Re[2]: More Anti-Nuke Media Coverage.... -Reply

[Bates.Estabrooks@rfets.gov (Bates Estabrooks)]

          DU was used as a penetrator as early as 1973 in the Navy's 
          Vulcan Phalanx system.
          
          Franz;  the "sword"  is called a "keel" in english.
          
          Bates Estabrooks
          RFETS


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: More Anti-Nuke Media Coverage.... -Reply
Author:  CHARLES BLUE <BLUE.CHARLES%EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV@inet.rfets.gov> at inet
Date:    11/7/97 4:37 PM


The U.S. Army was testing DU as early as 1969? or 1970?.  I performed the 
license closure survey on a facility
testing DU munitions when I was an Army Officer back in 1993.  
          
Charles Blue
blue.charles@epamail.epa.gov
My opinions are my own...etc....
          
>>> Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at> 11/07/97 05:00pm >>> 
Schoenhofer
Habichergasse 31/7
A-1160 Wien
AUSTRIA
Tel./Fax: +43-1-4955308
Mobiltel.: +43-664-3380333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at
          
----------
> Von: Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>
> An: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu> 
> Betreff: Re: More Anti-Nuke Media Coverage....
> Datum: Freitag, 07. November 1997 22:01 
> 
> At 12:39 PM 11/7/97 -0600, you wrote: 
> >
> >Despite the heavy public relations efforts promoting the so called
> >'smart weapons', it was Depleted Uranium (DU) Penetrators that were the 
> >'stars' of Desert Storm.  These weapons have been described by top
> >Pentagon officials as the most significant development in battlefield 
> >weaponry since the machine gun.
> 
> Perhaps I am misinformed, but it's my understanding that DU has been in 
use
> for armor-piercing applications for decades and is not a new Desert Storm 
> technology. Am I right or wrong on this?
> 
> 
> Bob Flood
> Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
> (415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
> Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone. 
> ----------------------------------------
          
I do not think that you are wrong, but I cannot really tell you when this 
technology was introduced, but I had the pleasure (?) to serve two months in 
the Austrian army in 1977 and from that time I remember that depleted 
uranium was mentioned. I know that depleted uranium was (is) used because of 
its high specific weight - only recently it was mentioned as counterweights 
in airplanes. I know that it is used in racing sailing boats in the "sword" 
beneath - sorry, I do not know, whether this is the correct English 
expression. I remember that my good friend John McKlveen, who unfortunately 
died some years ago did some consulting as to the radiation exposure of 
sailors on these boats. 
          
Franz