Quote:
DU warheads do not support higher velocities. At least yet. That´s why the L55 was abandoned by the US army as a upgrade. Tungsten penetrators can use the potential of higher velocities, but current DU is stuck in 1500-1700 m/s. That´s why the latest US DU penetrator is heavier and goes slower.
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Not 100% sure about your reasoning here. As a matter of course Uranium is heavier than Tungsten, so DU rounds are heavier than Tungsten rounds for the same length/caliber values. So for the same initial energy (same propellant, same gun, same sabot, same temperature/pressure/whatever) a DU round will simply have lower velocity due to higher mass (kinetic energy being related to mass and square velocity and all that).
Now I don't see why DU rods wouldn't support higher velocities per se. Modern US APFSDS rounds appear to be particularly thin and long compared to equivalents (21mm for the M829E3 vs 27mm for the DM53), and this may give them a disadvantage in withholding the pressures in longer guns (though is is apparently an advantage once on target).
The French OFL-120F2, which is believed to be largely similar to the German DM-43, is DU-based and still slated with an initial velocity of 1740m/s in the Leclerc's L52 gun.
As I said, this may be due to the European rounds being substantially thicker than their US counterparts, but probably not to some intrinsic DU property.
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