Space Research Corporation
Encyclopedia
Space Research Corporation (SRC) was a corporation
founded by Gerald Bull
, after the budget for his research at Project HARP
for the United States
and Canadian
federal governments was cut in 1967, in order to commercialize the technology of long-range artillery
. Project HARP's assets were then given to the newly formed SRC. The main facility of SRC was 6000 acres (2,428.1 ha), straddling the Canada – United States border between Highwater
, Quebec, and North Troy
, Vermont. Affiliated companies included SRCQ (SRC Quebec), SRCI, Paragon, PRB
(Belgian corporation), and SRCB (SRC Belgium).
, Chile
, Nationalist Taiwan
, and especially South Africa
, and SRC contracted with the South African company Armscor
. SRC's main product was a modification of the U.S.-standard 155 mm (6") artillery cannon, adapted like his HARP system into a slightly larger smoothbore
. The result was the GC-45 howitzer
("GC" stood for "Gun, Canada"), firing either NATO-standard 155 mm rounds, or, more typically, a new shell of his own design.
The new "pointy" shell, designated ERFB (for extended range full bore) offered considerably better aerodynamics
than the original; it was spun by fins on the shell rather than rifling in the barrel and was supported in the gun barrel by four aerodynamic nubs allowing the middle of the shell to be elongated and thus reducing drag. The shell was spun in the same way as conventional artillery rounds with a driving band towards the base. The result was a gun that could outrange the original by as much as 50%, while at the same time being much more accurate. Standard NATO & US artillery of the time had a range of less than 25 km while the GC-45, ERFB combination had a range of 39 km. With the innovative base-bleed system this range could be increased to 49 km without loss of accuracy.
(CIA) who considered South Africa as a defense against Soviet
operations in Angola
. Used in South Africa as the G5 howitzer
, the new guns were used near the Angolan border in 1986 when South Africa invaded
the former Portuguese colony
of Angola, in order to assist UNITA
. Because the Marxist
government of Angola was aided by Communist
Cuba
n troops and Soviet artillery, it was also suggested that the CIA had encouraged the South Africans to invade
the country in 1975 at the beginning of the Angolan Civil War
. The G5 howitzers were instrumental in securing success in Angola, although wider strategic considerations led to South Africa's eventual withdrawal.
mandatory arms embargo
prohibited the export of arms to South Africa, Bull's SRC supplied the apartheid regime with gun barrels and 30,000 shells, worth more than $30 million. The CIA were said to have encouraged the deal and the shipment on the MV Tugelaland was with the co-operation of Israeli Military Industries. U.S. Customs initially considered prosecuting as many as 15 people involved but decided to indict just Bull and his partner, Rogers Gregory. Bull pleaded guilty, expecting a fine, but was angered when during 1980 he was imprisoned for four months. The effect of his guilty plea meant that the court did not hear any evidence of the suspected U.S. government
collusion concerning these arms exports to South Africa. As a result of the arms embargo violation, however, SRC was liquidated.
The company was subsequently re-incorporated in Brussels where Bull managed it for several years. He was murdered during 1990, it is commonly conjectured by MOSSAD
.
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
founded by Gerald Bull
Gerald Bull
Gerald Vincent Bull was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to launch economically a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon "supergun" for the Iraqi government...
, after the budget for his research at Project HARP
Project HARP
Project HARP, short for High Altitude Research Project, was a joint project of the United States Department of Defense and Canada's Department of National Defence created with the goal of studying ballistics of re-entry vehicles at low cost; whereas most such projects used expensive rockets, HARP...
for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
federal governments was cut in 1967, in order to commercialize the technology of long-range artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
. Project HARP's assets were then given to the newly formed SRC. The main facility of SRC was 6000 acres (2,428.1 ha), straddling the Canada – United States border between Highwater
Highwater, Quebec
Highwater is a village in the Potton township of the Eastern Townships of Quebec Canada in Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality of the Estrie region , across the Canada – United States border...
, Quebec, and North Troy
North Troy, Vermont
North Troy is a village in Troy, Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 593 at the 2000 census.-History:There were Winter Carnivals from 1940 to 1942. In 1942, 4,000 people attended...
, Vermont. Affiliated companies included SRCQ (SRC Quebec), SRCI, Paragon, PRB
Poudreries Réunies de Belgique
Poudreries Réunies de Belgique SA was one of Belgium's oldest and largest manufacturers of munitions and at a time the second largest Belgium armaments manufacturer. The Company indirectly started in 1778 in Wetteren as a powder factory...
(Belgian corporation), and SRCB (SRC Belgium).
Artillery exports
During the next decade, SRC worked for a number of governments including the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Nationalist Taiwan
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
, and especially South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and SRC contracted with the South African company Armscor
Armscor (South Africa)
Armscor , the Armaments Corporation of South Africa is a South African government-supported weapon-producing conglomerate that was officially established in 1968, primarily as a response to the international sanctions by the United Nations against South Africa that began in 1963 and...
. SRC's main product was a modification of the U.S.-standard 155 mm (6") artillery cannon, adapted like his HARP system into a slightly larger smoothbore
Smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...
. The result was the GC-45 howitzer
GC-45 howitzer
The GC-45 is a 155 mm howitzer designed by Gerald Bull's Space Research Corporation in the 1970s. Versions were produced by a number of companies during the 1980s, notably in Austria and South Africa...
("GC" stood for "Gun, Canada"), firing either NATO-standard 155 mm rounds, or, more typically, a new shell of his own design.
The new "pointy" shell, designated ERFB (for extended range full bore) offered considerably better aerodynamics
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...
than the original; it was spun by fins on the shell rather than rifling in the barrel and was supported in the gun barrel by four aerodynamic nubs allowing the middle of the shell to be elongated and thus reducing drag. The shell was spun in the same way as conventional artillery rounds with a driving band towards the base. The result was a gun that could outrange the original by as much as 50%, while at the same time being much more accurate. Standard NATO & US artillery of the time had a range of less than 25 km while the GC-45, ERFB combination had a range of 39 km. With the innovative base-bleed system this range could be increased to 49 km without loss of accuracy.
South African connection
The GC-45 work was paid for by the South Africans, but it has been claimed that Bull did the work largely at the urging of the United States Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) who considered South Africa as a defense against Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
operations in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. Used in South Africa as the G5 howitzer
G5 howitzer
The G5 is a South African towed howitzer of 155 mm calibre designed with the help of the Canadian scientist Gerald Bull and his company, Space Research Corporation and manufactured by Denel Land Systems.-Production history:...
, the new guns were used near the Angolan border in 1986 when South Africa invaded
Operation Alpha Centauri
Operation Alpha Centauri was a military operation by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War....
the former Portuguese colony
Evolution of the Portuguese Empire
This article is a comprehensive list of all the actual possessions of the Portuguese Empire.'-In Africa:Portuguese presence in Africa started in 1415 with the conquest of Ceuta and is generally viewed as ending in 1975, with the independence of its later colonies, although the present autonomous...
of Angola, in order to assist UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
. Because the Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
government of Angola was aided by Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n troops and Soviet artillery, it was also suggested that the CIA had encouraged the South Africans to invade
Operation Savannah (Angola)
Operation Savannah was the name given to the South African Defence Force's 1975–1976 covert intervention in the Angolan Civil War.-Background:...
the country in 1975 at the beginning of the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
. The G5 howitzers were instrumental in securing success in Angola, although wider strategic considerations led to South Africa's eventual withdrawal.
Arms embargo
Although the 1977 United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
mandatory arms embargo
Arms embargo
An arms embargo is an embargo that applies to weaponry. It may also include "dual use" items. An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes:# to signal disapproval of behavior by a certain actor,# to maintain neutral standing in an ongoing conflict, or...
prohibited the export of arms to South Africa, Bull's SRC supplied the apartheid regime with gun barrels and 30,000 shells, worth more than $30 million. The CIA were said to have encouraged the deal and the shipment on the MV Tugelaland was with the co-operation of Israeli Military Industries. U.S. Customs initially considered prosecuting as many as 15 people involved but decided to indict just Bull and his partner, Rogers Gregory. Bull pleaded guilty, expecting a fine, but was angered when during 1980 he was imprisoned for four months. The effect of his guilty plea meant that the court did not hear any evidence of the suspected U.S. government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
collusion concerning these arms exports to South Africa. As a result of the arms embargo violation, however, SRC was liquidated.
The company was subsequently re-incorporated in Brussels where Bull managed it for several years. He was murdered during 1990, it is commonly conjectured by MOSSAD
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
.