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Whatever Happened to Saddam's Super Cannon?
Originally invented by Canadian astrophysicist Gerald Bull, this, or possibly these weapons (see link) could have radically altered the balance of power in the Middle East. The assumption, of course, would be that they have been dismantled and destroyed at some point after the fall of Iraq. But what if they still exist?The US army has had a long love affair with artillery, "The Queen of Battle", which in a conventional war is truly the master of the battlefield. I can imagine how much they would desire a weapon that they otherwise do not have, and immediately set to vastly improving its design for any number of purposes. But the gun is just a launch vehicle, and ordinary artillery tube writ large. The technology of the projectile is where such a weapon becomes very interesting. In this case, if such a weapon could "launch" a projectile into almost low orbit, then at its apex a rocket would accelerate it to amazing speed, it could possibly mimic a "space-based weapon" without a space launch platform. A 500 pound rocket propelling a 500 pound penetrating projectile towards a GPS-designated target could reproduce the effect of a meteorite. And as Saddam himself noted, "a missile can be launched only once but a cannon can be used repeatedly." So the question remains: were these weapons destroyed, and if so, why? Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=123858 |