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HARP Info. Fig 55
 
Launch Cannon
Hybrid Jet Engine
Rockets
Pulse-Jets
Space Plane
Instrumentation
Training

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Artist's rendition of a possible 32" inch bore gun installation. It should also be pointed out here, common misconceptions to the contrary aside, that the military usefulness of large gun installations (even as far back as 1945) is pretty much nill. Why are large gun installations militarily useless? Because large gun installations are not very mobile (especially at the scale pictured on the left), they are also easily detected and therefore are sitting ducks for bombing raids, and long-range missiles -- technologies commonly available to just about every major & minor world power. So the "terror gun" hype of this technology in the 1960's & 1980's was just that -- HYPE.

Also, think of this -- if "super" gun systems, like the one pictured here, are such potent military forces, for the delivery of munitions onto the enemy, why doesn't the U.S. military build its own for such purposes -- Hmmmm? ... They don't, and for good reason. As stated above, (due to their vulnerability) in today's military environment, such guns are not very effective military weapons.

However, a 32-inch bore system like the one pictured could easily place things into orbits of several hundred miles, and at reduced g-forces -- plenty of uses that are not military!


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