A-10 warthog not being retired until 2022...and oh btw we're using depleted uranium bullets

originally posted by: Bfirez
a reply to: MALBOSIA

I always wondered how much of the Gulf War Sickness could be related to DU contamination among other things. All the burning oil in the atmosphere probably didn't help either....

I dont know, but this crap is in all kinds of stuff apparently. Makes be think its another useless biproduct like the one that gave us plastic and other long term, household poisons.

Most depleted uranium arises as a by-productof the production of enriched uranium for use as fuel in nuclear reactors and in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Enrichment processes generate uranium with a higher-than-natural concentration of lower-mass-number uranium isotopes (in particular U-235, which is the uranium isotope supporting thefission chain reaction) with the bulk of the feed ending up as depleted uranium, in some cases with mass fractions of U-235 and U-234 less than a third of those in natural uranium. 

What else do they do with what they do with what they don't use for nuclear power and bombs? Bullets is an obvious candidate. Who gives a snip about those guys?

Hold on...

Consumer product uses have included incorporation into dental porcelain, used forfalse teeth to simulate the fluorescence of natural teeth,

I swear, a record screetched when I read that.

And then there is this.

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations at 10 CFR 40.25 establish a general license for the use of depleted uranium contained in industrial products or devices for mass-volume applications. This general license allows anyone to possess or use depleted uranium for authorized purposes. Generally, a registration form is required, along with a commitment to not abandon the material. Agreement states may have similar, or more stringent, regulations.

Wiki

So this stuff is everywhere. Just lying around but "attended" so thats good.

a reply to: MALBOSIA

Until the 757 and 767 it was used for ballast in aircraft. The 747 carries several hundred pounds of it in various parts of the airframe.

You should see a sabot round from an Abrams tank. That's a whole lot of DP sent downrange.

Well unless they figure out a way to fit the A10's minigun in something else, I hope they never retire it, this plane is just too badass...

originally posted by: rexsblues
Well unless they figure out a way to fit the A10's minigun in something else, I hope they never retire it, this plane is just too badass...

That is NO "minigun"... not even hardly. That is a GAU-8 gatling gun; it fires approximately 80 30 mm shells PER SECOND...

originally posted by: pryingopen3rdeye
but really we have many many types of ammunition which accomplishes the same feat, armor piercing, we even have toxic ammo which is designed to loose its toxicity in days as opposed to the thousands of years it takes for uranium to decay. the reason we use the uranium for this though is its the cheapest option, is it really any surprise the true reason is money? its always money.

I wonder if the companies storing depleted uranium are actually charging the gov for storing it and really selling it to the munitions factories? It's a win win situation, you get paid twice. I wonder if any of these companies are owned by the guys who make the decision as to whether to use depleted uranium bullets? It might make a good movie anyway.

The density of uranium is the desired trait. Discarding sabot rounds allow high density knitting needles to be fired at high velocity [more than a mile a second for the Abrams penetrator] and in excess of 3000 ft/second for the CIWS Phalanx and GAU-8 Avenger, the basis for the Warthog ["It isn't fast but it sure is ugly"]. Depleted Uranium alloys are used in the Abrams AP round and for anti-tank applications in the Warthog. The Warthog fires HE incendiary projos against targets other than armor. The Phalanx CIWS ["Sea Wiz" or "R2D2"] has always used tungsten sub-caliber penetrators for airframe targets and can also fire HE Incendiary tracer self-destruct rounds.
It should be noted that the density of Uranium is 19.1 g/cm^3 and Tungsten is 19.3 g/cm^3; nearly identical but almost twice the density of Lead 11.3 g/cm^3, providing a very high sectional density that is best utilized as a kinetic energy penetrator.

originally posted by: rexsblues
Well unless they figure out a way to fit the A10's minigun in something else, I hope they never retire it, this plane is just too badass...

It is the basis for the Goalkeeper system.

a reply to: pteridine

Thanks for that post


I was just about to ask that question. So basically depleted uranium is the cheapest heavy material available for munitions.

It terms of supply I can imagine depleted uranium is the most steady heavy material they can get. I'm not sure how much supply and demand effects tungsten but uranium I can imagine is very predictable.

Considering spent uranium has little use other than being a heavy (toxic) material I suppose this is a form of recycling lol.

Just Googled the half life of uranium, the most is 4.5 billion years, the least is 25,000 years, and that stuff is used in power plants!

a reply to: pikestaff

As Einstien said:

Nuclear power is a hell of a way to boil water.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: pteridine

Thanks for that post

I was just about to ask that question. So basically depleted uranium is the cheapest heavy material available for munitions.

It terms of supply I can imagine depleted uranium is the most steady heavy material they can get. I'm not sure how much supply and demand effects tungsten but uranium I can imagine is very predictable.

Considering spent uranium has little use other than being a heavy (toxic) material I suppose this is a form of recycling lol.

Yes. Depleted U costs about $5/lb and W is about $20/lb. W is also a "critical material" that is not being mined in the US at present. Quotes on W bar stock are from....China. U supplies are still available from cold war bomb factories. The US supply of depleted uranium is in the form of UF6 [uranium hexafluoride, the gaseous form used to separate U235 from U238.] Converted to metal, this would be almost 500,000 metric tons.

I think most people are reading into the article to much. Exactly what Progressive CNN wants you all to be doing.

Yes it is true the A-10 can fire DP rounds.

But it does not always use them. It is entirely mission dependent. Gun runs in Afghanistan: What need would they have for DP Armor Piercing? The Taliban don't use tanks. Iraq? Same thing. I'd be willing to bet (and we even have at least one A-10 loader on here to vouch) that we haven't used DP in A-10's for the majority of the Iraq and Afghan wars. HE is more than sufficient for destroying Taliban Pickup trucks and Mud Huts.

This thread is a perfect example of the Progressive Left being so easily manipulable by their media. CNN intentionally put that there to give a nudge to the Anti-American mindset.

a reply to: coldkidc

I think the density of depleted uranium makes them armor piercing..they..being pretty much any military sadly do not give 2 sh#ts about the world or what they do to it and it's inhabitants.

a reply to: coldkidcno thats not unusual depleted uranium is excellent at penetrating armor because of its density i believe we use it in armor piercing rounds for our tanks to but yes some countries whine about it beinbg bad for envioroment my suggestion to them iss sue harder for peace and not piss us off.

a reply to: bandersnatch

you have more worry from fukishima radiation than depleted uranium rounds these are made from whats left over after enriching uranium very low rads from it now look at all the cesium and now they are saying plutonium that is coming constantly in the food chain from that stupidity ehy you would build a group of reactors in an eartquake zone right onn the ocean? sounds like a bad syfy channel movie atomic tsunami. hero has to stop it running around with a lawn edger

Here is a 30mm A-10 round, sitting on the bar, compared with a 50cal and a 9mm casing.



Imagine 80 of these bad boys a second.....

originally posted by: coldkidc

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter this week confirmed what had been rumored for months: The Air Force's ground attack jet, the inelegant but well-armed and well-armored A-10 Thunderbolt, nicknamed the "Warthog," will not face retirement until at least at least six years....

Air Force to keep A-10 flying

Was reading CNN & saw an article about the A-10 Warthog getting a recent reprieve from retirement.

For the record, I love the Warthog...it's an ugly, mean son-of-a-beotch and by all rights deserves a place in the US arsenal until something that actually does a better job at low-altitude ass kicking can take as much of a beating and deliver as much punch replaces it.

But then about halfway thought the article CNN just casually mentions that we're using depleted uranium bullets...?
Is that a normal thing now?

...A-10 pilots can skim hillsides day and night, under any type of weather, and accurately and punishingly engage ground targets with its powerful 30 mm, seven-barrel Gatling gun, which fires depleted uranium bullets at 3,900 rounds per minute...

For some reason, I thought that was something the world in general frowned upon

Just thought I'd share

I was USMC CBRN and DU fragments and Ammo was a substantial safety issue in Iraq during my time.

originally posted by: pikestaff
Just Googled the half life of uranium, the most is 4.5 billion years, the least is 25,000 years, and that stuff is used in power plants!

The longer the half life, the less radioactive it is. DU isn't very radioactive at all.

The alternatives are really pricey, tungsten and osmium. There aren't a lot of other options if you need a really dense slug.