预计美国最早将于周五宣布将向乌克兰提供有争议的集束弹药作为新军事援助计划的一部分在对抗俄罗斯侵略者的战斗中两位美国官员告诉ABC新闻。
运送军火的决定将由总统乔·拜登做出。
许多国家已经禁止使用集束弹药，当子炸弹在部署后最初没有爆炸时，集束弹药可能会造成平民伤亡。这种武器将这种子炸弹装入火箭、炸弹、导弹和炮弹中，在空中爆炸，将弹药散布在很大的区域。
美国没有签署禁止部署集束弹药的国际公约，上一次使用集束弹药是在2003年入侵伊拉克的时候。
乌克兰一直要求得到更多，俄罗斯也是如此在入侵中使用了它们.
小型弹药最初未能爆炸被称为“哑弹率”，哑弹率越高，它们就越危险。
五角大楼发言人帕特·赖德准将周四表示，他没有关于集束弹药的公告，但承认他们一直在考虑之中。
他解释说，集束弹药有多种版本，但正在考虑在乌克兰使用的版本包含在美国榴弹炮发射的155毫米炮弹中。
这些炮弹来自不同的库存，有不同的版本，乌克兰正在考虑的那些不会是哑弹率更高的旧版本，赖德说:“我们正在考虑提供的那些不会包括哑弹率高于2.35%的旧版本。”
他坚持认为，从2020年开始，“我们将仔细选择哑弹率较低的子弹，因为我们有最近的测试数据”。他还指出，俄罗斯集束炸弹的哑弹率要高得多——尽管他没有提供估计数字。
赖德说，向乌克兰发送集束弹药将提供“反装甲和杀伤人员能力”，并补充说，“很明显，这种能力将在任何类型的进攻行动中有用。”
US expected to send controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine in fight against Russia: Officials
The U.S. is expected to announce as early as Friday that itwill provide controversial cluster munitions to Ukraineas part of a new military aid packagein the fight against Russian invaders, two U.S. officials tell ABC News.
The decision to send the munitions will be made by President Joe Biden.
Numerous countries have banned the use of cluster munitions, which can risk civilian deaths and injuries when bomblets fail to initially explode after being deployed. The weapons pack such bomblets into rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery shells that break apart midair and scatter the munitions over a large area.
The U.S. is not a signatory to an international convention forbidding the deployment of cluster munitions and last used them during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Ukraine has been asking for more of them and Russiahas been using them in its invasion.
The failure of the small munitions to initially explode is known as the "dud rate" -- and the higher the dud rate, the more dangerous they can become.
In this March 22, 1986, file photo, U.S. Navy aviation ordnancemen stage Mark 20 Rockeye II cluster bombs aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea in this U.S. Navy handout photo.
US Navy via Reuters, FILE
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday that he had no announcements to make about cluster munitions but acknowledged they have been under consideration.
He explained that there are multiple versions of cluster munitions but that the version being considered for use in Ukraine is contained in 155 mm shells fired from American howitzer artillery.
There are different versions of those shells from different stockpiles and the ones being looked at for Ukraine would not be older versions with higher dud rates, Ryder said: "The ones that we are considering providing would not include older variants with [dud] rates that are higher than 2.35%."
He insisted that "we would be carefully selecting rounds with lower dud rates for which we have recent testing data" from 2020. And he noted that the Russian dud rates on their cluster munitions are much higher -- though he did not provide an estimate.
Sending cluster munitions to Ukraine would provide "anti-armor and anti-personnel capability," Ryder said, adding, "So clearly a capability that would be useful in any type of offensive operations."
