whatever happend to the Super Gun?

debka ^ | 2002 | debka.com

[Jet Jaguar]

Saddam Dusts off His Old Super Gun

January 9, 2002, 3:39 PM (GMT+02:00)

Saddam’s super-cannon of pre-Gulf War fame is making a comeback. In its newly adapted form, the fabled monster gun is designed to fire nuclear, chemical and biological shells at US military targets in the Gulf, Middle East, Red Sea and Mediterranean, as well as targeting Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey and Israel. This was revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly in its last week’s issue.

[reagan_fanatic]

Jane: "I've heard police work is dangerous."
Drebin: "It is. That's why I carry a big gun."
Jane: "Aren't you afraid it might go off accidentally?"
Drebin: "I used to have that problem."
Jane: "What did you do about it?"
Drebin: "I just think about baseball."

[Ford Fairlane]

The largest has a 1,000 mm diameter barrel, 260 meters (248 yards) long and a maximum range of 2,000 miles.

I'd love to see the centrifugal casting facility that could make that

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[Husker24]

Honestly, I have to admit, I would love to have seen that thing at least just fire one shot, perhaps at Tehran or something. There is just something cool about a gun that friggin big.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

From what I read, the "super gun" didn't quite live up to expctations. Perhaps this is why Saddam needed to purchase 10,000 doses of Viagra.

[PRND21]

There were problems with the Super Trigger Lock.

[justlurking]

I'd love to see the centrifugal casting facility that could make that

Actually, Saddam's attempt was made out of sections bolted together at the site.

[elbucko]

In its original form, the gun was capable of firing a warhead at Tehran or Tel Aviv, having a range of 1,500 miles - or more, if boosted by a rocket. In 1985, in the closing days of the Iraq-Iran War, Saddam hired the super gun’s inventor, Canadian astrophysicist Gerald Bull, arguably the most prominent scientist of the day in the missile and artillery field, to construct a 424 mm cannon that could fire quarter-ton shells more than 1,700 miles. Bull was murdered in Brussels in 1990. Newspaper reports claimed Israel’s Mossad killed him to foil the super gun project. Another theory said he fell victim to Iraqi intelligence assassins because of Saddam’s suspicion that he was cooperating with Israel through South African contacts. The real story is still unknown. After Bull’s death, Iraq was left with the scientist’s plans but without the manpower or technical know-how to complete the project.(debka)

The PBS program, "Frontline", did a story on the "Supercannon". I doubt if they will air it now. The story might make Bush look good.

[Brett66]

Some of these super-guns were considered a launch alternative to rockets of payloads that could withstand high-g stress.

[BenLurkin]

[Nowhere Man]

The PBS program, "Frontline", did a story on the "Supercannon". I doubt if they will air it now. The story might make Bush look good.

I think Nova did a story on that too on PBS, I have it in my tape collection somewhere. B-) Interestings story on the gun and Gerald Bull.

[RLK]

The gun was a workable idea by an engineer named Bul. The Israelis assassinated him some years back and ended the program.

[RLK]

Honestly, I have to admit, I would love to have seen that thing at least just fire one shot, perhaps at Tehran or something. There is just something cool about a gun that friggin big.

--------------------------

The Germans shelled Paris from 75 miles away with a large piece of artillary. Go to the artillary museum at Edgewood arsenal and a variety of the piece is on display there. Had they made the barrel a little longer they could have shelled London with it, but nobody thought to do it or make enough of them. If they had, they could have blitzed London without losing an airplane.

[davisfh]

"...the gun was a workable idea by an engineer named Bul."

His name was Gerald Bull. Dr. Gerald Bull to be exact. It seems that Dr. Bull became "caught up" in a runaway high school science project that eventually resulted in his demise. I'm not suggesting that Dr. Bull wasn't a brilliant man. He certainly was. Unfortunately for Dr. Bull, the Mossad nailed him in a hotel in Brussels Belgium. At the time of his demise, as the story goes, he was attempting to provide a "super gun" for Saddam Hussein that could cast a projectile into the heart of Tel Aviv. That, of course, could not be tolerated and poor Gerald was eliminated.

[Jay D. Dyson]

The supergun was never built because the integral parts were seized by Great Britain before they made it to Iraq. (Of course, two Germans were implicated in trying to sell and ship the parts to Iraq.)

Not long thereafter, the designer of the supergun (Dr. Gerald Bull) was killed in 1990, which pretty much killed the entire supergun program as well.

-Jay

[autoresponder]

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[bandleader]

Where can I get a "Super Gun"?I promise all of my fellow FreePer re-loaders that I won't"OverLoad"it!!!!!!!

[SGCOS]

Boatload of Super Guns on Ebay

[RLK]

I thought it was spelled with one "l." But you are right. The Israelis perceived the risk and knocked him off before he could sell the plans for the gun to the Middle East. Originally he tried to sell the idea to the U. S. but was laughed at. He became so bitter that he went elsewhere. It would have worked, but the barrel was as long as a football field or longer.