why no nuclear stuff?

[zapkitty]

I didn't know DU actually explodes. I have always thought it was just for the added weight.

To be precise DU is pyrophoric under certain conditions... heated particles that are above about 500 degrees c ignite on contact with air and burn at 3000c.

Needless to say, the fragments of a DU projectile that just punched its way through a foot of armor are somewhat above 500c...

It's not the primary effect of such weapons but it is a rather noticeable side effect.

[Hertzila]

To be precise DU is pyrophoric under certain conditions... heated particles that are above about 500 degrees c ignite on contact with air and burn at 3000c.

Needless to say, the fragments of a DU projectile that just punched its way through a foot of armor are somewhat above 500c...

It's not the primary effect of such weapons but it is a rather noticeable side effect.

All right, thanks for the clarification .

[Jeep-Eep]

But what makes depleted uranium so useful for ammo and to a lesser degree, armour, is that the stuff takes a LOT of energy to change it's states. I had forgotten that it caught fire.

The trouble with depleted uranium is that the stuff is quite toxic. Not the sort of thing you'd want to throw about in inhabited areas. Not unlesss one was quite desperate. One of those Godzilla threshold things. A list of known effects is in the following link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium#Effects

[Colamann]

UGVs? Technically their machine gun is computer controlled.

Air Burst mode.

Hell, forgot about the Air Burst Grenades because i never use the nade launcher...

As in computer-controlled, I was more thinking of a gun that's at least partly computer-controlled on the inside, rather than purely mechanical. Regardless of whether it's being handled by a human or a machine.

To be precise DU is pyrophoric under certain conditions... heated particles that are above about 500 degrees c ignite on contact with air and burn at 3000c.

Needless to say, the fragments of a DU projectile that just punched its way through a foot of armor are somewhat above 500c...

It's not the primary effect of such weapons but it is a rather noticeable side effect.

Well, most metals tend to burn when you increase their surface far enough. Aluminum would burn quite awesomely, but it's not very hard so it's out of the question

Is the weight a big factor? I'd expect the momentum of a projectile fired from the same gun, with the same amount of porpellant, to always be in the same order of magnitude. That means heavier projectiles should come out of the gun slower.

[zapkitty]

Well, most metals tend to burn when you increase their surface far enough. Aluminum would burn quite awesomely, but it's not very hard so it's out of the question

... and that's why nanoscale particles of Al and other metals are used to boost the output of thermobaric warheads.

Is the weight a big factor? I'd expect the momentum of a projectile fired from the same gun, with the same amount of porpellant, to always be in the same order of magnitude. That means heavier projectiles should come out of the gun slower.

... and that's why the discarding sabot principle is used for DU. The DU projectile is much smaller than the bore of the gun barrel. If an Abrams 120mm cannon tried to fire a 120mm diameter DU projectile the gun would burst from trying to expel something that massive.

[TrashMan]

Hmm...

well, should the hand-held mini-gun ever be put into the campaign, I would hope explosive, incendiary and U238 rounds would be available. 

There's already one (or was it two?) in, but it's not enabled in single-player