Is DU used in Bunker Busting Bombs?
Some people in the anti-DU community believe that DU has been used in large amounts in so-called ‘bunker busting’ bombs. If it is the case, then far larger volumes of DU have been used than we believe. However, while patents for bunker busting bombs utilising ‘a dense metal’ do exist, there is no hard evidence to suggest that DU has been used in such weapons. While DU is very effective against steel armour, beyond being dense, its physical properties do not make it particularly effective against concrete and soil. The bunker busters designed before the 1991 Gulf War were improvised, built and deployed very rapidly. They are built from an artillery turret body up to 18ft long with a warhead composed of a high performance steel called Eglin Steel. Eglin Steel is a tungsten carbide, vanadium composite, which is far easier to machine and weld than DU and can withstand extremely high stresses. It is also far cheaper than other high performance steels. The charge is more than 600lbsof high e
