Posted on 09/27/2023 9:19:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
A sabot tank penetrator round separating in flight Photo: U.S. Department Of Defense (Courtesy Image)
After U.S. President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on September 21 that a new shipment of arms would arrive in Ukraine "next week," Zelenskiy replied that the package has "exactly what our soldiers need now."
Headlining the new delivery is the first shipment of U.S.-made Abrams tanks, which will presumably arrive with their controversial ammunition of 120 mm depleted uranium rounds.
width =65%> An M1A1 Abrams tank fires its 120 mm cannon at a training ground in California.
Depleted uranium (DU) is a byproduct of the process to enrich uranium for use in nuclear fuel or weapons. The United States has vast stocks of the material, which is essentially nuclear waste that is 60 percent as radioactive as raw uranium. Beginning in the 1970s, the material began to be tested in sabot rounds -- dart-like projectiles fired from tank cannons designed to pierce the solid slabs of frontal armor used in Soviet tanks of the time.
Depleted uranium ingots and molds photographed at a facility in Colorado in 1957
The advantages of DU as an armor-piercing projectile are many, as are the controversies that have persistently surrounded its use.
Uranium is the heaviest naturally occurring element on Earth. A 10-centimeter cube of the metal weighs around 20 kilograms, giving it virtually unstoppable momentum and, when alloyed with small amounts of titanium, DU acquires steel-like strength.
. A British soldier handles sabot rounds made from depleted uranium for Challenger 2 tanks during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Unlike tungsten projectiles, which squish or "mushroom" when they strike steel, DU anti-tank darts "self-sharpen" by shearing off their sides as they slam through armor. A final, macabre characteristic of the material is its propensity to vaporize into a superheated aerosol that explodes into a fireball after penetrating the target vehicle.
A destroyed Iraqi tank from the first Gulf War marked with "DU," indicating it has been hit with depleted uranium and is contaminated. The photo was taken at a scrapyard in Kuwait in 2002.
It is this toxic, radioactive aerosol especially that has led to decades of research, activism, and fears for what DU does to the environment and to people. Following the first Gulf War, the metal was blamed for the serious health issues suffered by veterans of the conflict that became known as "Gulf War syndrome."
Yugoslav soldiers measure radioactivity levels near the southern Serbian town of Presevo in 2001 after warplanes fired thousands of depleted uranium rounds during the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia.
A 2008 study by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found no link between DU exposure and widespread health issues, and NATO concluded the same in 2005. Later research, however, has linked wartime DU exposure to extensive health problems including surges in cancer rates among soldiers and civilians exposed to the metal.
Japanese protesters form the message "NO WAR NO DU" during a rally opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the use of depleted uranium.
Britain has been supplying Kyiv with DU munitions to be fired from its Ukrainian-crewed Challenger tanks since early 2023.
In March the Kremlin responded furiously to the news that the shells, which Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed had a "nuclear component," would be supplied to Ukrainian forces.
Putin claims Russia has "hundreds of thousands" of DU projectiles in its armory and that "Russia will have to respond accordingly" to the munitions being supplied to Ukraine.
How well does that HEAT round work on reactive armor?
You should be fine if you’re in the US
Not radioactive
That’s why it’s called “depleted”.
In order to use these you must be near the front lines. Drones will be salivating.
> You can shoot down helicopters and such as well. Not totally useless.
There’s not much problem putting holes in helicopters with pretty much anything on the battlefield. A sabot probably wouldn’t even slow down going through one.;-)
IN KOSOVO, NATO ALLIES BLAME DEPLETED URANIUM FOR CANCER CASES
With Britain and America supplying the toxic ammunition to Ukraine, Declassified investigates the long-term health impact on one of the few countries where the weapon has been fired in anger.
PHIL MILLER
13 JULY 2023
https://www.declassifieduk.org/in-kosovo-nato-allies-blame-depleted-uranium-for-cancer-cases/
Russia won’t want to contaminate farms and towns in the oblasts of people who voted to join Russia. Unlike the US and UK using these weapons on faraway lands of people considered as collateral.
And…this.
Which no one questions.
Natural uranium is 99.3% U-238 (an alpha particle-emitter) and the remaining 0.7% is U-235 (likewise an alpha particle-emitter). Depleted uranium (DU) contains even less U-235 (which is fissile). So both of the isotopes are merely alpha-emitters - not beta or gamma-emitters.
Of course, there will always be some daughter radionuclides present (e.g., Thorium isotopes, which are beta-emitters), but I'm not aware of any daughter nuclides emitting gamma rays. Anyone here able to explain that?
DU's chemical toxicity is actually more dangerous than its radioactivity.
Regards,
DEPLETED Uranium ==> less radioactive than natural uranium.
I would argue that it and its shockwave would turn one inside out like a aluminum can.
If you can find us some video of Abrams and Challenger tanks shooting down helos…please post it.
Better than anything smaller than 104mm. HEAT round aint no RPG. If you got a solid hit it would probly detonate every piece of reactive armor on the target and set the target immediately on fire.
I met a fellow who shot down an Egyptian helicopter with a HEP round.
Those things arc like a curve ball.
A good gunner can do it.
“Not radioactive
That’s why it’s called “depleted””
_______________________________________________________
The specific activity of uranium alone in DU is 14.8 Bq per mg compared with 25.4 Bq per mg for natural uranium.
With time, chemical weathering will cause the metallic DU of penetrators in the ground to corrode and disperse in the soil. The DU in the soil will be in an oxidized, soluble chemical form and migrate to surface and groundwater from where it will eventually be incorporated into the food chain, which then can be consumed. It is difficult to predict how long it would take for individuals to be exposed to DU through this pathway, but it is reasonable to assume that it would take several years before enhanced levels of DU could be measured in water and food.
Depleted uranium present in the soil can migrate to surface and groundwater and flow into water streams. Plants will also uptake DU present in soil and in water. A very small fraction of DU in vegetation and water is the result of direct deposition onto water surfaces. The chemical and physical composition of the soil will determine the solubility and transportability of the DU particles. The DU in water and vegetation will be transferred to livestock through ingestion of grass, soil, and water. Studies have shown that bio-accumulation of uranium in plants and animals is not very high and, therefore, uranium is not effectively transported in the food chain.
Depleted uranium in the soil will be in an oxidized, soluble chemical form and migrate to surface and groundwater and be incorporated into the food chain. It is difficult to predict how long it would take for this to occur. As a result of chemical weathering, DU projectiles lying on the ground or buried under the surface will corrode with time, slowly converting the metallic uranium of the DU penetrators into uranium oxides. The specific soil characteristics will determine the rate and chemical form of the oxidation and the rate of migration and solubility of the depleted uranium. This environmental pathway may result in the long term (in the order of several years) in enhanced levels of depleted uranium being dissolved in ground water and drinking water.
https://www.iaea.org/topics/spent-fuel-management/depleted-uranium
Oh definitely. The Challengers cant shoot for s**t.
I better start saving up, it will be America taxpayers that pay the billions to clean this up.
| In the Bloggers & Personal forum, on a thread titled Heavy Metal: The Radioactive Ammunition Headed For Ukraine, 9422WMR wrote: |
Not radioactive |
It is radioactive. Depleted Uranium is about 40% less radioactive than 'freshly' refined Uranium fuel used in power plants. It's called 'depleted' because it is no longer radioactive enough to provide sufficient energy to be used as fuel in nuclear power plants.
Yes, add it to the billions we regularly send to them. 🙄
Evil runs amok in our world.
For all the eco/green crap the government is pushing, they then go ahead and do something like this........
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