Depleted uranium ammo raises nuclear stakes in Ukraine

The British announcement that it will supply depleted uranium (DU) ammunition to Ukraine for its Challenger 2 tanks is not a one-off. It was arranged with the United States and for good reason. The US has found a way to speed up delivery of Abrams M-1 tanks to Russia by using older models.

The Abrams 120mm smoothbore gun, like the Challenger’s, uses depleted uranium ammunition when it fires armor-piercing rounds. Abrams tanks sent to Ukraine will be armed with depleted uranium ammunition “tank busting” rounds.

The ammunition in question is technically called armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), long dart penetrator ammunition. APFSDS uses a special penetrating rod made of DU with the addition of titanium and molybdenum.

It is highly valued by the military because the DU penetrator is self-sharpening (meaning it does not deform) and pyrophoric. It is highly effective against enemy tanks struck on the side, rear or top, but less so frontally where it can be deflected by sloped armor.

APFSDS penetrators can be made out of materials other than DU, such as titanium. The Russians call DU ammunition “dirty” weapons.

Depleted uranium is a very heavy, dense metal that is made from uranium hexafluoride. Uranium hexafluoride is the gaseous feedstock for centrifuges making weapon’s grade fissile U-235 for nuclear weapons.

Those who promote the use of DU in weapons argue that DU weapons actually contain less fissile material than natural uranium (but not much less). However, they fail to account for the fact that DU is used in a highly compact form, generally to help penetrate armor and other hardened structures.

While field studies are inconclusive, opponents of ammunition say that DU metal fragments in the soil and DU dust in the air can cause numerous health problems, including cancer. Even naturally occurring uranium is a toxic material.

One scientific study says “The aerosol produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites or can be inhaled by civilians and military personnel.”

There is some evidence that DU ammunition played a role in so-called Gulf War syndrome and also impacts bone marrow density in soldiers hit by DU fragments.

The US is the world’s heavyweight champion in using DU ammunition in  Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. 782,414 DU rounds were fired during the 1991 war in Iraq. More than 300,000 DU rounds were fired during the 2003 Iraq war, the vast majority by US troops.

Both the US and UK have rejected calls to ban depleted uranium weapons.

Aside from armor-penetrating tank rounds, the US uses DU ammunition for its 30mm GAU-8 Avenger Gatling gun on the A-10 Warthog ground attack jet fighter. The A-10s figured prominently in the Iraq wars and in Afghanistan.

Ukraine last winter requested 100 A-10 jets from the United States and have been secretly training to use the aircraft in combat. If a Crimea offensive takes place, the A-10 may be moved into Ukraine and flown by a combination of Ukrainian pilots and possibly by volunteer former US Air Force pilots.

The USAF has been trying to get rid of the A-10 for some time, which it considers a relic of the Cold War and unlikely to survive in a dense air defense environment. In the latest development, the USAF said it wants to dump all its A-10s as soon as possible. From a USAF perspective, shifting them to Ukraine relieves them of an unwanted burden.

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