Direct proof of use
The SUU-30H/B dispenser is directly documented in the 2014 Yemen Civil War through Open Source Munitions Portal records of remnants from Hajjah governorate. OSMP 1545 identifies a remnant of an SUU-30H/B dispenser that formed part of a CBU-58A/B cluster bomb after a 15 August 2015 Saudi/UAE-led coalition attack in Bani Haddad, Haradh district.
Additional OSMP entries identify SUU-30H/B material from Al-Sir village in Haradh district on 2 February 2016. OSMP 1555 records markings on an SUU-30H/B dispenser from a CBU-52B/B cluster bomb, while OSMP 1556 records another part of the same dispenser type and states that the CBU-52B/B configuration used the SUU-30H/B loaded with 217 BLU-61A/B anti-personnel submunitions.
Sources: OSMP 1545 CBU-58A/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1555 CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1556 CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry
Timeline
The public record places the documented SUU-30H/B appearances in Hajjah governorate during the Saudi/UAE-led coalition air campaign. OSMP 1545 dates the Bani Haddad CBU-58A/B remnant to 15 August 2015. OSMP 1554 records SUU-30H/B tail-fin section remnants in Yemen from a likely CBU-58-family attack, and OSMP 1555 and OSMP 1556 date CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B remnants in Al-Sir village to 2 February 2016.
The evidence ties the dispenser to air-delivered cluster bomb configurations rather than to possession alone. The documented remnants were categorized as air-delivered bombs, cluster munitions, unguided munitions, and air-to-surface weapons.
Sources: OSMP 1545 CBU-58A/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1554 SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1555 CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1556 CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry
Narrative
In Yemen, the SUU-30H/B appears as the dispenser body inside older U.S.-origin cluster bomb units used in coalition airstrikes. METIS describes the SUU-30H/B as a bomb-shaped, fin-stabilized, two-part aerial submunition dispenser made in the United States and associated with CBU-52B/B, CBU-58/B, and CBU-71/B configurations.
The documented Yemen examples show two cluster bomb families. The Bani Haddad remnant was assessed as CBU-58A/B with an SUU-30H/B dispenser and BLU-63A/B submunitions. The Al-Sir entries document CBU-52B/B remnants using an SUU-30H/B dispenser and BLU-61A/B submunitions, with one marking record interpreted by ARES as a Milan Army Ammunition Plant lot from July 1977.
The evidence does not require treating the SUU-30H/B as an independently fired weapon. It was the air-dropped dispenser within the cluster bomb unit, and the conflict-use claim is therefore that SUU-30H/B-equipped CBU-series munitions were dropped in documented coalition airstrikes in Hajjah governorate.
Sources: OSMP 1545 CBU-58A/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1555 CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, OSMP 1556 CBU-52B/B SUU-30H/B Yemen Entry, METIS SUU-30H/B Munition Record
