leave lots of little unexploded bombs scattered over a wide area. An alternative developed by the army is a GPS-guided version of the Multiple Launch Rocket system with a payload of thousands of small darts, or as the army calls them, “kinetic energy rods.” The warhead spins as it’s launched, so it breaks open at high altitude, evenly raining down thousands of unique metal snowflakes of death, using straight up gravity and aerodynamics for its killing force, no explosions required. Um, I guess that’s better than having a real cluster bomb dropped on you? [Danger Room]