Al-Fao
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Al-Fao was a project for a self-propelled artillery system designed for the former Iraqi Army by the Canadian weapons engineer Gerald Bull. It would have been one of the world's most powerful artillery pieces, with a 53-caliber, 210 mm (8.3 in) gun firing 109-kilogram shells over a range of 57 km (35 mi).[1] The Al-Fao system weighs 48 tons and can drive on roads with a top speed of about 72 km/h (45 mph). Its gun is claimed to be able to fire four 109 kg (240 lb) rounds a minute.[2] The projectiles could be filled with chemical weapons such as sarin, mustard gas or phosgene, or with conventional high explosives.[citation needed]
The weapon is named after the Al-Faw peninsula in southern Iraq, which was the scene of heavy fighting during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s. (The difference in spelling is due to differing transliterations of the Arabic name.)
The Al-Fao was designed and built in Europe. It was similar in design to the South African G6 howitzer, with which Bull was also involved as a designer, and appears to have been directly inspired by that system.[citation needed] Only one Al-Fao was built, and the original manuscripts of the shooting data disappeared after the first Persian Gulf War, so as the Al-Fao itself.
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Altobchi, Cooper & Fontanellaz 2022, pp. 46, II
- ^ Hughes, Stephen E. (2002). The Iraqi Threat and Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford. p. 371. ISBN 1-55369-163-6. OCLC 48892500.
Bibliography
- Altobchi, Ali; Cooper, Tom; Fontanellaz, Adrien (2022). Al-Hussein: Iraqi indigenous conventional arms projects, 1980-2003. Warwick, UK: Helion & Company Publishing. ISBN 978-1-914377-18-1.