One of the deadliest weapons used by British forces in recent conflicts is to be scrapped with immediate effect.

The unguided cluster bomb is one of the weapons that Diana, Princess of Wales, campaigned against because of its history of killing children caught up in war zones.

The ban, to be announced by the Government today, will be one of the rare occasions when a military capability has been axed for political reasons. Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, will say that his decision to stop military commanders from using the cluster bomb was taken on humanitarian grounds.

Military sources have said, however, that the weapon, which spreads mini-bombs over a wide area, undermined the so-called “hearts and mind” approach adopted by British forces in the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cluster bombs dropped by the RAF and US Air Force in the Gulf War in 1991, in Kosovo in 1999 and the 2003 Iraq War often failed to detonate, leaving a deadly legacy over large areas. The British and Americans are not alone in using the bombs, and from Vietnam to Iraq, children exploring battle zones where these bombs have been used have lost limbs or their lives, often years after the conflicts have ended.

The Armed Forces have stockpiles of two categories of cluster bomb: the BL755, which when dropped by the RAF breaks open in the airflow and releases 147 high-explosive bomblets over an area roughly the size of a football pitch; and the Army’s MLRS (Multiple-Launch Rocket System) M26, which scatters sub-munitions over a similar area.

The precise number of cluster bombs in the inventory is classified, but the plan is to destroy the stockpile to ensure that they are never used again.

Last month Britain and 45 other countries signed a declaration calling for a treaty banning cluster bombs.

According to the declaration, the treaty would “prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians”. The United States, Russia, China and Israel did not sign the declaration, and Israel is reported to have dropped many cluster bombs in its war in Lebanon last year.

Humanitarian groups have been pressing for a ban on cluster bombs for years. They welcomed the announcement in February of the plan for a treaty next year. The Government has decided to preempt any future treaty by imposing an immediate ban on the use of cluster bombs.

With the emphasis today on precision-guided weapons, developed to avoid killing innocent civilians, the dumb cluster bomb is viewed as too indiscriminate. However, some military commanders argue that the weapon would be useful in a major international war.

Britain will still retain two air-dropped munitions, one of which, the CRV7 rocket system, has an antipersonnel fragmentation warhead that does not leave sub-munitions lying around.

Defence officials said that these munitions also self-destruct if they fail to detonate on impact, eliminating the long-term threat posed by the old cluster bombs.

The Army also has the Multiple-Launch Rocket System. The latest version launches precision-guided rockets that are supposed to be capable of hitting a target up to 70 kilometres (44 miles) away.

Deadly figures

1939 First cluster bombs — the German Sprengbombe Dickwandig, known as the Butterfly Bomb — were dropped by the Germans in the Second World War
1940-41 The Germans used antipersonnel cluster bombs during the Blitz in London
1970s The RAF acquired the BL755 cluster bomb late in this decade. A later version, the RBL755, has an antiarmour capability, but is still unguided
1991 In the Gulf War, the RAF used an antirunway system called JP233. It scattered bomblets designed to penetrate concrete before detonating. Iraqi soldiers called it “steel rain”
2003 In the Iraq War, the Army fired 2,000 bomblets from Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems, and the RAF dropped 68 cluster bombs
Today Cluster bombs dropped by the Americans in Vietnam are still said to be killing civilians, 33 years after the conflict ended
2009 The MoD had planned to withdraw the bomb by the end of this year
5% The MoD has admitted that cluster bombs have a 5 per cent failure rate. United Nations reports have put the rate at 25 per cent
11,000 A report by Handicap International, a charity, said there were more than 11,000 confirmed cases of people being killed or hurt by the bombs in the past three decades Sources: MoD and Times Database

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