Hey Israel, You Missed One!!

let me rephrase, the issue at hand is not whether DU is harmful, on which i think everyone is in agreement, but whether it is used in the construction of GBU-28s. but i would argue that use of GBU-28s is rare enough that widespread DU contamination from this source is not a major issue in lebanon.

 

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10662531&dopt=Abstract
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3627

DU-exposed Gulf War veterans with retained metal shrapnel fragments are excreting elevated levels of urinary uranium 7 years after first exposure (range 0.01-30.7 microg/g creatinine vs 0.01- 0.05 microg/g creatinine in the nonexposed). The persistence of the elevated urine uranium suggests on-going mobilization from a storage depot which results in a chronic systemic exposure.

Uranium is "genotoxic". It chemically alters DNA, switching on genes that would otherwise not be expressed. The fear is that the resulting abnormally high activity in cells could be a precursor to tumour growth.

But while the chemical toxicity of DU is reasonably well established, Mothersill points out that the radiological effects of DU are less clear. To gauge the risk from low-dose radiation, researchers extrapolate from tests using higher doses. But the relationship between dose and effect is not linear: at low doses radiation kills relatively fewer cells. And though that sounds like good news, it could mean that low radiation is having subtle effects that go unnoticed because cells are not dying, says Mothersill.

Miller has found one way this may happen. She has discovered the first direct evidence that radiation from DU damages chromosomes within cultured cells. The chromosomes break, and the fragments reform in a way that results in abnormal joins (Military Medicine, vol 167, p 120). Both the breaks and the joins are commonly found in tumour cells.

More crucially, she has recently found that DU radiation increases gene activity in cultured cells at doses of DU not known to cause chemical toxicity (Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, in press). The possible consequences are made all the more uncertain because no one knows if genes switched on by DU radiation enhance the damage caused by genes switched on by DU's toxic effects, or vice versa.

 

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Israel may misuse bunker buster bombs to fulfill broad list of targets
POL-LEBANON-ISRAEL-BOMBS
Israel may misuse bunker buster bombs to fulfill broad list of targets

By Nusaiba Ben-Shaibah KUWAIT, Aug 1 (KUNA) -- Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth policy in its war against Lebanon. It does not spare any of its munitions to fulfill its broad list of military targets in Lebanon, and perhaps in the Middle East region.

Western reports suggest that the Israeli military forces had already used bunker buster bombs (GBU-28) against a number of populated urban areas inside Lebanon. Israel is using such smart weapons, even though it possesses a large stockpile of high-tech weapons that would accurately distinguish between civilian targets and other strategic ones.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=892632

 

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the article was inconclusive as to whether GBU-28s had been used, but this i found interesting:

 

buffalo, hey how you doing

you just love talking about your bunker busters and DU

you have it going on about 10 threads!! which somehow do not have much to do with Bunker busters in the first place.

Incredible stuff........ it does bore the pants off me though mate!!

LOL

 

Sorry but sometimes the instructor in me comes out, and I do believe in over kill when your trying to inform someone of the facts, LOL, but when people don't have the facts right, it leads to myths about what these weapons can and can't do, which then leads to laying the blame to the wrong party for what is happening.

 

Sam, you realize of course that there is no weapon on earth that can magically tell civilians from not-civilians. It depends on the operator and, sadly, mistakes occur. All the time.

 

"One material that is both extremely strong and extremely dense is depleted uranium. DU is the material of choice for penetrating weapons because of these properties. Therefore it was recently chosen to make up the outer shell of the bombs."

The outer shell is made from Steel Artillery tubes.

 

The widely-used Lockheed Martin GBU-28 5,000 lb. 'bunker-buster' bomb with a BLU-109 penetrator head carried only by the Air Force's F-15E's and B-2s, contains 1.5 metric tons of depleted uranium, compared to only five kilograms in the 120 mm shell.

http://www.sciforums.com/showPOST.php?p=1107451#post1107451

 

What... to get the kids in the basement?

Why are they using these weapons; I mean, what is the goal/target?

Seems odd.

:m:

 

To show their concern for civilian lives

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/133581_du04.html

 

This is the discription of the BLU-109


BLU-109
The BLU series bomb bodies use PBNX-109 as explosive filler. The BLU-109A/B used with the GBU-24 and GBU-31(V)4/B is a special purpose bomb comprised of steel alloy used for hardened targets. The BLU-109/B (I-2000) is an improved 2,000-pound-class bomb designed as a penetrator without a forward fuze well. Its configuration is relatively slim, and its skin is much harder than that of the standard MK-84 bomb. The skin is a single-piece, forged warhead casing of one-inch, high-grade steel. Its usual tail fuze is a mechanical-electrical FMU- 143. The 1,925-pound bomb has a 550-pound tritonal high-explosive blast warhead. The BLU-109/B was always mated with a laser guidance kit to form a laser-guided bomb in Desert Storm.





Specifications
Class 2,000 lb. Penetrator, Blast/Fragmentation
Guidance Ballistic
Control Low Drag Fins/Air Foil Groups
Autopilot: None
Propulsion: None
Weight (lbs.) 1950
Length (in.) 98.54
Diameter (in.) 14.5
Explosive 535 lbs. Tritonal
Fuze FMU-143 Series
Stabilizer Fins and Airfoil Groups (Laser Guided Bombs)
Contractor Lockheed Missiles & Space
Unit Cost $2,126 (Warhead Only)
Aircraft F-117 F-15E F-16A-D F-111D-F

 

Yawn Yawn!!

This is incredible!!!!

Only the Buffalo can come out with this!!!!

Only Joking Buffalo!!

 

And unfortunately for the Lebanese civilains the Once Mighty israeli army are learning quckly from their mates the US on how to make these mistakes!!!

 

Thermobaric Weapons:

High-impulse thermobaric weapons (HITs), fuel-air explosives (FAE or FAX) or sometimes "heat and pressure" weapons, or vacuum bombs.
Works by first expelling a cloud of explosive mist using a small charge, then igniting it with a second charge. These consist of a container of a volatile liquid (or a finely powdered explosive or a metal powder) and, typically, two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge (or some other dispersal mechanism) bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen. Once the fuel is appropriately mixed, the second charge detonates, propagating an explosion (blast wave) through the cloud.

Israeli Company Producing New Mine Breaching System Based on Fuel-Air Explosive (FAE)
http://www.defense-update.com/news/6702carpet.htm

 

Seek and ye shall find, weapons are a speciality of mine. Glad I could suprise you!
PBWY Zakariya

 

And any other army in the world Zakariya, civilian casualties are a fact of war, I don't care what army is involved.
Buffalo

 

Every link posted that 'proves' that DU is being used either:
A) Uses the USA Today graphic as a reference (even though the graphic does not mention DU)
B) Claims that the casing is made of DU (which its not- its made out of steel)
C) Uses other links as sources which all trace back to #A

I'll have to do some research but I dont think Lockhead makes DU munitions. I'll have to see who makes the 20mm, 25mm, 30mm, and 120mm. Well I know for sure that Lockheed doesnt make 120mm tank rounds LOL.

 

The new EGBU-28 (the “E” being for enhanced) replaces the GBU-37. This latest version of the “bunker buster” uses the Global Positioning System for guidance so that it can be dropped with accuracy at higher altitudes in foul weather. The amount of rock and concrete that the EGBU-28 can penetrate is classified, but Major Dick Wright, who was the weapon’s test manager in 1991, said that the older version “went through 20 feet of concrete like butter” and when dropped onto hard ground, penetrated down to 100 feet.

On September 22, 1999 Raytheon Systems Company, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $13,695,026 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract, F42630-98-C-0149-P00003, to provide for the following in support of the GBU28 Enhanced Paveway III Laser Guided Bomb: 173 Guidance Control Units, 173 Bomb Stabilization Unit Air Foil Groups, 173 Conduit Assemblies, and associated data.

and...

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded on February 10, 2005 a $10,490,029 firm fixed price contract to provide for Guided Bomb Unit-28C/B (BLU-122) guidance control units and tail kits, quantity of 71. The Guided Bomb Unit-28C/B, also known as BLU-122 or Enhanced Paveway III, provides the Air Force with an improved aerial delivery capability for the 5000 Pound BLU-113 P3I warhead. The Guided Bomb Unit-28C/B possesses a Global Positioning System aided laser guidance capability with improved lethality, survivability, and penetration over the Previously produced Guided Bomb Unit-28B/B weapons system. Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by May 2006. Solicitation began July 2004 and negotiations were completed January 2005. The Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8681-05-C-0075).

 

Ah, Raytheon makes the guidance components. Lockhead must do the final assembly.
I know that General Dynamics works with DU but not sure about Lockhead.