Which countries have DU weapons?

Many tanks with 105 mm tank guns (M60 series MBT and their local variants) and 120 mm tank guns (M1A1, M1A2, Challenger, Leclerc, Leopard 2, etc.) can fire DU rounds, however, it is difficult to prove the presence of DU ammunition in the national inventories. With the exception of the US Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Phalanx CWIS shipboard defence system and the now banned ADAM M692 anti-personnel landmine; the vast majority of DU munitions fall into the 120 or 105mm tank and 30mm aircraft ammunition category. The following data is far from complete.

France

Sicn (100% owned by COGEMA) machined 60,000 penetrators for the 120 mm munition APFSDS-T OFL 120 F2, used by the Leclerc tank. The remainder of the munition was made by Giat Industries of Salbris. Both of these companies were also involved in the manufacture of the 105mm ammunition used in the F1 cannon of the AMX-30 tank.

Source: Mary Byrd Davis "Nuclear France: materials and sites"
http://www.francenuc.org/en_sites/rhone_ann_e.htm

(France)
OFL 105 F2 105mm APFSDS (for AMX-30B2 tank)
OFL 120 F2 120mm APFSDS (for Leclerc tank)

China

China, following Russia and Pakistan's examples has manufactured and deployed a 125mm DU penetrator for use in its tanks. Further details are sketchy.

Source: Janes.

Greece

Greece purchased 504 antipersonnel mines (ADAM M692 worth $2.6 million) from the U.S. prior to 1992, when a moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was put into effect.

Source: Human Rights Watch
http://hrw.org/reports/2000/uslm/USALM007-05.htm

Greece also uses M60A1 and M60A3 tanks and had been offered thousands of tank shells by the US as a gift but subsequently turned them down. In January 2001 Greece decided to remove 20mm DU Phalanx ammunition from its inventory following health worries.

Source: Janes

India

A declassified UK MoD paper on DU (see bottom of article) suggests that India was developing DU weapons in the early 90s. It is unclear whether they have been brought into service, although pressure from Pakistan's use of DU may have triggered an arms race.
Source: See PDF at bottom of page.

Israel

Palestinians have for a long time suspected that Israel had been using
ammunition containing depleted uranium in residential areas in Gaza and the
West Bank. Israel denies the charges but consistently refuses to reveal the
type of ammunitions used in bombing Palestinian buildings. Israel has tanks capable of firing DU rounds, and has received exports of US
made DU ammunition.

Source: Henk van der Keur, Laka Foundation, Where and how much depleted uranium has been fired?
http://www.laka.org/teksten/Vu/where-how-much-01/main.html

Iraq

Following the 2003 invasion, the new Iraqi National Army is likely to be armed by US companies. More research is needed on whether they are being equipped with DU munitions.

Jordan

The Jordanians use both the UK Challenger and US M60A1/M60A3 tanks in their Royal Armed Forces. They are in the process of upgrading all of these vehicles

Source: Janes.

Kuwait

Kuwait was offered 'major non-NATO ally' status by the US in 2004. Countries holding MNNA designations are also authorised to use US Foreign Assistance funds to purchase depleted uranium penetrating components, such as the 105mm M833 anti-tank shell.

Kuwait is thought to have bought 11,336 rounds of 120mm ammunition from US manufacturer Alliant Tech Systems.

Source: Janes 2004

Oman

Oman uses US-designed M60 tanks and it is suspected that they have DU armaments supplied by the US. Oman also has UK-designed Challenger tanks but have been unable to purchase UK-made CHARM ammunition for them. It is suspected that purchase was denied for strategic reasons.

Oman has accordingly found itself having to make do with obsolete medium-pressure L23 KE projectiles, which are more than 20 years old in design and have tungsten nickel copper penetrators.

Source: Janes
UK ponders interim ammunition for Challenger 2 as re-arming schedule slips, Oct 2005.

Pakistan

The Pakistani National Development Complex (NDC) is developing a 125mm
armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) projectile with a
depleted uranium (DU) long-rod penetrator for use with T-80UD tanks. The
Pakistani Army already posses 105mm DU tank ammunition.

Source: Defence News, 9 May 2001 Pakistan Joins DU Producer Nations
http://www.janes.com/defence/land_forces/news/idr/idr010509_1_n.shtml

Russia

General Export for Defence manufacture 125mm 3BM32 tank ammunition,
containing a DU penetrator. They have also marketed a shaped charge high explosive tank round encased in a DU liner for 'enhanced killing power'.

Source: Dan Fahey "Science or Science Fiction? Facts, Myths and Propaganda In the Debate Over Depleted Uranium Weapons"
http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/pdf/dumyths.pdf

(Russia)
3UBM-13 115mm APFSDS (for T-62 tank)
3BM32 125mm APFSDS (for T-72 tank)
3BK21M 125mm HEAT-FS (for T-72 tank)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is though to have bought DU munitions from both the US and UK for use in its tank fleet.

Taiwan

Taiwan bought 1000 M774 105mm DU penetrators from the US in the early 90s. It's current DU inventory is unknown.

Source: Janes Defence.

Thailand

Thailand bought 150,000 rounds of 30mm ammunition made by US arms company Alliant Tech Systems.

Turkey

Turkey bought 22,920 120 mm M833 DU penetrators from the US in the early 90s, it is also thought to still have ADAM landmines in its inventory. The current overall status of its DU inventory is unknown.

United Kingdom

The development of the 120mm ‘CHARM 1’ and ‘CHARM 3’ tank ammunition together cost £375m. CHARM 3 tank ammunition is currently in use by the UK’s armed forces, but only in active warfare. The UK MoD claim that tungsten rounds are used for training purposes.

The first generation CHARM 1 weapon system cost £213m while CHARM 3 cost £161.5m. Both anti-tank systems were developed under commercial contracts at the following locations: Royal Ordance facilities at Birtley and Featherstone, AWE Aldermaston; the former AWE Cardiff, and tested at the MOD ranges at Eskmeals (Cumbria) and Kirkcudbright (Dundrennan, Dumfries & Galloway).

The UK also used 20mm shells as part of the US-built Phalanx Close-In-Weapon-System (or CWIS) until the manufacturer Raytheon stopped producing them after the US Navy cancelled its contract with them after it concluded that tungsten performed just as well but without the hazards.

(UK)
L27A1 CHARM 3 120mm APFSDS (for Challenger 2 tank)

United States

The US is currently by far the largest user of DU weapons. Over the past decade they have bought more than 16 million DU shells and bullets from Alliant TechSystems alone.

M829/A1/A2/A3 120mm APFSDS (for Abrams tank),
M774 105mm APFSDS, M833 105mm APFSDS, M900 105mm APFSDS (for M60-series tanks and IAV),
PGU-14/B 30mm API (for A-10)
M919 25mm APFSDS (for Bradley IFV),
25mm used in GAU-12 cannon on AV-8 Harrier aircraft.

Source:
http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/jdw010111_2_n.shtml

Attachments

• UK MoD declassified briefing document (500 Kb - Format pdf)
  This document is in PDF format and can be read using Acrobat Reader.