Nice
dishonest headline, ORAC.
The US uses cluster bombs for certain targets, but from my memory of actual usage, has not actually dropped/fired one since about 2003; and it was either MLRS/ATACMS shot. (I admit that my memory may be reaching back to Desert Storm, but there were certainly appropriate targets for that munition during 2003).
The most recent use of cluster munitions that I recall was the IDF in 2006 that got a whole lot of people wound up, during the fight on their northern border with Hezbollah. I don't recall reading of them being used in Gaza, but that may be faulty memory.
The US retains the cluster bomb in its inventory for those situations where it fits. That makes sound military sense. I heartily concur with President Bush's initiative regarding improving the quality standard, though it may make that munition more expensive to produce. Better is better. I agree with keeping the option open until they improve the tech/reliability. The likelihood that there will be a situation where their use is warranted, in the near term, is rather low.
and important for wartime attacks on "area targets" like enemy troop formations.
Mary Wareham can go and suck a fart.
The conventional munitions I saw used from the Air vis OIF and OEF (this is PPRuNe, not Artillery R Us) did not include cluster munitions. I'll defer to those red legs who know the details better.
If there have been cluster munitions used by US forces vs ISIS/Deash/Various Al Qaeda friends since the 2010 withdrawal from Iraq, I'd like to see evidence of it. (It is quite possible that I missed a summary with such information/data). In the main, the situations where that's the better idea have been few and far between in the present cases of never ending operations.