Nyrath Posted December 15, 2009 Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/army-again-turns-to-depleted-uranium-for-new-weaponry/ Kinetic rounds are metal slim darts fired from tanks like the MAA1 Abrams at very high velocity. The preference for DU is not based, as some conspiracy theorists would have it, on a diabolical scheme to dump nuclear waste in developing countries. It’s because in addition to its high hardness and density, it has a property called adiabatic shear banding. Essentially, DU is crumbly rather than squishy. During the process of high-speed penetration through metal armor, fragments flake off a DU projectile. This means that a DU projectile is “self sharpening” (compared to tungsten, which tends to deform in a “blunted,” mushroom shape.) It also means that DU produces a pyrophoric effect, filling the vehicle hit with a lethal fireball of tiny burning particles. That too makes it more effective than tungsten. For many years, the Pentagon has been researching alternatives to DU, most notably Darpa’s “Liquidmetal” initiative on amorphous tungsten. This is a “glassy metal” without a crystalline structure which is very hard and shows the right kind of behavior under extreme stress. However, there still appear to be difficulties with producing large amorphous tungsten penetrators. Self sharpening pyrophoric FTW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted December 15, 2009 Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry Wicked stuff, and used for a reason. (Speaking of kinetic kill rounds and tanks...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted December 15, 2009 Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry Not something you want to drop on your foot I can attest to that. ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted December 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry Not something you want to drop on your foot I can attest to that. as you scream in pain while the medic uses a pancake spatula to try and scrape your foot off the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayapuppies Posted December 15, 2009 Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry And those SABOT rounds have very sharp points to begin with. Burning tanks sparkle like...well, a sparkler after being hit with one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry What's with the italics? I'm seeing it all over the place... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayapuppies Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry Weird...I didn't type it in italics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry These sound awfully mean. Isn't there some way that we could defeat enemy tanks with puppies and sunshine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry These sound awfully mean. Isn't there some way that we could defeat enemy tanks with puppies and sunshine? The Lasers Mounted on Puppy program has been having some technical problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry I believe the magnifying glass was to big to mount on the puppies back.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry You could use an animal nobody likes. Like incendiary bats. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry You could use an animal nobody likes. Like incendiary bats. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb I read the book. Great reading, and quite a few laughs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry Bats are great pest eradicators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Re: Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry I found an interesting link on the page the story was on... AIM 9x demonstrated as an Air to ground weapon... http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/12/03/335762/exclusive-raytheon-adapts-aim-9x-for-air-to-ground-mission.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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