07-05-2023, 03:46 PM
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-could-decid...52222.html
The fact this even requires discussion is IMO insanity. DPICM is the ideal weapon to use against trenches that have no or inadequate top covering. Many, if not most of the trenches I have seen in Ukraine have long areas of trench with no top covering. Trenches are effective against most artillery because in order to kill anybody you need pretty much a direct hit. The ground will absorb the vast majority of the kinetic effect of any artillery that misses by any distance. Air bursts help address this problem but the dynamics of the shards mean it needs to explode directly over the trench to be effective. Again, hard to do. Artillery will force troops in the trench to keep their heads down and observation / shooting back will be suppressed, but the guys in the trench will be fine and ready to fight when the artillery lets up.
DPICM covers a wide area and pretty much ensures some of the bomblets will land IN the trench. That is going to kill some folks. If 1.5% of them don't explode, not a big deal. DPICM cannot penetrate a trench with a "good" roof. It doesn't have to be concrete, but plywood is generally not good enough. Plywood and "enough" dirt works. However, doing all this is lots of extra work and cannot be done quickly. Digging in after an advance will not be nearly as effective if the opponent has DPICM. It should already be in use. This is what it is for. RTFM.
The fact this even requires discussion is IMO insanity. DPICM is the ideal weapon to use against trenches that have no or inadequate top covering. Many, if not most of the trenches I have seen in Ukraine have long areas of trench with no top covering. Trenches are effective against most artillery because in order to kill anybody you need pretty much a direct hit. The ground will absorb the vast majority of the kinetic effect of any artillery that misses by any distance. Air bursts help address this problem but the dynamics of the shards mean it needs to explode directly over the trench to be effective. Again, hard to do. Artillery will force troops in the trench to keep their heads down and observation / shooting back will be suppressed, but the guys in the trench will be fine and ready to fight when the artillery lets up.
DPICM covers a wide area and pretty much ensures some of the bomblets will land IN the trench. That is going to kill some folks. If 1.5% of them don't explode, not a big deal. DPICM cannot penetrate a trench with a "good" roof. It doesn't have to be concrete, but plywood is generally not good enough. Plywood and "enough" dirt works. However, doing all this is lots of extra work and cannot be done quickly. Digging in after an advance will not be nearly as effective if the opponent has DPICM. It should already be in use. This is what it is for. RTFM.