DU munitions

DU munitions are specifically designed to disable armoured vehicles such as tanks. The core of the munitions, the penetrator, is made of depleted uranium metal. A big calibre DU penetrator can cut right through conventional tanks.

On impact, the uranium penetrator tip melts and vaporises partially under the tremendous pressure. The generated metal particles start burning spontaneously (pyrophoricity) to form particles of uranium oxide.

When the round has entered its target, often fuel tanks are set on fire and ammunition stored in vehicles detonates. This usually leads to catastrophic explosions. As a result the remains of the penetrator may also partly burn into dust (uranium oxide particles).

The resulting very fine, radioactive and toxic dust can cause harm when inhaled or ingested.

Most munitions fired by aircraft, such as the A10, miss their target. Over time, these DU munitions corrode in the ground, polluting the environment.

The two most frequently used types of munitions are:

* armour piercing munitions (API, Armour Piercing Incendiaries)
* kinetic energy penetrators (APFSDS, Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot munitions).

The last class loses its sabots after firing.

API and APFSDS munitions may also have a penetrator of tungsten. Tungsten is as dense as uranium, but not pyrophoric. Since most tungsten mines are located in China, tungsten is a less secure resource and considerably more expensive than depleted uranium.

Uranium in armour

Before the 1991 Gulf War, US Abrams tanks were protected by a double layer of steel filled with ceramics, mounted on top of a normal steel armour plate.

In 1991, when the US and the UK introduced uranium munitions on the battlefield, they also upgraded their tanks with uranium armour (M1A1 tank). This armour consists of a layer of uranium, encased in two layers of steel that are welded together. Conventional Iraqi weapons couldn't even punch a hole in the armour. Yet, against uranium weapons the armour was not thick enough, as many friendly fire incidents have revealed.

In the next series (M1A2 tank), the steel sleeve of uranium has been made thicker. However, there is a limit to the thickness of armour plates. It is a compromise between weight and the mobility of vehicles.

Uranium in landmines

Some landmines contain very small quantities of DU (M86 PDM and ADAM), approximately 0.1 g of DU in each mine. DU serves as a catalyst to ignite the landmine.

Military advantages of uranium weapons

From a military point of view, uranium weapons are a successful step forward in the arms race. Depleted uranium has some unique military advantages:

1. Uranium is a very dense metal. For example, a bucket filled with uranium weights 1.7 times more than a bucket filled with lead. Uranium armour is so dense that it bounces almost any conventional metal rounds.

2. Munitions with dense penetrators such as uranium and tungsten, pierce through most materials without a problem. However, the effective range of uranium weapons is greater when compared to tungsten rounds. Uranium has a self-sharpening property. When it hits a target, the uranium tip of the penetrator melts so that the core gets sharper. In contrast, tungsten penetrators tend to blunt ('mushroom') on impact.

3. Uranium particles ignite spontaneously (pyrophoricity), which can lead to combustion. When a DU round hits a tank, it generates a cloud of uranium dust which starts burning. When the round has entered its target, for instance a tank, it usually causes a fire. This greatly increases the destructive effects of the weapon.

4. The huge waste stockpiles of the uranium enrichment industry require costly storage and monitoring. So the raw material (DUF6) is readily available at low cost. The use of uranium weapons means also indiscriminate dumping of nuclear waste into the environment.