Is CM Artillery too destructive?

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by SGTGunn

It could be a lot worse if some of the newer US "smart" sub munition delivery systems were modeled in the game.

The aircraft delivered 1000lb CBU-97 Sensor Fused Weapon contains 10 BLU-108/B sub-munitions - each which in turn has 4 "skeet" projectiles. The CBU-97 dispenser opens and ejects the 5 forward, then 5 rear BLU-108/B sub-munitions in a pattern designed to cover a large overlapping area. Each BLU-108/B sub-munition uses a radar altimeter to determine the correct deployment altitude. Once reached it fires a rocket motor which causes the sub-munition to ascend and spin, releasing the 4 "skeets" in a pattern over the ground. Each skeet scans the ground with an IR sensor - if it detects a AFV, launcher, artillery piece, etc. it explodes firing a 1lb copper EFP down into the target. 1 CBU-97 has 40 skeets.

An A-10 can carry 10 CBU-97. An F-16 can carry 4. An F-15E can carry 12. A B-2 can carry 30!

So picture a massed armor formation - say a battalion of Iranian Zulfiqar MBT moving across the desert at night. A B-2 can glide on over, and drop it's 30 CBU-97s at 20,000 feet, cruising at 600 knots, covering the area with 1200 smart skeet projectiles onto 40 something tanks. Not a good day to be an Iranian tanker.

There is also the artillery (155mm, MLRS and ATACMS)deployed SADARM sub-munition which while no generating the volume of projectiles a CBU-97 can, is far more lethal than the standard "dumb" artillery delivered sub munitions.

Adrian

SADARM production has been cancelled after less than one thousands of 155mm rounds were procured (800 or so IIRC but don't quote me on the exact number). The smart submunitions variant of the ATACMS was cancelled in February 2003 before becoming operational.
I have not heard anything about something similar for the MRLS, but I doubt it fared better.
I don't know about how the aviation bombs fared, but at least as far the US Army goes the ax fell on these projects in the early 2000s. There has been only low priority R&D work since then as far as I can tell.

Multiple reasons for the above. First of all masses of enemy armor are not a priority now. Then there is the issue of high cost and, related to that, complexity.
It is one thing to build a bomb and program it to go after a set of coordinates, it is a relatively simple task for a machine.
Building a bomb and program her to recognize and find a tank is a far more demanding taks. It can be done of course, a few of those SADARM rounds were issued to some units during OIF and about 120 were actually fired with some success.
However there are ways a tech savy enemy can use to throw off the submunitions targeting, something you cannot do with conventional submunitions or Excalibur/JDAMs style PGMs.