Lithuania withdrawals from treaty banning cluster munitions.

By.Scott Jackson

March 8th, 2025

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The parliament of the Baltic nation of Lithuania, last July , voted to withdraw from the convention banning the use of cluster munitions. That vote put a 6 month timer on the withdrawal which ended this month on the 6th.

Lithuania pulling out of this treaty was a clear message. They will defend their homeland by any means necessary.

“Russia uses all available tools in a conventional war, and this shows that we must act to ensure effective deterrence and defense… Withdrawing from the convention gives us the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of our defense against wide-area targets …The most effective deterrence and defense is achieved when you possess these weapons and know how to use them.”

Lithuanian Deputy Defense Minister Karolis Aleksa

Lithuania is a small country but all makes between 18-23 serve in the armed forces,

Cluster munitions are a type of weapon that when deployed unleash hundreds of smaller bomblets that disperse over a wide area. These weapons have been used extensively by both sides in the Russia/Ukraine war. Neither of which was apart of the countries that banned their use.

Cluster munitions come in all different shapes and sizes. From artillery and rockets to long range missiles. Some cluster weapons have been designed for specialized purposes such as the French- developed air launched Apache anti-runway cruise missile.

Cluster munitions while extremely effective on the battlefield(most being effective against mobile soft targets (a car or infantry) as well as heavy armed tanks but these weapons have some downsides. a cluster weapon is imprecise and difficult to use in urban areas. These types of weapons were originally designed to take out large groups of concentrated infantry and/or armor.

The biggest danger and the reason for the self imposed ban on cluster munitions is because sometimes the submunitions will fail to go off and they get left behind after a conflict to maybe one day cause great harm to a civilian.