Editing Cluster munition (section)

==Development==
[[File:Sd2 opened.jpg|thumb|upright|SD2 [[Butterfly Bomb]] circa 1940. Wings rotate as bomb falls, unscrewing the arming spindle connected to the [[fuze]].]]

The first significantly operationally used<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/45184/Guide-to-Cluster-Munitions-Nov2007.pdf|title=A Guide to Cluster Munitions|publisher=GICHD|date=November 2007|isbn=978-2-940369-07-2|location=Geneva|pages=28}}</ref> cluster bomb was the [[Nazi Germany|German]] SD-2 or ''Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2&nbsp;kg'', commonly referred to as the [[Butterfly Bomb]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2013/jun/21/butterfly-bombs-luftwaffe-cleethorpes-grimsby|title=Remembering the terror the Luftwaffe's butterfly bombs brought to the North|last=Rogers|first=James I.|date=2013-06-21|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2017-02-09|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Cluster munitions were used in [[World War II]] to attack both civilian and military targets,<ref>{{cite news |last=Winkler |first=John J. |date=August 6, 1944 |title=Grinding Out Grief for the Enemy |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88063294/1944-08-06/ed-1/?sp=66&q=cluster+bombs&r=-0.004,0.452,0.987,0.568,0 |work=Detroit Evening Times |location=Detroit, Michigan |access-date=April 29, 2024 |quote=Jacob Baker of Cleveland, Ohio with his "cluster bomb"--A big projectile which rains smaller shells when it explodes |page=18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=McGowan|first=Sam|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/wreaking-havoc/|title=Wreaking Havoc|website=Warfare History Network|date=June 2021|access-date=April 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202022014/https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/wreaking-havoc/|archive-date=December 2, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> including [[Bombing of Tokyo|on Tokyo]] and [[Kyushu]].<ref>{{cite news |date=July 10, 1945 |title=Air War |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn96077289/1945-07-10/ed-1/?sp=6&q=%22cluster+bombs%22&r=-0.02,0.455,0.921,0.53,0 |work=The Daily Monitor Leader |location=Mount Clemens, Michigan |access-date=April 29, 2024 |quote=Mitchell mediums in the same attack [on Kyushu] carried fragmentation cluster bombs followed by incendiaries from the liberators |page=6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=March 22, 1945 |title=Detroit-Built |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88063294/1945-03-22/ed-1/?sp=20&q=%22cluster+bombs%22&r=0.036,0.395,0.525,0.302,0 |work=Detroit Evening Times |location=Detroit, Michigan |access-date=April 29, 2024 |quote=The now famous cluster gasoline bombs which sputtered down on Tokio carried a goodly big of Detroit workmanship in them, it is now revealed. |page=20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=April 8, 1945 |title=M-69... the Fire Bomb that Falls on Japan |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1945-04-08/ed-1/?sp=20&q=%22cluster+bombs%22&r=0.22,0.519,0.819,0.472,0 |work=Evening Star |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=April 29, 2024 |quote=Today, at great B-29 bases, big 500-pound "clusters" of these bombs are loaded onto U.S. planes bound for Japan's industrial centers...each big "cluster bomb" holds up to 60 of the M-69 incendiaries. |page=A-20 }}</ref> The technology was developed independently by the United States, Russia and Italy (see [[Thermos bomb]]).{{Cn|date=October 2023}} The US used the {{convert|20|lb|kg|order=flip|adj=on|0}} M41 fragmentation bomb wired together in clusters of 6 or 25 with highly sensitive or proximity [[fuze]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Constance |last2=Thomson |first2=Harry C. |last3=Roots |first3=Peter C. |date=1990 |title=The Technical Services--The Ordinance Department: Planning Munitions for War |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-9/CMH_Pub_10-9.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927115505/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-9/CMH_Pub_10-9.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2012 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Center of Military History |page=453-454, 459, 462 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Budge|first=Kent G.|url=https://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/B/o/Bombs.htm|title=Bombs|website=The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia|access-date=April 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240409014342/http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/B/o/Bombs.htm|archive-date=April 9, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

From the 1970s to the 1990s cluster bombs became standard air-dropped munitions for many nations, in a wide variety of types. They have been produced by 34 countries and used in at least 23.<ref name="autogenerated1">[http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/07/europe/cluster.php Austria bans cluster munitions], ''International Herald Tribune'', 7 Dec 2007</ref>

[[Artillery]] shells that employ similar principles have existed for decades. They are typically referred to as '''[[Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition|ICM]]''' ('''Improved Conventional Munitions''') shells. The US military slang terms for them are "firecracker" or "popcorn" shells, for the many small explosions they cause in the target area.