RE: Letter to Congressman McDermott by Leuren Moret

["Darnell, Peter A." <pkd0@cdc.gov>]

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but Ted is correct.  DU

penetrates, releases particles that burn and penetrate out.  While the human

part of me feels for those on the receiving end of these munitions, I'm very

glad the US has them.  Here's an excerpt from "How Stuff Works" on the M1

Tank:



"Sabot

Sabot rounds work like a basic arrow. They don't have any explosive power;

they penetrate armor with shear momentum. The heart of the sabot round is

the penetrator -- a narrow metal rod (typically depleted uranium) with a

pointed nose on one end and stabilizing fins on the other. Before the round

is fired, the rear part of the penetrator is attached to a propellant case,

and the front part is attached to the sabot structure. The sabot's purpose

is to keep the narrow penetrator centered in the wide gun barrel. 



On firing, the propellant casing remains in the chamber, and the expanding

gas pushes the sabot and attached penetrator down the barrel. The sabot is

attached to the penetrator with relatively flimsy plastic, so it falls away

as soon as the round leaves the cannon. The heavy penetrator flies through

the air at high speed toward its target tank. Because of its narrow shape,

the penetrator focuses its full force into a very small area, plowing

straight through heavy armor. As the penetrator enters the tank, heated

fragments of metal fly off in all directions, hitting anybody and anything

inside."



See: http://www.howstuffworks.com/m1-tank3.htm

For an interesting story on the effectiveness of these munitions see:

http://www.softwhale.com/history/hist-abrams.htm



Pete



-----Original Message-----

From: Ted de Castro [mailto:tdc@XRAYTED.COM] 

Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 9:12 AM

To: Jeffries Cameron

Cc: 'BobCherry@AOL.COM'; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Re: Letter to Congressman McDermott by Leuren Moret





YES - THEY DO!  The friction of passing through the armor causes the

pyrophoric DU to ignite.  That is one reason US tanks use multi layer Al for

armor instead of steel.



> Jeffries Cameron wrote:

> 

> I can't believe these people think that DU rounds burn. 

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