submunition

noun

sub·​mu·​ni·​tion (ˌ)səb-myü-ˈni-shən 

: any of a group of smaller weapons carried as a warhead by a missile or projectile and expelled as the carrier approaches its target

Examples of submunition in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In July, the Biden administration began supplying Ukraine with 155-millimeter artillery shells that each contain 72 smaller submunitions designed for destroying armored vehicles and enemy soldiers. —John Ismay, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2023

The missiles were not the deep-strike variant Kyiv had requested, with the United States instead opting for a shorter-range weapon that drops cluster submunitions. —Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2023

One photo taken at the scene at one of Tuesday’s strikes appears to show an unexploded M74 submunition — a small bomblet about the size of a baseball, which is carried by the oldest versions of the ATACMS missile, called the M39. —John Ismay, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2023

Critics of the weapon note that some of the submunitions fail to explode, putting civilians at risk often years after a conflict has ended. —John Hudson, Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above