The Republic Thunderbolt II A-10 (AKA Warthog) is indeed a formidable ground attack aircraft.  The plane is built around the
seven-barrel GAU 8/A 30mm Avenger cannon, which fires a .94 lbs (.49kg) round made up of depleted uranium.  The Warthog carries a
full load of 1,174 rounds and a variety of ordnance on up to 11 hard points under the wings and fuselage.  The primary weapon of the
A-10 however, is the AGM-65 Maverick missile because of its accuracy, effectiveness and the fact it can be fired from a longer
distance than the Avenger gun.

The use of depleted uranium in the core of a projectile has raised some controversy ever since its debut.  At first, the Soviets
accused the US of fielding atomic weapons in the A-10 but the radioactivity of the DU round is really negligible.  The reason DU is
used in such rounds is a question of mass.  DU is extremely dense (2.5 times greater than steel) and can thus concentrate a lot of
mass on a single hard point inside the projectile.  This dense core can defeat most armor.

The M-1 Abrams main battle tank also uses DU in two ways.  1- The 120mm smoothbore round it fires also as a DU core.  It is much
bigger than the one in the 30mm round of the A-10.  2- The armor of the M-1 Abrams tank is made up of DU encased in steel.

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm

I do not know where Guy got his figure of 10,000 but I suspect it is inconsistent with reality.  Whilst we have all heard of Gulf
War syndrome or disease, it has nothing to do with DU. On the other hand it is much more likely that such a syndrome may be
associated with exposure to undetected bio- or chemical weapons used by Saddam.

BTW, the British Challenger II main battle tank also fires a 120mm round with a core of DU.

Denys

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