Annex Facts
I: Background on the Norwegian test firings of cluster munitions
Norway holds a stockpile of 53,000 artillery delivered cluster munitions, or cargo projectiles, of the types DM642 (which contain bomblets designated DM1383) and DM662 (which contain bomblets designated DM1385). This stockpile constitutes 40% of Norwegian artillery ammunition. DM1385 are in fact M85 bomblets, but have been given a Deutsche Model designation because they are incorporated into a Rheinmetall projectile. For the purposes of this report, DM1385 is referred to as M85. For many years, the Norwegian government was satisfied that its stockpile of cluster munitions had a less than 1% failure rate. This confidence was weakened when information surfaced through the media that the Norwegian Army, in the autumn of 2005, had facilitated tests for the British Army of their parallel M85 stockpile showing a failure rate of 2.3%,75 and that tests of the Norwegian stockpile of M85 bomblets had produced a failure rate of 2.04%. The Minister of Defence then ordered new tests to establish whether the Norwegian stockpile of cluster munitions was in compliance with the Norwegian policy requiring a failure rate of less than 1%. The new tests took place in weeks 38-40 of 2006 and comprised both of the two cluster munitions in the Norwegian stockpile. For the purposes of this report, only the results for M85 are cited.76 The Norwegian tests are carried out at a fenced testing range specifically designed for testing of cluster munitions in the mountains at Hjerkinn, Dombås. This is a flat and slightly sloping 400 m x 600 m field covered by sand and gravel. An advanced system, using acoustical and optical sensors, records the time and position of every detonation. The 2006 tests were the most comprehensive ever carried out on cluster munitions in Norway. 192 projectiles of the type DM662 were fired during the tests, containing a total of 9,408 M85 bomblets.77 The firing distances for M85 were 17 and 21 km. The firings at Hjerkinn are made from a 155 mm howitzer with 39 calibre barrel. The propulsion charges used were DM72 consisting of 4 or 5 modules (M), resulting in a muzzle velocity of 636 m/s and 791 m/s respectively. 4M was used at both 17 km and 21 km range, while 5M was used at 21 km range only. The results are presented in the following table:78 Projectile
Bomblet
Charge
# bomblets
# duds
Failure rate%
DM662
M85
4M
6272
58
0.92
M85
5M
3136
46
1.47
9408
104
1.11
Total/Average Table I1.
As can be seen from the table, the 2006 tests of the Norwegian stockpile of M85 bomblets produced a total of 104 duds and showed an average failure rate of 1.11%, which was just above Norway’s selfimposed maximum failure rate of 1%. Looking at the individual results for the two different propellant charges that were used in the test firing, we see that with the lower charge (4M), the failure rate achieved was 0.92%, and with the higher charge (5M), the failure rate was 1.47%. After the 2006 tests the Norwegian government prolonged an already established unilateral moratorium on its remaining stockpile of cluster munitions, including the M85 bomblets. 75 This figure was released under the UK Freedom of Information Act by the UK MoD in a letter dated 27 March 2006 to Richard Moyes, Landmine Action. This was and is the highest test result ever quoted for M85. 76 The failure rate in the 2006 test for DM1383 was slightly below 1%, whilst for M85 slightly above 1%. 77 The tested bomblets were 8-9 years old, slightly older than the UK stockpile when this was used in Iraq but 6-7 years younger than the Israeli M85 stockpile that was used in southern Lebanon. 78 Sources: FFI (2006) Sluttrapport etter ekstraordinær tilstandskontroll av artilleriammunisjon, and FFI (2006) Drøfting av resultatene fra cargo-skyting.
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