Introduced in the early 1970s, the 155mm Extended Range Full Bore (ERFB) shell was a radical departure from earlier designs, using a variety of novel aerodynamic features to achieve nearly twice the range of conventional 155mm shells. It was the brainchild of Dr. Gerald Vincent Bull, a largely forgotten genius best known for designing an enormous satellite launching gun called Project Babylon for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and for his assassination in 1990.
0:00 Intro
1:33 Gerald Bull: the Early Years
4:03 Project HARP
5:35 Space Research Corporation
6:16 GC-45 Howitzer
6:45 ERFB Shell: Introduction
8:30 ERFB Shell: Design Principles
10:12 ERFB Shell: Performance
12:10 The South Africa Deal and Aftermath
14:09 Iraq and Project Babylon
15:06 Assassination
16:24 Outro
Documentary on Gerald Bull: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvL9qcJKqOw&t=1s
My play ‘Countdown to Babylon’: https://vimeo.com/852105900?share=copy
SOURCES
Grant, Dale, Wilderness of Mirrors: the Life of Gerald Bull, Prentice-Hall Canada, Inc., Scarborough, ON, 1991
Adams, James, Bull’s Eye: the Assassination and Life of Supergun Inventor Gerald Bull, Times Books, 1992
Lowther, William, Arms and the Man: Dr. Gerald Bull, Iraq, and the Supergun, Seal Books, 1991
https://soapbox.manywords.press/2018/07/05/extended-range-full-bore-rounds/