Explosive weapons

Explosive weapons generally use high explosive to project blast and often fragmentation from a point of detonation.

Explosive weapons may be subdivided by their method of manufacture into explosive ordnance and improvised explosive devices (IED).

Certain types of explosive ordnance and many improvised explosive devices are sometimes referred to under the generic term bomb.

When explosive weapons fail to function as designed they are often left as unexploded ordnance (UXO).

In the common practice of states, explosive weapons are generally the preserve of the military, for use in situations of armed conflict, and are rarely used for purposes of domestic policing.

Taken in combination, Amended Protocol II and Protocol V of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons establish a responsibility on the users of explosive weapons to record and retain information on their use of such weapons (including the location of use and the type and quantity of weapons used), to provide such information to parties in control of territory that may be affected by UXO, and to assist with the removal of this threat.

Certain types of explosive weapon have been subject to prohibition in international treaties. The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions both prohibit categories of explosive weapons for states that have adopted these instruments.

In armed conflict, the general rules of international humanitarian law apply to attacks with all types of explosive weapon.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has expressed increasing concern at "the humanitarian impact of explosive weapons, in particular when used in densely populated areas." The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger has noted that "ICRC’s key operations in 2009 – in the Gaza Strip and in Sri Lanka – provided stark illustrations of the potentially devastating humanitarian consequences of military operations conducted in densely populated areas, especially when heavy or highly explosive weapons are used."