Project HARP (High Altitude Research Project)

“More details HARP 16-inch (410 mm) gun at its test site in Barbados (Coordinates: 13°4′38.3″N 59°28′32.48″W)” (Wikipedia, Project HARP)

Project HARP was planned to create a cannon. That should launch miniature satellites into orbit. The idea was Canadian weapon expert Gerald Bull, and sometimes people say that the HARP was some kind of obsession. To Bull, who finally sold the idea of the super cannon to Saddam Hussein. The thing is that Saddam Hussein really planned to make that cannon, using the name “Babylon cannon” for that terrifying weapon. The HARP itself was not a military project. But it could be easily modified to shoot 16-inch grenades or atomic grenades.

The vital parts of that cannon were seized by British customs, and a group of bullets ended Gerald Bull’s life and career in Brussels in 1990. The HARP project or its remnants are visible in Barbados. The HARP size was 410 mm, or 16 inches.

The reason for. Why that project was cancelled was probably that this cannon was too destructive. The HARP cannon could use rocket-assisted projectiles, and that made it more like a super bazooka than some cannon.

“M65 Atomic canon. Picture taken by myself, Mark Pellegrini, at the United States Army Ordnance Museum (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD) on June 12, 2007.” (Wikipedia, M65 atomic cannon)

The rocket ammunition could give a very good rate of fire for that cannon. Also, the magnetic accelerators could increase the cannon’s muzzle velocity. In some other models. The system could have a turbine or a propeller around that barrel. The idea was that the propeller creates a tornado or air channel around the barrel. And that thing allows the projectile fly longer.

This thing could offer a good. And a cheap way to launch miniature satellites to low orbit. This kind of system. It can also be used to send killer satellites to low orbit.

“W9 280mm Artillery Fired Atomic Projectile”(Wikipedia, W9 (nuclear warhead))

But then why is that system so deadly?

The answer is that the 280 mm version of the HARP cannon can launch the atomic ammunition. The 280 mm cannon called “Atomic Annie” launched a 15 kt nuclear grenade in the operation Upshot Knothole’s test Grable. This thing means that if the HARP could fire 2–3 atomic grenades in a minute, that cannon could destroy an entire army alone.

Also, those nuclear grenades would use a very high-power EMP pulse if they detonate at the ionosphere. The fact is that those nuclear grenades are very hard targets for defense. The HARP was larger than the Atomic Annie. And it could easily shoot those nuclear grenades. If the magnetic acceleration system could accelerate those smaller grenades, they could fly a very long distance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M65_atomic_cannon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_HARP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upshot%E2%80%93Knothole_Grable

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W9_(nuclear_warhead)

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