What is unexploded ordnance (UXO)?
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) is ammunition that was fired or dropped but failed to explode and remains in place. It comes in many forms — aerial bombs, artillery shells, cluster submunitions — and, like landmines, it keeps threatening people's lives long after a war ends.
In Cambodia, large amounts of UXO remain not only in the west of the country, where landmines are concentrated, but also in the eastern provinces.
Typical unexploded ordnance remaining in Cambodia
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BLU-series cluster submunitions
Submunitions (small bombs) from cluster bombs dropped by the US military around the time of the Vietnam War that remain unexploded. In Cambodia, the models BLU-24, BLU-26, BLU-36, BLU-42, BLU-43, BLU-49, and BLU-61 have been confirmed.
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Unexploded aerial bombs
Bombs dropped from aircraft during the bombing around the time of the Vietnam War that remain in the ground or underwater without having exploded.
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ERW from ground fighting (grenades, mortars, shells)
Unexploded ordnance left behind by ground fighting during the civil war — hand grenades, mortar rounds, artillery shells, and the like (explosive remnants of war, or ERW). This entry records them as a combined category rather than a specific model.