Gerald Bull

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Gerald Bull, 1964

Gerald Vincent Bull (born March 9, 1928 in Ontario , Canada , † March 22, 1990 in Brussels , Belgium ) was a Canadian engineer who became known for his research on artillery pieces .

Life

First research

Gerald Bull graduated in 1951 and graduated from the University of Toronto in the same year . He spent the 1950s in Canada doing research on the supersonic aerodynamics of missiles . At that time there was very little knowledge of the flight behavior of aircraft and rockets in the supersonic range . Supersonic wind tunnels were still under development and did not provide the required performance.

Supersonic flight

Bull approached this problem from a different angle. Instead of blowing wind at supersonic speed past a standing rocket model, he shot scale models at supersonic speed along a test track. The flight behavior was filmed with high-speed cameras and then evaluated. For this he used naval cannons with a caliber of 40.6 cm. The rockets and aircraft models were carried by wooden sabot , split lengthways several times , which sealed the space between the model and the inner wall of the cannon. They were dropped after leaving the tube and the model flew along the test track in supersonic flight.

Since the supersonic range starts at more than around 350 m / s (the normal muzzle velocity of naval cannons was around 820 m / s) and the models with sabot (55–85 kg) only a fraction of the weight of a grenade (1000–1200 kg) ), no further modifications to the gun barrel were necessary. No supersonic wind tunnel could work more cheaply.

However, this method had two disadvantages compared to sounding rockets : firstly, the measurement time was limited to a few seconds; secondly, and more seriously, there were severe limitations in the instrumentation of the test bodies due to the strong acceleration and the small volume. For this reason, the tests and with them the funding were discontinued in the mid-1950s. In addition, it was now possible to extensively test the flight behavior of jets and rockets in supersonic wind tunnels.

Aim high with HARP

Kill the HARP cannon

He then worked on a project to launch satellites into orbit with giant cannons . A test center was built on the Caribbean island of Barbados for this High Altitude Research Project . At the beginning of the experiments there was a shortage of money, because at the same time Wernher von Braun was researching ballistic missiles with a high budget .

Bull needed powerful cannons to get even close to orbit with his projectiles. So from 1960 he made experiments with decommissioned naval cannons 40.6 cm L / 50 Mk. 7 of the US Navy, which had a caliber of 40.6 cm (16 inches), a tube length of 20 meters and a weight of 125 tons. He extended the barrel to 36 meters, developed special bullets (Martlets) weighing only 84 kg, or up to 210 kg for the Martlet 2 (the original bullets weighed around 1200 kg), and improved the propellant powder.

This achieved a muzzle velocity of 3600 m / s, compared to about 825 m / s of the original projectiles. The cannon shot almost vertically upwards, with a slightly easterly direction out to sea. The height of the shot was finally 100 kilometers. This increase in gun performance compared to the original technology was achieved by Bull with only 10 million dollars - a very small budget compared to the rocket development.

However, the speeds achieved were too low to enable an orbit , because the first cosmic speed of 7900 m / s is necessary for this , which is why planned but never implemented later martlets ( base-bleed- like projectiles) with rocket stage would have been necessary.

Guns for South Africa, Yugoslavia and Iraq

The weapon system of the Yugoslavian Nora B-52 was developed from 1983 in cooperation between Bull's Canadian company SRC and Yugoslavian arms manufacturers. The SRC also licensed the production of ERFB bullets.

After the United States and Canada stopped funding the HARP project, Gerald Bull founded the Space Research Corporation in Québec in the early 1970s . With this company Gerald Bull wanted to develop a 155 mm artillery gun, which should have a hitherto unattainable firing range. In 1975 he began developing the GC-45 there . For this purpose, the developers examined the German 21 cm cannon 12 (E) from the Second World War . In particular, they analyzed the projectiles used and their trajectories. The result for the developers was that with a combination of a long gun barrel and aerodynamically optimally shaped projectiles, which are fired at a high muzzle velocity , very long firing distances could be achieved. When designing the first prototype, the developers used existing components from artillery guns. A gun with a gun barrel with 45 caliber lengths (L / 45) and a breech block with a volume of 23 liters was constructed from this. The first prototype was created in 1978 . In the same year Gerald Bull founded the Space Research Corporation International in Belgium. There, together with Poudreries réunies de Belgique (PRB), a new ammunition family of extended- range extended-range full-bore projectiles (ERFB) was developed and produced for the new gun . The GC-45 gun achieved a firing range of around 30 km with ERFB-HB projectiles, which reached a muzzle velocity of 897  m / s . With the extended range ERFB-BB bullet (with base bleed ), the maximum shooting distance was around 39 km. Compared to the western 155 mm howitzers at the time, which reached firing distances of around 28 km, this was an increase of almost 40%.

Various countries were interested in this new gun; China, Israel, Singapore and also South Africa , which was subject to a UN arms embargo because of its apartheid policy . While circumventing the arms embargo, Gerald Bull developed the G5 howitzer based on the GC-45 for South Africa . In 1980, Bull - his company had a branch in the USA - was sentenced to 6 months in prison by a court in Vermont for smuggling arms to South Africa . The G5 howitzers were used in battles by the South African army in the war against Angola and the SWAPO in Angola in 1983 .

At around the same time, Gerald Bull transferred technology to various other companies and the GC-45 served there as a starting model for further gun designs. The Soltam-845P guns from Israel , WAC-21 (PLL01) from the People's Republic of China , FGH-155/45 from Spain , FH-88 from Singapore , T196 from Taiwan and the M46 / 84 from Yugoslavia are based on the GC's design -45. In Yugoslavia and later Serbia, the latter was further developed into the Nora B-52 B with a 52 caliber. Bull's company SRC had worked with the Yugoslav arms manufacturers since 1983. From this, the Soviet 130mm M46 was converted to the 155mm M45 (later M52), two projectiles, ERFB-BT, ERFB-BB and a gas generator were received with licensed documentation from SRC. Bull's company also licensed the new black powder to the Yugoslavs. Compared to its predecessor, the new howitzer developed by Anastas Paligorić achieved 45% longer ranges.

After Gerald Bull was charged with violating the UN arms embargo against South Africa, he had to close his company SRC . After SRC went out , production of the GC-45 guns was relocated to VÖEST (later Noricum ) in Austria . There, the guns underwent further adjustments and were built for export under the designation GHN-45 . These guns were delivered to the warring factions Iran and Iraq during the First Gulf War , along with G5 guns from South Africa . Due to the existing arms embargo, this led to the Noricum scandal in Austria .

Project Babylon

Secured component of the Babylon project

In early 1988, Bull contacted the Iraqi Minister for Industry and Military Industrialization , General Hussein Kamel . He offered Iraq a super cannon, which Saddam Hussein was not averse to. She should be able to reach Israel too. Several “super cannons” were planned under the Babylon project and one gun was actually made ready for use. In early 1990, the British Secret Intelligence Service thwarted further deliveries for the "Supergun" with a caliber of 1000 mm, which, at least according to press reports , could carry loads of up to 600 kg into orbit or a warhead over distances of up to 1000 km. Iraqi General Hussein Kamel said the weapon was intended to be used to paralyze enemy satellites:

“It was meant for long-range attack and also to blind spy satellites. Our scientists were seriously working on that. It was designed to explode a shell in space that would have sprayed a sticky material on the satellite and blinded it. "

“It was designed for long-range attacks and to dazzle spy satellites. Our scientists actually worked on it. It was designed so that a grenade should explode in space and spray an adhesive material on the satellite to blind it. "

assassination

On March 22, 1990, Bull was shot five times in the head and back on the doorstep of his apartment in Brussels . The perpetrator is unknown, some reports speculate that the Israeli secret service Mossad is behind it .

Eight weeks after Bull's murder, British Customs prevented the export of the last required pipe elements from England to Iraq. After the Second Gulf War in 1991, the still incomplete guns were dismantled by the Allies.

Media utilization

The proceedings of Project Babylon were filmed in the 1994 film Doomsday Gun , with Frank Langella in the leading role as Gerald Bull, and Kevin Spacey , Alan Arkin , and Clive Owen in supporting roles. They also form the background of the novel The Fist of God by Frederick Forsyth . Furthermore, David Michaels processed details of the project into a fictional story in his novel Babylon Phoenix , which is based on the Splinter Cell game series .

literature

  • Christopher Chant: A Compendium of Armaments and Military Hardware. Routledge Revivals, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2014, ISBN 0-415-71072-3
  • Gerald V. Bull, Charles H. Murphy: Paris cannons. The Paris Guns and Project HARP. ES Mittler, Herford 1988
  • James Adams: Bull's Eye. The Assassination and Life of Supergun Inventor Gerald Bull. Times Books, New York 1992
  • TJ O'Malley: Modern Artillery Systems. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1996, ISBN 3-613-01758-X .
  • Terry J. Gander & Charles Q. Cutshaw: Jane's Ammunition Handbook, 2001-2002, 10th edition , Jane's Information Group, 2001, ISBN 0-7106-2308-9
  • William Lowther: Arms and the Man. Dr. Gerald Bull, Iraq, and the supergun. Presidio, Novato 1991

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b GC-45 and FGH-155 155 mm Howitzers. In: forecastinternational.com. Forecast International Inc., accessed February 7, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b Terry J. Gander & Charles Q. Cutshaw: Jane's Ammunition Handbook, 2001-2002. Pp. 297-305
  3. ↑ Christopher Chant: A Compendium of Armaments and Military Hardware. 2014, pp. 82–83.
  4. ^ A b T. J. O'Malley: Modern Artillery Systems. 1996, pp. 10-11.
  5. ↑ a b c The Man Behind Iraq's Supergun. In: nytimes.com. The New York Times, accessed February 7, 2017 .
  6. ^ A general survey of recent artillery developments. In: thefreelibrary.com. Armada International, accessed February 7, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Anastas Paligoric, 2011 ANALIZA KONCEPCIJE REŠENJA ARTILJERIJSKIH ORUĐA FAMILIJE "NORA" (PDF)
  8. ↑ Melody in lead . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1994 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Saddam Files (II): The Most Dangerous Man in the World . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 2003 ( online ).
  10. ↑ James Glanz: Shades of Supergun Evoke Hussein's Thirst for Arms ( English ) nytimes.com . September 10, 2006. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  11. ↑ Iraq: Gigantic Gun . In: Der Spiegel . No. 17 , 1990 ( online ).
  12. ^ Jürgen Krönig: Iraq: Gigantic Gun . In: Die Zeit , No. 19/1990
  13. ↑ Belgium in twilight . In: taz , May 9, 1990
  14. ↑ Reiner Luyken : Targeted murders . In: Die Zeit , No. 38/2006
personal data
SURNAME Bull, Gerald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bull, Gerald Vincent (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian artillery scientist
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Ontario , Canada
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1990
Place of death Brussels , Belgium