'Saddam has a toy shop' of weapons
Long-range super-guns: Cannons are stored in Iraqi bunker, Israeli report says

Tom Blackwell
National Post.

The Canadian Press

Dr. Gerald Bull, of North Bay, Ont., next to a super-gun prototype in 1965. He conceived the howitzer to launch satellites, later went into weapons development and was murdered 12 years ago. The case is unsolved.

A new report suggests Iraq has managed to build and deploy three or four of its fabled super-cannons, the giant artillery guns dreamt up by a Canadian genius in weapons engineering.

The unconfirmed account resurrects a stranger-than-fiction tale of arms and politics that culminated in a mysterious murder 12 years ago.

Dr. Gerald Bull, the gun's inventor, was shot dead in an operation allegedly masterminded by Israeli intelligence. The crime was never solved and the Iraqi project was thought to have died with Dr. Bull, who was born in North Bay, Ont.

But DebkaFile, an Israeli on-line newsletter that covers Mideast security and intelligence stories, quotes sources as saying super-guns -- one of which is almost as long as three football fields -- were detected by U.S. and Israeli spy satellites recently.

One version of the gun has a barrel 260 metres long and a diameter of one metre and can fire objects across 3,200 kilometres, according to DebkaFile. If true, such a gun based in Baghdad could hit southern Italy.

There has been no independent confirmation of the report and Dr. Bull's son told the National Post he doubts it is true, but the Internet-based publication insists the story is accurate.

"Our sources are positive," Diane Shalem, Debka's head of research, said in an interview from Jerusalem. "Saddam Hussein has got a toy shop [of weapons] over there."

Mike Levi of the respected Federation of American Scientists, which monitors military developments worldwide, noted parts for one of the guns devised by Dr. Bull were destroyed by UN weapons inspectors in 1991.

"It's not inconceivable that they got their previous programs that were hurt back up to speed," Mr. Levi said.

"If the reports are correct, the important thing is that it shows that without intrusive inspection and verification, Iraq will be able to rebuild a lot of its programs that allied governments and military tried to stop."

More crucial than the gun itself is whether Iraq has biological or nuclear weapons it could launch with the cannon, said Mr. Levi. The gun, if it exists, would not be a major concern if it simply flung conventional shells long distances, he suggested.

DebkaFile said the guns are stored in pieces in an Iraqi underground bunker. A smaller version is 350 millimetres in diameter and 30 metres long, with a range of 400 km, the publication says.

The longer one is even bigger and more powerful than the gun developed by Dr. Bull, it reports.

Michael Bull, the inventor's son, said he doesn't believe Iraq, whose economy has been hobbled by international sanctions, could have built the cannon.

"It's extremely unlikely," he said.

"It's kind of sophisticated to be able to do that. You're talking about [needing] extremely precise equipment. I don't think a country that is in such a dire condition could do that."

He also stressed his father envisaged the gun as a tool for launching satellites into orbit and that it would have limited usefulness as a weapon.

The gun would have to be stationary, making it difficult to protect, he said. Its aim could be disrupted easily by explosions hundreds of metres away. It would require numerous test firings, something that would be easily detected by foreign powers. And loading the cannon would take a day or more, Mr. Bull said.

"If [super-guns] have such strategic value, why isn't anybody else doing it?"

Dr. Bull was an aerophysicist who began work in the 1960s on the U.S./Canadian High Altitude Research Program at McGill University, whose goal was to use artillery to fire shells containing scientific instruments into space. Despite some advances, the project, based in Highwater, Que., was cancelled in 1967.

Dr. Bull later set up his own company and started to design artillery, developing a reputation as perhaps the most accomplished scientists in the arms field. His GC-45, for Gun Canadian, 45 calibre, is still considered one of the best howitzers ever invented.

But when he began selling guns and ammunition to South Africa, he ran afoul of the U.S. arms embargo against the apartheid regime of the day and was sentenced by a U.S. court to a year in jail.

Jane's International Defence Review recently published an article about a new generation of howitzers being developed by South Africa that will again put it ahead of any technology available to NATO countries. The new guns were partly inspired by Dr. Bull's designs, Jane's said.

Dr. Bull began working for the Iraqis in the late 1980s on what was called Project Babylon, building the long-range space gun of which he had long dreamed.

British customs investigators discovered lengths of pipe built at a British steel mill and apparently destined for the super-gun project. Reports suggested the gun under development could fling a 600-kilogram shell up to 1,000 km, or put a rocket-assisted projectile into orbit.

Later, after the Persian Gulf War, UN teams destroyed a smaller super gun and parts for a larger one with a one-metre-diameter barrel.

But before the project could come to fruition, one or more assassins fired five bullets from a silenced pistol into Dr. Bull as he entered his apartment in Brussels. Theories abound about the identity of the killer, but most fingers point to Israel's feared Mossad spy agency.

The file is still open at the Brussels police department, Michael Bull said this week. However, when the family last had contact with detectives there, they hinted they had been under pressure to drop the case and that solving the crime was unlikely, he said.

It makes no difference to Dr. Bull's children, who have long since reconciled themselves with their father's controversial life, which spawned three books, said Michael Bull, a financial portfolio manager. Dr. Bull was not a perfect man and "went astray on a number of occasions," but left his family with many fine memories, his son said.

"Many times, I met people who said 'I know what you're going through,' " said Mr. Bull.

"I don't think so. Unless your dad has been assassinated, you don't know. You don't know the pain that it creates. You have these images that stay in your mind. It's painful still. But we've come to terms."

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

1. Israel
2. Israel
3. Israel

Dr. Bull was an amazing theorist and engineer. All he ever wanted to do was build his super gun. When his funding was cut off by the Americans he went searching elsewhere. During his life, he developed the most accurate field artillery ever designed. Much of his work is still cutting edge even by today's standards. For many years, the SADF had the longest range and most accurate artillery in application thanks to Dr. Bull.

Unfortunately, he was pushed to Iraq due to political pressure. He did not fully comprehend that he was being used as a pawn between the super powers. The Israelis had no choice but to end the game. His super gun would have surely worked as designed. The Paris gun was a pea shooter when compared to his work. The Americans should have hung on to him. He would be alive and well today designing military hardware for us.

Considering the complexities of manufacturing the barrel segments for his gun, it is doubtful that Iraq is going to be successful in picking up where Dr. Bull left off. The forgings are huge and the machining can only be accomplished by a handful of metallurgists in the world - none of which are in Iraq. None of the actual design work was conducted in Iraq so I cannot imagine that they have any of his original engineering data. This is not something that you can reverse engineer either.

In any event, a stationary gun is of little practical value beyond the first shot or two. In a nuclear exchange it would certainly pack a punch, however, in conventual warfare, it is not a good idea to stand in the same spot for long. The shoot and scoot method is the only way to protect assets in a punching match.

Even if they had all the pieces in storage necessary to build the gun, it would take months to assemble. If there was an attempt to construct the gun underground, the amount of activity around the proposed site would be impossible to hide from the eyes in the sky. Iraq is probably the most photographed site in the World. You cannot move a grain of sand without someone in Virginia knowing.

BTW - when did Israel launch a spy satellite?

[This message has been edited by Zero Drift (edited 01-18-2002).]

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NRA Life member

[This message has been edited by Bear Claw (edited 01-20-2002).]

Yes, they would be targeted during any pre-emptive strike or nuclear exchange, but they don't cost as much as a full-blown ballistic missile program, either.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Sarge

gs

Only for T-Rex of bigger animals.

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BER007
Keep the faith in any circumstances
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BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM

I assume it uses Matchkings for accuracy, and BC;-)

Wonder what the BC is?

I didn't know they made matchkings in HE rounds;-)

gs

quote:

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Originally posted by Socrates:
BER007:

I assume it uses Matchkings for accuracy, and BC;-)

Wonder what the BC is?

I didn't know they made matchkings in HE rounds;-)

gs

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May be in years.... who knows....

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BER007
Keep the faith in any circumstances
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BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM

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Andy Cooper