Nuclear fuel chain
Depleted uranium (DU) is the by-product of the enrichment of natural uranium.
‘Natural uranium’ is the concentrated product after mining and refining uranium ore.
One kilogram of ‘natural uranium’ is obtained from 1000 kg of uranium ore. Only half of this one kilogram is actually released for use. The remaining 999.5 kg is considered as radioactive waste.

DU stockpiles
United States :                         700,000 metric tonnes
                                               Currently stored in the form of UF6, stored in cylinders at Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio.
                                               160,000 metric tonnes, stored in the form of UO2 and metal
Urenco (UK, FRG, NL) :        38,000 metric tonnes
                                               Currently stored in the form of UF6
Cogema (France) :                   119,900 metric tonnes (dUF6)
                                               Stored at Bessines-sur-Gartempe (Haute Vienne) near Limoges
 

US Proving Grounds with DU Test Firing Ranges
 

Other test-fires with DU ammunition

????             Panama
There are strong appointments that the US Army has trained with DU rounds along the sides of the Panama Channel.
No data available.

1995/1996   Japan
From December ’95 – January ’96 the US Navy AV-8B Harriers (aircraft) test-fired 1,520 25mm PGU/20 API rounds 100 km west of the main island of Okinawa. Total amount of DU: 251 kg.

1999            Puerto Rico (Vieques)
On 19 February, 1999, two US Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers expended 263 25mm PGU/20 API rounds at Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, North Convoy Site. Between March 10 and 19, 1999, 57 round were recovered. 263 Rounds is equal to 34 kg of DU.

The British Army fired/fires DU ammunition at their test sites near Eskmeals and Kirkcudbright. Recently (f.e.: Independent, 12 Jan. 2001) the British MoD acknowledged that about 6,000 120 mm shells have been fired into the Scottish Solway Firth, close to the village Dundrennan, since 1982. Around 60 will be fired until October. About the French tests there are no data available. US and British tank divisions have trained in Central Europe. There are no data available about firing of DU ammunition.

Taiwanese Navy has used some 60,000 DU rounds in maneuvers over the past years (BBC Monitoring, Jan.17, 2001). The type of these munitions is not mentioned.

Greece has decided to take off all DU shells from their inventory. The Greek Navy has in all about 15,000 shells, which are used in the air defense system Phalanx (Close-In Weapons System). During exercises since 1990, 30,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition were fired. It is not clear where they have been fired. In the nineties Greece rejected a US offer of 100,000 DU tank shells after which they were exported to Turkey. (Associated Press, 8 January, 2001)
 

DU weaponry used in wars

1973     Yom Kippur War
             Probably the first war with DU ammunition (prototypes)
             Probably fired by the M60A1 MBT
             No data available

1982    Falklands War
            Possible use of Phalanx CIWS missile defense gun
            No data available

1982    Israeli Invasion of South Lebanon
            Use of modified / upgraded M60 (series) M60 MBT
            No data available

1989    US Invasion of Panama
            Possible use of DU ammunition
            No data available

1991     Operation Desert Storm

1994     Bosnia
             In August US A-10s destroyed a Bosnian Serb mobile ‘tank buster’.
             No data available.

1999    Kosov@
            On 7 February 2000 NATO confirmed the use of 31,000 30mm PGU/14A API rounds. Total amount: 8401 kg of DU.

!! When there is solid evidence about the use of DU in (Tomahawk) cruise missiles, the amounts of DU left behind in Iraq and Yugoslavia will be considerably higher. !!
 

Approximate Amount of Depleted Uranium Released  During Operation Desert Storm
 

Accidents with DU weaponry

1998     Great Britain
On 8 February there was a fire at the Royal Ordnance Special Metal factory at Featherstone in Staffordshire. No data available about the amount of DU which has been released.

1991 Kuwait
Munitions fire US Army base Doha, Kuwait (July 1991). Around 3,500 kg of DU was released.
 
 

M60 series MBTs (all supplied by USA, except mentioned otherwise)
Figures from the SIPRI yearbooks 1988 – 1999

 L: production under license (Taiwan and Egypt produces under US license)
(..): probable year of figure(s)
 

M1/M1A1.M1A2 Abrams & Bradleys (all supplied by USA)
 

US Exports
Excess Defense Articles (EDA)
EDA Grants, EDA Sales, Drawdowns, Leases and Loans, FMS

TTS = with Tank Thermal Sight
FMS = Foreign Military Sales
 

Inventory of M60 series MBTs in 18 countries
Source: Jane’s Armour and Artillery 1999-2000

DU ammunition exports
Most important is to get insight in the proliferation of DU ammunition. Many tanks with 105 mm tank guns (M60 series MBT and their local variants) and 120 mm tank guns (M1A1, M1A2, Challenger, Leclerc, Leopard 2, etc.) can fire DU rounds, however, it is difficult to prove the presence of DU ammunition in the national inventories. Much more research has to be done in this field.

US exports of DU ammunition
Foreign Military Sales

Developments in Israel and Turkey

Outside the US, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is the largest user of the M60 series. As of 1993, they probably had about 1000 M60/M60A1 tanks and about 600 M60A3s. The Israeli designation of the M60 is the Megach-7. Israel has undertaken several upgrades of its Magach-7 fleet, which includes M60/M60A1s and the M60A3s. The 105 mm M68 rifled tank gun, made by Israel Military Industries (IMI), also fitted to most other Israeli tanks, like the Merkava Mk1. The Israeli made 105 mm tungsten APFSDS-T M111 round is claimed to be superior to the US M735.

The M68 main 105 mm gun is standard on all M60s, but also on the Centurions, and Merkavas Mk I and II of the Israeli tank fleet. Military analysts remarks that although the 105 mm main gun on the M60s was much smaller than the 155-mm gun on the T-62, and the 125-mm gun on the T-72, it was very effective against these targets at both long and short ranges. The M68 gun is locally produced by Israeli Military Industries (IMI), formerly TAAS Israel Industries Ltd.

The Israelis still retain the 105 mm main gun on the M60 series tank, but the turret is modified to be able to take the 120 mm gun if needed. The Israelis have been constantly improving their 105 mm rounds, so they are now almost as deadly as most 120mm rounds. The M111 "arrow " round is constantly being upgraded, and Israel has shown a third generation M111 round recently. Panzergruppe, the monthly newsletter of the Washington Armour Club stated in their first issue of 1996: "Israelis are reported developing a depleted uranium round which will probably be able to defeat the armour of almost any vehicle in any service in the Middle East. To accompany this new and improved gun, a new fire control system has been installed for greater accuracy at both shorter and longer ranges."

On 3 September, 1999, IMI unveiled the "SABRA" – an upgraded M60A3 tank developed for the Israeli Army. The modernisation programme, includes, among others, the following systems:

• 120 mm gun system interoperable with NATO weapon systems and ammunition.
• Passive add-on ballistic protection, providing level against shape charges and kinetic energy projectiles.

"US Deputy Under-secretary of the Army for International Affairs Gayden Thompson has written to Ankara asking that US companies should be able to compete for the project. The Turkish Land Forces Command has also been urged to reconsider the long-standing US government offer to lease 96 General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) M1A1 MBTs." A senior GDLS source said "linking the modernisation project with an M1A1 lease would offer training and logistics benefits as its M60-2000 modernisation proposal involves the installation of M1A1 turrets." On 2 June 2000 the Turkish Defence Industries Under-secretariat (SSM) decided that IMI would be the sole source for the M60 modernisation programme. An SSM official stated that although the committee had decided to ask IMI to build a prototype, it did not mean that a decision to award the full contract to the Israeli firm had been made. Besides GDLS, also German firms like Krauss-Maffei Wegmann are competing in the M60 modernisation programme. The requests for proposals call for four prototypes and an initial production batch of 250 vehicles out of a planned total of 1,000.