I didn't get much out of "DU use in munitions", but, got more info. with "DU Munitions".
Some of what I found is: "One of the Army's first uses of DU was as a ballistic weight in the spotting round for the Davy Crockett mortar warhead." ( It is unclear on if it is still in use.) "DU is currently used in kinetic cartridges for the Army's 25mm BUSHMASTER cannon (M2/3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle), the 105mm cannon (M1 and M60 series tanks) and the 120mm cannon (M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams Tank). The M1A1 (HA), the Heavy Armor variant of the M1A1, also employs layered DU for increased armor protection. The Marines use DU tank rounds in their own M1-series tanks and a 25mm DU round in the GAU-12 Gatling gun on Marine AV-8 Harriers." "The Army has tested limited quantities of small caliber DU ammunition (5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50 caliber). However, the Army produced these rounds in limited quantities for developmental testing only and evaluation and never type-classified them for standard use." "The 50-caliber sniper rifle did fire an API (armor piercing incendiary) round, but the round did not contain DU. There have been similar claims that cruise missiles fired during the Gulf War contained DU. DU is used to simulate the weight of a nuclear warhead in the developmental testing and evaluation of the nuclear version of certain cruise missiles, but no cruise missiles fired during the Gulf War contained DU." "The US Navy designed its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) as a last-ditch defense against sea-skimming missiles. The Navy evaluated a wide range of materials before deciding on DU alloyed with 2 percent molybdenum (DU-2Mo).[203] Phalanx production started in 1978, with orders for 23 systems for the US Navy and 14 systems for foreign militaries. However, in 1989, the Navy decided to change the CIWS 20mm round from DU to tungsten, based on live fire tests showing that tungsten met their performance requirements while offering reduced probabilities of radiation exposure and environmental impact." Russia claims to have a shaped charge warhead using DU as the liner, but the US, is still investigating ( I suspect that the pyrophoric properties of DU and the cost effectiveness of copper or copper / nickel would make it questionable for it's use in this role, unless it has significantly superior effects). The Army also uses trace amounts as an epoxy catalyst. DU is also used as armor, on the M1-A1 and M1-A2, in which case a sheet of DU is sandwiched in between conventional sheets of armor and the entire thing sealed with welds. In cases were tanks ( with DU armor ) burned, no DU or DU Oxide escaped, unless the armor was breached first, I have not yet found any evidence that this has happened, it has been one or the other. Approximately 340 tons of DU ( not counting the pre-positioned Marine supplies on ships, it is estimated that this portion comes out to less than 30 tons ), most of which was used by the Air Force with the 30 mm cannon on the A-10 ( the total amount hear is unclear due to the fact that the DU rounds were mixed with HEI rounds at a rate that varied between 6 DU - 1 HEI and 4 DU - 1 HEI depending on the mission ). Other nations in the coalition forces, used DU, but less than the US. It has been found that DU of the smaller calibers ( 30 mm and less ) a lower percentage of DU Oxide is formed upon hits, and in most cases the penetrator stayed in the armor if it hit but did not punch through, and this limits the amount of DU Oxide. The amount of DU Oxide produced is in direct correlation to the total amount of Kinetic Energy expended on the target, a softer target has less energy expended on it than a harder target, so less of the DU penetrator turned to DU Oxide. In many cases, if the DU penetrator hit a soft APC, only trace amounts of DU Oxide were found, unless it hit a engine ( or other significantly hard item ) in which case the amount's of DU Oxide were higher. DU is also used in numerous commercial applications: ballast and counterweights; balancing control devices on aircraft (civilian and military); balancing and vibration damping on aircraft (civilian and military); machinery ballast and counterweights; gyrorotors and other electromechanical counterweights; neutron detectors; radiation detection and shielding for medicine and industry; shipping container shielding for radiopharmaceuticals, radioisotopes, and spent nuclear fuel rods; chemical catalyst; pigments; x-ray tubes. It seems that as long as it remains sealed, DU has broad and accepted range of usage that is bound to grow as time grows by, and most people are not going to worry about it. With this in mind, I have to ask the question, are we going to see the day when we are using DU battery packs? Greg H. ----- Original Message ----- From: "bratt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 00:01 Subject: Re: [biofuel] Dirty Bombing > From a search on Google: DU use in munitions > > You will get about 300 pages that will tell you the history from it's development in the late 1960's in mortars, armour piercing shell development in the 1970's through 1990's, right up to the shell count and tonnage used in various military campaigns, all the calibres, features, uses, effects, health risks, death counts. Just about everything we need to know. > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Save Smiley. 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