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
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web In one instance, a 9N235 submunition had a 2019 manufacture date, which is years after Russia stopped selling these arms to Ukraine, confirming the attack was launched by Russia. 
CNN, 12 May 2022 Once an enemy tank or armored vehicle is detected, the submunition fires a self-forging warhead that lances down through the top of the vehicle, penetrating the thin armor and destroying it. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 May 2022 One of the most useful missions for a submunition weapon is as an anti-airfield weapon. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 18 Aug. 2020 During the Cold War, the Royal Air Force planned to fly Tornado strike jets equipped with the JP233 submunition dispenser system over Warsaw Pact airfields in wartime. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 18 Aug. 2020 In operation since May 2018, the team has already processed 700,000 of the small, baseball-sized submunitions, hundreds of which are encased in a typical rocket warhead. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 26 Feb. 2019 The 227-millimeter rocket system was originally conceived as a way to plaster area targets with grenade-like submunitions dispersed from salvos of unguided rockets. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 8 Oct. 2018 Department of Defense documentation obtained by Human Rights Watch and cited in their cluster munition survey shows that Egypt possessed 1,300 Rockeye cluster bombs, containing 321,000 Mk-118 submunitions, as of 2007. Rick Gladstone And Nour Youssef, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018 Cluster munitions encompass an array of rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery projectiles that scatter smaller weapons, called submunitions, over a wide area. Rick Gladstone And Nour Youssef, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018 See More
CNN, 12 May 2022 Once an enemy tank or armored vehicle is detected, the submunition fires a self-forging warhead that lances down through the top of the vehicle, penetrating the thin armor and destroying it. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 May 2022 One of the most useful missions for a submunition weapon is as an anti-airfield weapon. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 18 Aug. 2020 During the Cold War, the Royal Air Force planned to fly Tornado strike jets equipped with the JP233 submunition dispenser system over Warsaw Pact airfields in wartime. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 18 Aug. 2020 In operation since May 2018, the team has already processed 700,000 of the small, baseball-sized submunitions, hundreds of which are encased in a typical rocket warhead. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 26 Feb. 2019 The 227-millimeter rocket system was originally conceived as a way to plaster area targets with grenade-like submunitions dispersed from salvos of unguided rockets. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 8 Oct. 2018 Department of Defense documentation obtained by Human Rights Watch and cited in their cluster munition survey shows that Egypt possessed 1,300 Rockeye cluster bombs, containing 321,000 Mk-118 submunitions, as of 2007. Rick Gladstone And Nour Youssef, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018 Cluster munitions encompass an array of rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery projectiles that scatter smaller weapons, called submunitions, over a wide area. Rick Gladstone And Nour Youssef, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018 See More Word History
First Known Use
1969, in the meaning defined above