Shelf Life Of Military Bombs - Expired Stock Etc.:

The shelf life of modern ordnance BOMBS, MISSILES, & WARHEADS is obviously variable.

The nature of the materials - their storage conditions - and their 'redundancy' - following advances in technology is hard for a civilian to calculate .. BUT all munitions will deteriorate and the more complex their construction - surely the shorter their useful storage life.

HAROP Loitering Munition.

"Old time" ammunition such as rifle rounds in sealed metal containers - WWI .303" rounds for British Lee-Enfields dating from 1914(ish) - may well still be usable as they are made of brass and nickle permanent materials while the internal chemicals are in a dark sealed environment .. but you'd need to be wary of crystalline changes weakening their metallurgy.

The wise would no-way pull the pin on an old Mills Bomb and keep it while slowly counting to ten ..

But in my experience modern stuff such as cluster-bombs use many plastic components internally - and while I fully accept the strength of these engineering polymers is great .. chemical deterioration may be a factor over time.

I read opinions suggesting 10 years, 15 years, 20 & 25 years as the shelf life for various "smart bombs" -  "precision guided munitions" and AGMs, or Air-to-Ground Missiles.

An issue is in defining what might be active service life - as the regular maintenance - for example of nuclear warheads will extend this by replacement of tritium enhancer gases and renewal of lithium deuteride, and brittle neutron reflectors etc. - but inside the warhead casing there will be inevitable exposure to radioactive decay and heating.

I looked for any relationship to show a periodic disposal of use-by-dated munitions like: Gulf War / Desert Storm .. 1990 .. Iraq .. 2003 - but there are just so many interventions listed as to suggest that a more regular & routine "turnover of old stock" is happening continuously:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations

- There's been x23 "US Interventions" listed since 2010 .. & x19 between 2000-2009 alone.

Disposal of cut price old stock in the Black Friday Christmas Sales doesn't seem to be needed ...

Marty K.