Current Uses of DU

DU is currently used in kinetic cartridges for the Army’s 25mm BUSHMASTER cannon (M2/3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle), the 105mm cannon (M1 and M60 series tanks) and the 120mm cannon (M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams Tank). The M1A1 (HA), the Heavy Armor variant of the M1A1, also employs layered DU for increased armor protection. The Marines use DU tank rounds in their own M1-series tanks and a 25mm DU round in the GAU-12 Gatling gun on Marine AV-8 Harriers. The Army uses small amounts of DU as an epoxy catalyst for two anti-personnel mines: the M86 Pursuit Deterrent Munition and the Area Denial Artillery Munition.[210] The Air Force uses a 30mm DU round in the GAU-8 Gatling gun on the A-10. On a very limited basis, the F-16 can be modified to an A-16 ("A" signifying "Attack") with the addition of the GPU30 gun pod for close air support. The A-16’s GPU30 gun pod is capable of firing 30mm DU rounds. Flown only by the New York Air National Guard's 174th Tactical Fighter Wing, the A-16s flew only one Gulf War mission (on February 26, 1991), firing approximately 1,000 30mm DU rounds.[211] The 20mm DU round developed by the Navy for use in its shipboard PHALANX Close In Weapons System (CIWS) remains in service; however, since Fiscal Year 1990, the Navy has procured only tungsten rounds for the CIWS. The 20mm DU rounds remaining in the inventory will be used until the supply is exhausted.[

DoD News Briefing
COL James Naughton, U.S. Army Materiel Command
Friday, March 14, 2003

“This is why the U.S. Army prefers to use depleted uranium over
tungsten ammunition. If you look on the chart you can see that the depleted
uranium is a material that has a characteristic that allows it to sharpen
itself as it penetrates the target. The uranium shreds off the sides of the
penetrator instead of squashing or mushrooming. If you look at the lower
picture, which is what happens with tungsten, the tungsten mushrooms. The
result is the depleted uranium will penetrate more armor of a given character
and type at a given range than tungsten will, no matter how we design the
penetrators.”



Facilities for Fabrication of Depleted Uranium Ammunition
Country Owner/Plant Name/Location

France SICN (100% COGEMA ), Annecy

United Kingdom
Royal Ordnance Specialty Metals Inc., Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
Royal Ordnance PLC, Chorley, Lancashire

USA Aerojet Ordnance Co. Chino, CA
Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee, Jonesboro, TN
Alliant Techsystems Inc. Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, New Brighton, MN
Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Milan, TN
Mason and Hanger, Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, Middletown, IA
National Manufacturing Co. ,St.Louis, MO
Primex Technologies Inc., (formerly Olin Ordnance Co.), Red Lion, PA
Starmet Corp., (formerly Nuclear Metals Inc.), Concord, MA

No.9