Gerald Bull and Project BabylonIn the late 1980’s Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein commissioned the bui

Gerald Bull and Project BabylonIn the late 1980’s Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein commissioned the building of a large supergun called “Project Babylon”.  As chief engineer Saddam chose high altitude ballistics expert Gerald Bull, a veteran of the HARP Project and founder of a company that manufactured conventional artillery.  Two superguns were constructed from components manufactured from around the world.  The first gun that was produced was 45 meters long and had a bore of 13.8 inches.  The second gun was much larger, at 156 meters long and having a bore of a meter.  The largest of the two was expected to fire a projectile around 650 miles. It was unknown exactly what the purpose of the guns were, but overall it was probably not intended to be used as a military weapon.  It had a limited ability to fire a conventional payload, it was too large to be moved, and was fixed in place so that it could not be aimed or trained on a specific target.  Most likely the purpose of the gun was to fire satellites into orbit, which was the lifelong dream of Gerald Bull all along (project HARP was an attempt to do so).  Unfortunately for Mr. Bull, there were many others who saw Project Babylon as a threat.  In 1990 Gerald Bull was assassinated outside of his apartment in Brussels.  Israeli and Iranian agents were suspected.  Project Babylon was halted soon after Bull’s death.  Both of the guns were dismantled, with the larger one being shipped overseas.  Almost all of the parts were discovered an seized by customs.  After the Gulf War the components of the smaller gun were destroyed by UN weapons inspectors.  Components of the seized by British Customs Agents are currently on display at the Royal Armouries in Fort Nelson, Portsmouth, and at the Royal Artillery Museum in London.  -- source link

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