A-10 pilots keeping it safe in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Senior Airman Justin Stoddard, a jet engine mechanic assigned to the 81st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, troubleshoots an A-10 at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. The squadron, deployed from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, is nearing the end of its four-month deployment providing close-air support to coalition soldiers.


A-10 pilots keeping it safe in Afghanistan
By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, May 16, 2008

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — A 200-pound bomb dropped from a U.S. warplane can end a firefight in a heartbeat. That same bomb, however, slightly off target, can be tragic for troops on the ground.

The margin of error, the difference between helping allies and making a horrific mistake, is microscopically thin for pilots thousands of feet in the air. Bad judgment, poor communication or both can alter fate in seconds.

Pilots with the Spangdahlem, Germany-based 81st Fighter Squadron know the risks all too well.

When the squadron last deployed to Afghanistan in 2006, a pilot mistook a trash fire and strafed a group of coalition troops battling Taliban forces. The strike killed a Canadian soldier and injured dozens, putting greater scrutiny on how American pilots try to avoid fratricide.

In February, when the 81st returned to Afghanistan, they arrived better prepared to avoid a similar tragedy, said the unit’s commander Lt. Col. Timothy Hogan. But as the unit’s four-month deployment ends this month, the friendly-fire incident has loomed as a stark reminder of how easily things can go wrong.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54832



uhc comment: In case you're not familiar with the A-10, its primary weapon is the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun.



The GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun next to a VW Type 1. Removing an installed GAU-8 from an A-10 requires first installing a jack under the aircraft's tail as the cannon composes the majority of the aircraft's forward weight.


According to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10

Weapon systems

Although the A-10 can carry considerable disposable stores, its primary built-in weapon is the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun. One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, it fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. In the original design, the pilot could switch between two rates of fire: 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute.<17> This was changed to a fixed rate of 3,900 rounds per minute.<18> The cannon takes about half a second to come up to speed, so 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 70 or 65 rounds per second thereafter. The gun is accurate; it can place 80% of its shots within a 40-foot (12.4 meter) circle from 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) while in flight.<19> A two-second burst, therefore, will result in about 100 hits on a tank-sized target. The GAU-8 is optimized for slant range of 4,000 feet (1,220 m) with the A-10 in a 30 degree dive.<20>

[chknltl]

1. Those damned depleted uranium rounds!!!!

That IS my issue with that jet. Where would it be without them? Are there alternative rounds which can beat up a tank like those rounds??? I don't know but I don't think so.

I DO know that DU munitions are a WMD and indiscriminately cause serious carnage to non-combatants...the DU oxide contamination produced by those rounds, both from the firing and from the impact is and will remain a hazard to life for millions of years.

So what's the trade off, a tank and crew stopped and for the effort a million and a half years of contamination of the likes that can easily kill and/or maim any who have the misfortune to encounter that contamination! I for one ain't feeling the fairness in that trade-off.

[unhappycamper]

2. IIRC, the GAU-8/A was originally designed for tungsten rounds.

At the time we got most of our tungsten from South Africa which was under apartheid. Some genius said 'Ah. Here's a good use for all that spent uranium laying around the country. Let's deplete it and use it.' Of course, standards for toxic uranium were quietly discarded.

[chknltl]

3. Didn't know that, thanks. Does Tungsten ammo work as well?

The Warthog, aka "Tank-buster" is the best anti-tank aircraft since the WWII Thunderbolt, both share being incredibly rugged with the Warthog taking ruggedness and pilot protection to an incredible level. When it comes to ground support the Warthog "gets er done" like nobody's business and brings her pilots home.

Those DU rounds are well known for their advantages in melting through tank armor like butter. Setting aside the horrifying secondary properties of DU munitions, these rounds are also 'gettin er done'. There is no denying the advantages BUT the disadvantages easily make the use of this product a WRONG decision. (Geneva Conventions Articles on WMD are quite clear, Depleted Uranium munitions ARE a WMD. The very reasons WMD are banned are clearly evident as non combatants are being affected and further noncombatants shall continue to be affected, quite literally for millenia!)

So not being into throwing the baby out with the bathwater, could the GAU-8/A go back to using those Tungsten rounds or do we have to scrap this weapon entirely? It truly would be a shame to do away with this weapon but if it's only effectiveness is due to DU rounds then it obviously must be removed from the battlefield.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I can't belive that DU or titanium are the only materials they can use.

[chknltl]

5. I want to agree with you but I lack knowledge to the contrary

This is from wiki re: DU with the reasons for it's choice over other materials, it's actual content and it's properties as a munition. Sorry for the lengthiness but I do not know your familiarity on this topic. In my case, much of this wiki material where I snipped this segment exceeds what I know and in other cases I am in strong disagreement. Answering your assertion that materials other than DU can be used exceeds my knowledge on the topic, (hence the reason I asked unhappycamper regarding those other materials). Again, I want to agree with you, but I am un-knowledgeable as to what other material will perform the same function that DU does as an armour penetrator.

Wiki re: DU munition penetrator, DU munition content, rational as to why other suitable materials are not selected:

"....Another use of depleted uranium is in kinetic energy penetrators anti-armor role. Kinetic energy penetrator rounds consist of a long, relatively thin penetrator surrounded by discarding sabot. Two materials lend themselves to penetrator construction: tungsten and depleted uranium, the latter in designated alloys known as staballoys. Staballoys are metal alloys of depleted uranium with a very small proportion of other metals, usually titanium or molybdenum. One formulation has a composition of 99.25 percent by weight of depleted uranium and 0.75 percent by weight of titanium. Another variant can have 3.5 percent by weight of titanium. Staballoys are about twice as dense as lead and are designed for use in kinetic energy penetrator armor-piercing ammunition. The US Army uses DU in an alloy with around 3.5 percent titanium.

Staballoys, along with lower raw material costs, have the advantage of being easy to melt and cast into shape; a difficult and expensive process for tungsten. Note also that according to recent research,<18> at least some of the most promising tungsten alloys which have been considered as replacement for depleted uranium in penetrator ammunitions, such as tungsten-cobalt or tungsten-nickel-cobalt alloys, possess extreme carcinogenic properties, which by far exceed those (confirmed or suspected) of depleted uranium itself: 100 percent of rats implanted with a pellet of such alloys developed lethal rhabdomyosarcoma within a few weeks. On more properly military grounds, depleted uranium is favored for the penetrator because it is self-sharpening and pyrophoric.<16> On impact with a hard target, such as an armoured vehicle, the nose of the rod fractures in such a way that it remains sharp. The impact and subsequent release of heat energy causes it to disintegrate to dust and burn when it reaches air because of its pyrophoric properties.<16> When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew, and possibly causing the vehicle to explode."

All this IMO does not ballance out what I believe to be true: DU munition is a WMD, it maims and kills indiscriminately. It leaves Depleted Uranium Oxide micro-dust in way beyond any notions of acceptable quantities on the battlefield. Worse than leaving acres of miniature deadly mines laying around after a battle, this material is mobile and can be moved via natural process such as rain or wind. Exposures can happen miles, according to some, thousands of miles from the ground zero point. With the potential of rendering much of the Middle East uninhabitable even now, you can see the concern many have.

I am of the belief that what we read in Wiki on this topic of DU Munition is contaminated via corporatist sources favoring it's manufacture, use and a strong desire to minimize the hazard it presents.

Again my apologies if you knew much of this already, I cover the bases with my response to you.

[unhappycamper]

7. I've been collecting articles on depleted uranium for years.

Here's a few:

http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Dennis-Kyne1jul04.htm
http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2005/11/radioactive-tank-no-9-comes-limping.html
http://www.grassrootspeace.org/depleted_uranium.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/pentagon_brass.html
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Trojan-Horse1jul04.htm
http://www.cadu.org.uk/info/health/index.htm
http://www.wise-uranium.org/indexd.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/extremedeformities.html
http://www.bushflash.com/pl_lo.html (graphic)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0305/S00050.htm
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2006/DU-Europe-Moret26feb06.htm
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x11786
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/10/17/depleted_uranium_a_8211_far_worse_than_9_11
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=121537
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2244866
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=31414


This google search yields 1,130,000 results --> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22depleted+uranium%22&btnG=Google+Search

[chknltl]

8. Thanks for links

I was collecting them myself....lost that collection when my old computer bit the dust. I will naturally be bookmarking this, thank you. We've chatted before you and I regarding this. My first ever post in the Democratic Underground was in regards to the depleted uranium munition issue, you were there to support my posts. Glad to see that we are still fighting the good fight together by passing along what we have learned. This hazard will hardly be going away soon, nor will public outrage regarding this hazard as long as folks like you and I keep the topic kicked.
:pals:

[Angleae]

6. Unfortunately that is all there is

barring some major advance in metallurgy only tungsten or DU has the density and strength to penetrate hardened armor. And to add to the problem, the Chinese control about 75% of tungsten resources.