Posted on 04/05/2002 7:32:57 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
04/05/02 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- Air Force officials announced April 5 that the service will resume limited use of depleted uranium munitions on the Nevada Test and Training Range.
Software upgrades and ballistic testing of the ammunition for the 30 mm cannon on the A/OA-10 aircraft are scheduled to begin this year.
“Depleted uranium munitions are absolutely critical to our future success in combat,” said Gen. Hal Hornburg, commander of Air Combat Command. "Resuming ballistics testing will ensure our pilots have the confidence and skill to use these munitions effectively in combat."
International media reports have raised questions about the health and environmental impacts of DU munitions used in recent conflicts. The World Health Organization, RAND Corp., and numerous other organizations' officials determined that the employment of depleted uranium is safe and presents no significant risk to human health or the environment.
DU’s ability to penetrate armor and its increased range and accuracy over other munitions makes it an ideal weapon for the A/OA-10 mission, officials said.
Currently, the Air Force tests gun-sight software with simulations and trains A/OA-10 pilots in classroom instruction, which is unrealistic and does not satisfy training requirements. Without live-fire testing and limited training, software upgrades can only be validated through combat, officials said.
Both Air Force and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials agreed to stop the use of DU munitions in 1993 at the range, that is managed by Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Officials then reexamined using DU at the range and completed an environmental assessment in 1998.
The assessment found no significant impact on human health or the natural environment from the use of these munitions at target complex 63-10, situated about 12 miles inside the range. Upon completion of the environmental assessment, USFWS officials signed a memorandum of agreement accepting the Air Force’s decision to resume testing and training.
The Air Force will implement a rigorous management and monitoring plan that covers every aspect of DU testing and training, from weapons use to clearance and disposal, officials said.
“Our plan involves life cycle monitoring, air and soil sampling, clearance and disposal of DU rounds and targets,” said Hornburg. “The Nellis range is critical to our readiness. We must be good stewards of the natural resources on the range while preserving the military's primary mission.”
Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium, which can be handled safely with bare hands. Besides its use in ammunition, it is also used in the protective armor of the Army’s M1A1 Abrams tank, commercial and medicinal radiation shielding, drill bits, and as ballast to balance the center of gravity in civilian aircraft and sailboats. (Courtesy of ACC News Service)
“Depleted uranium munitions are absolutely critical to our future success in combat,” said Gen. Hal Hornburg, commander of Air Combat Command. "Resuming ballistics testing will ensure our pilots have the confidence and skill to use these munitions effectively in combat."This is all that matters. All critics can go flush themselves down the toilet. The USA will defend itself, by any means necessary, in an increasingly dangerous world.
The problem isn't radioactive ragheads or other endangered species - it's radioactive GIs.
It seems like the military keeps forgetting they're going to have to *occupy* some of the areas they've hosed down with DU munitions.
(Actually, I'm not even sure the radiation is the worst problem - the uranium heavy metal toxicity may be worse...)
Here we go again!
Is this the same government that says there is nothing wrong with the air around WTC?
No Agent Orange problem?
No Gulf War Syndrome?
How dare you.
I knew them bunny wardens were packing heat but DU ?!?!? What'a they after Jackalopes with kevlar hides ??
Stay Safe !
A little clarification, if I may nit-pick. It HAS been used, due to its density, as a counterweight on some flight-control surfaces on commercial airliners. It has nothing to do with changing the center of gravity of the aircraft and never has. Ignorance in reporting.
1. DU is what is left after we have extracted as much of the radioactive material as possible. You can carry it around in your pocket for ages without a problem. Radioactivity was well less than that of a watch.
2. We fired on 550 tanks in a small area. The same crew entered these tanks to assess them. Doseameters (sp) were used to insure that no one exceeded the very safe limit established. Over the three years of tank assessment no one did.
3. Several 100's of workers worked in the factories that made the rounds. Again no one ever exceeced the safe doseameter limits over the 10 years, or so, that manufacturing took place.
4. The exposre rate was described to me as about the equivalent of the additional radiation one would receive by moving from sealevel to Denver.
5. The issue of heavy metal toxicity was brought up. Again none of our people had a problem. Of course we cautioned them not to eat the penetrators.
People whining about a perfectly safe metal that sounds bad becasue it has the word Uranium in it may be an "association" with a supposed illness, but it does not mean that it is the cause.
Remember the airplane that hit the big apartment building in Holland?
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