The "Babylon gun" was not a doomsday weapon. I have seen photos of it. All it really was a long tube that could fire 120mm size rounds a few hundred miles. It also could not be moved, alot like the Paris gun.

That space gun was actually a few battleship guns put toghther.

jetsetter



Yes i posted a pic of the Babylon Gun in my original Post.


Your correct it was not a Doomsday gun as such.

But, it was seen as a threat to Iraq's neighbours had it ever been completed.

QUOTE:

The Babylon Gun - a massive 1000 mm bore, 156 meter long, satellite launching gun - was seen as a threat by Iraq's neighbours (despite the fact that its sheer size would have made it ineffective as a weapon and easily disabled). Gerry Bull was targeted for assassination after he refused to be swayed by threats. On the evening March 22, 1990, at the age of 62, as Bull approached his apartment door in Brussels, he was shot six times in the back of the head. The assassin was reported to be Israeli military, although the case was never solved. Gerry Bull’s last Supergun was cut up and scrapped by the UN at the conclusion of the Iraq/Kuwait war. It was never assembled or fired.


The Paris Gun Story i also find Interesting. !

Pretty sad. It could of been a great weapon and space vehicle launcher.

Yeh i agree jettsetter.


The gov pulled the rug out from under gerald bull.


His ideas were way ahead of there times, I beleive he is the man responsibly for the twisted bore desighn that makes a projectile spin in the barrel of a gun.

Yeah, that "Iraqi super gun" pic that you posted was only a scaled-down test model, actual "Super gun(s)" were never build as the parts were "captured" by Britts i belive.

[Edited on 7-9-2003 by FULCRUM]

Are you sure that those first two pics are of american guns. They look like early german big guns.

OK, I wonder if they are right? What do you think?

I must admit they do look like german guns.



But i am not an expert on the subject.

I think german guns because of the support stucture that is supporting the barrel looks like a german supporting structure.

On the surface of it, the Babylon gun would have been of dubious military value, for the reasons already pointed out in this thread.

Although 120mm (although I have heard that it could have gone as large at 400mm) would allow a rather large payload, it would still be restricted to a few hundred miles, and most importantly, being non-mobile, would have been a very easy target for airstrikes, after counter-battery radar tracked the shell trajectory back to point of origin. In all reality, if it was built and fired in aggression, likely only 1 round would get in the air, and the enemy, if properly equipped, would detect it, and likely have a retaliatory strike airborne before the shell hit its target.

However, when you dig a bit deeper, you have some interesting things to look at:

First of all, even the smalled bore diameter mentioned, 120mm, would allow the deployment of a small tactical nuclear warhead, of between 10 and 50 kiloton yield. Also the use of a RAP (Rocket Assisted Projectile) shell would effectively extend the range to over 1000 miles. This would extend the range to cover Israel (well, who was it that killed the designer? Guess THEY considered it a threat...), as well as the entire mid-eastern region.

The biggest threat from the Babylon gun, however, was that once the shell was on its way, it could not be stopped. Essentially, if put into operation, it would only be useful for one round, but if fired, that one round was a guaranteed penetration, possibly with a nuclear warhead (now see why Israel was worried?)

And before anyone brings it up, yes, the British Sea Cat AA missle DID intercept a 5" naval artillery shell in flight.... however, it DID NOT stop the shell... Also, the recent tests with the HEL laser taking down a 155mm shell in mid flight was impressive, but who has an HEL laser operationally deployed in the area?

I could see it, if built, being a decisive nuclear deterrent, or a first strike weapon.

You're all a bit over the top about the "doomsday gun". There are a few things that you've missed...

Firstly, it's not named the "Babylon gun". It's the Supergun. The project that built it was named the Babylon Project, headed, as you've said, by Gerald Bull.

Unfortunately, the Supergun was in no way a military threat: it was designed to loft satellites into space. Bull had managed to convince Iraq that it would never become a real power without spacefaring capabilities.

It is true that if a rocket were put into the gun (something entirely impractical) it could reach Israel. However, a point not covered is that the gun was not POINTED toward Israel. And since the gun was entirely immobile, it had no capacity to point toward Israel. Not only that, but actual rounds fired by the gun at that steep angle would not return to Earth - they would go into space, as Bull intended.

It is speculated that Israel killed him (if they killed him at all) for his cooperation with Iraqi missile programs. Hussein agreed to fund the Supergun on the condition that he help whip their missile arsenal into shape, something that Israel DID worry about. He helped streamline the nosecone design, which was apparently going too far in Israel's eyes.

I realize that this is a cold post, but I think that future passers-by like me ought to know about the Supergun.