Space Research Corporation

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 which straddled the U.S.-Canadian border—a feature which, while helping avoid U.S. Customs, enabled smuggling and other illicit practices.

Artillery exports

Over the next decade, SRC worked for a number of governments including the People's Republic of China, Chile, Taiwan and especially apartheid South Africa, where a contract was signed with Armscor. SRC's main product was a modification of the U.S.-standard 155 mm (6") artillery piece, 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 not spun up by fins on the shell rather than rifling in the barrel, but 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 up to 50%, while at the same time being far more accurate. Standard NATO & US artillery of the time could fire to less than 25km while the GC-45, ERFB combination had a range of c. 39 km. With the revolutionary base-bleed system this range could be increased to c. 49 km with no loss of accuracy.

outh African connection

The GC-45 work was paid for by the South Africans, but it has been claimed that Bull undertook the work largely at the urging of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who saw South Africa as a bulwark against Soviet operations in Angola. Used in South Africa as the G5 howitzer, the new guns were put into use 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 in Angola was supported by Communist Cuban troops and Soviet artillery, it was suggested that the CIA had encouraged the South Africans to invade the country in 1975 at the start 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.

Arms embargo

Although the 1977 United Nations 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 up to 15 individuals involved but decided to indict just Bull and his partner, Rogers Gregory. In the event Bull pleaded guilty, expecting a fine, but was very upset when in 1980 he was imprisoned for four months. The effect of his guilty plea meant that the court heard no evidence of the suspected U.S. government collusion over these arms exports to South Africa. As a result of the arms embargo violation, however, SRC went into liquidation.

See also

*Jean E. de Valpine, Chairman of Space Research Corporation

References

* Adams, James. "Bull's Eye: The Assassination and Life of Supergun Inventor Gerald Bull". New York: Times Books, 1992. ISBN 0812920090.
* "Frontline": [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/911.html "Gerald Bull: The Man Who Made the Supergun"]
* Grant, Dale. "Wilderness of Mirrors: The Life of Gerald Bull". Scarborough, Ont.; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1991. ISBN 0139594388.
* Hobbs, Robert, Mark Lombardi, and Judith Richards. "Mark Lombardi: Global Networks". New York: Independent Curators, 2003. ISBN 0-916365-67-0. Published for the traveling exhibition of his work, "Mark Lombardi Global Networks".