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{{about|the space launch gun research project|other projects|Harp (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Project Harp.jpg|right|thumb|HARP {{convert|16|in|mm|adj=on}} gun]]
{{Coord|13.077305695462803|N|59.47568766833662|W|display=Project HARP Location}}
'''Project HARP''',
A {{convert|16|in|cm|adj=on}} HARP gun operated by the U.S. Army's [[Ballistic Research Laboratory]] (now called the [[United States Army Research Laboratory|U.S. Army Research Laboratory]]) at [[Yuma Proving Ground]] currently holds the world record for the highest altitude
==History==
=== Preparations ===
Project HARP originated as the brainchild of [[Gerald Bull]], a renowned but controversial ballistic engineer specializing in high-velocity guns and gun propulsion systems.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In the mid-1950s, Bull was working on [[Anti-ballistic missile|
During the late 1950s, Bull conducted preliminary launch experiments at the CARDE (now known as [[DRDC Valcartier|Defence Research and Development Canada – Valcartier]], or [[DRDC Valcartier]]) using guns as small as 76mm. These experiments soon caught the attention of the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army's Chief of Army Research and Development, [[Arthur Trudeau|Lieutenant general Arthur Trudeau]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://www.friends-partners.org/mwade/lvs/5inrpgun.htm|title=5 inch HARP Gun|last=Graf|first=Richard|date=October 31, 2001|website=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=February 11, 2020|archive-date=May 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530235720/http://www.friends-partners.org/mwade/lvs/5inrpgun.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the time, aircraft engineers needed more information on the atmosphere's upper regions to design better jet planes. However, launching rockets into the air to collect data was generally considered costly and inefficient.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> The U.S. military, in particular, was especially in need of a low-cost launch system that could cover altitudes that conventional aircraft and [[weather balloon]]s couldn't reach to support the development of new supersonic aircraft and missile systems. By late 1960, CARDE and the Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) conducted several feasibility studies surrounding small gun-launched probes' structural integrity.<ref name=":4" /> Around the same time, BRL developed a smooth-bore, 5-inch gun system at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] that successfully launched a probe to altitudes exceeding 220,000 feet.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4T48x5ELy5UC&q=ballistic+research+laboratory+project+HARP&pg=RA4-PA5|title=Project HARP Leads to U.S.-Canada Study of Low-Orbit Program|date=May 1964|work=Army Research and Development|access-date=February 11, 2020|issue=5|volume=5|page=5}}</ref>
In 1961, Bull resigned from CARDE and [[McGill University]] hired him as a professor. Working together with Donald Mordell, the university's Dean of Engineering, Bull moved forward with his space gun project and requested funding from various sources. He received a $200,000 loan from McGill University's board of governors. He was given a verbal promise for a $500,000 grant from the Canadian Department of Defence Production (CDDP), which was later reportedly denied due to bureaucratic opposition.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last=Lukasiewicz|first=Julius|date=April 1986|title=Canada's Encounter with High-Speed Aeronautics|journal=Technology and Culture|volume=27|issue=2|pages=223–261|doi=10.2307/3105144|jstor=3105144|s2cid=111725650 }}</ref> In October 1961, Bull met with Charles Murphy, the head of the Ballistic Research Laboratory, to pitch his project for a supergun and was met with overwhelming support. The U.S. Army provided Bull with substantial financial backing and two 16-inch naval [[gun barrel]]s complete with a land mount and surplus powder charges, a heavy-duty crane, and a $750,000 radar tracking system.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" /> Bull and Mordell officially announced the HARP project as a program under McGill University's Space Research Institute at a press conference in March 1962.<ref name=":3" /> HARP was presented as a research initiative dedicated to "developing low-orbital capacity for [[Geodesy|geodetic]] and atmospheric objectives".<ref name=":7" /> However, the project's long-term goal was to place satellites into orbit<ref>{{Cite news|last=Trevithick|first=Joseph|url=https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19847/the-army-now-wants-hypersonic-cannons-loitering-missiles-and-a-massive-supergun|title=The Army Now Wants Hypersonic Cannons, Loitering Missiles, And A Massive Supergun|date=April 3, 2018|work=The Drive|access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Oberholtzer|first=William|url=https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2012/2/29/2012march-an-inexpensive-solution-for-quickly-launching-military-satellites-into-space|title=An Inexpensive Solution for Quickly Launching Military Satellites Into Space|date=March 1, 2012|work=National Defense|access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref> economically.
=== Construction ===
In 1962, Bull and Mordell established a McGill University research station on [[Barbados]] (then still a British colony and part of the [[West Indies Federation]]) as HARP's main base of operations for its 16-inch super gun.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url=https://weathermodificationhistory.com/project-high-altitude-research-program-harp-cannons-launch-chemical-payloads-space/|title=Project High Altitude Research Program (HARP) Cannons Launch Chemical Payloads Into Space|date=June 1965|website=Weather Modification History|access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref> The site location was first suggested by Mordell, who believed that a launch site closer to the [[equator]] would allow the projectile to procure extra velocity from the
The installation of the 16-inch gun began at the newly established High Altitude Research Facility in April 1962. A gun pit was dug into the island's coral base, and a concrete emplacement was built on a plateau so that the gun barrel could stand vertically. The 16-inch naval gun barrels provided by the U.S. Army served as the barrels of the HARP gun. They had to be transported to the site on the U.S. Army landing ship, the [[John U. D. Page#Ships|Lieutenant Colonel John D. Page]], with the [[Transportation Corps|U.S. Army Transportation Corps]] assistance, the [[U.S. Army Research Office]], and the Office of the Chief of Research and Development.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Murphy|first1=Charles|last2=Bull|first2=Gerald|date=1968|title=Gun-launched probes over Barbados|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|volume=49|issue=6|pages=640–644|doi=10.1175/1520-0477-49.6.640|bibcode=1968BAMS...49..640M|doi-access=free}}</ref> Hundreds of people from Barbados were employed to transport the two 140-ton gun tubes from the coast to the designated emplacement 2{{frac|1|2}} miles from the beach using a temporary purpose-built railway.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":10" /> By late 1962, the HARP 16-inch gun was set up, and construction on workshops, storage buildings, radar installations, and other facilities neared completion.<ref name=":3" /> Around this time, the U.S. Army Research Office increased its financial support of the project to $250,000 per year.<ref name=":11" /> The first test shot from the 16-inch gun on Barbados was fired on January 20, 1963, marking the first time that a gun of this caliber was fired at a near-vertical angle. The 315 kg test slug reached an altitude of 3000 meters
=== Operations ===
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The first attempts to improve the performance of the 16-inch gun at Barbados were made in 1964, primarily by increasing the barrel's length.<ref name=":3" /> In 1962, the Ballistic Research Laboratory increased the barrel length of a 5-inch gun system by welding a second section of barrel to the first barrel's muzzle, lengthening the barrel to 8.9 meters. The resulting gun system demonstrated a higher muzzle velocity at the muzzle exit. The longer barrel allowed the propellant gases to push on the projectile for a longer period of time.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":14">{{cite report|url=https://www.governmentattic.org/3docs/3DugwayReports_1953-1966.pdf|title=Review of the High Altitude Research Program (HARP)|last1=Murphy|first1=Charles|last2=Bull|first2=Gerald|date=July 1966|publisher=Ballistic Research Laboratory|id=AD645284|via=Government Attic}}</ref> In September 1964, a ten-calibers extension was added to the 16-inch gun based on BRL's experiment with the 5-inch gun. However, while increased velocity and altitude was recorded for test flights, the extension failed in December after the eleventh shot was fired. In 1965, a successful extension of the 16-inch gun was established after enlarging the gun pit to accommodate the equipment's large size. The extension almost doubled the length of the gun to 120 feet and weighed nearly 200 tons, making the 16-inch Barbados gun the largest operational artillery piece in the world at the time.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/07/03/project_harp_a_giant_space_gun_in_barbados_is_now_abandoned.html|title=Abandoned Space Gun Rusting Away in the Barbados Jungle|date=July 3, 2013|work=Slate|access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref>
By the end of 1965, Project HARP had fired more than one hundred missiles at heights over 80 km high into the [[ionosphere]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":12" /> At this point, the project starting planning the launch of the Martlet 4, a projectile that used rocket jets that would ignite mid-flight to send the missile into orbit.<ref name=":5" /> For this endeavor, BRL designed the telemetry system that utilized [[
By 1966, the HARP program had established several different launch sites around the United States and Canada, including a second 16-inch HARP gun at the Highwater Range in Quebec and a third 16-inch HARP gun at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":14" />
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=== Closure ===
[[File:Abandoned-HARP-Gun.jpg|thumb|Abandoned HARP gun in Barbados]]Throughout 1966, the HARP program experienced a series of funding delays caused by immense opposition from critics in the Canadian government and growing bureaucratic pressures.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":11" /> Upon the end of the Canadian government's participation in June 1967, the Canadian government had contributed $4.3 million and the US Army $3.7 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://artsites.uottawa.ca/sca/doc/Special-Study-No.-1-Upper-Atmosphere-and-Space-Programs-in-Canada.pdf|title=Upper Atmosphere and Space Programs in Canada - Special Study No 1 - February 1967|last=Forsyth|first=Chapman|date=February 11, 2020|website=uOttawa - Canadian Science Councils Archive|access-date=February 11, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613094730/http://artsites.uottawa.ca/sca/doc/Special-Study-No.-1-Upper-Atmosphere-and-Space-Programs-in-Canada.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+HARP Funding receipts by McGill University<ref name=":11" />
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|June 1, 1964
|May 30, 1965
|{{right|$1,129,932}}
|-
|June 1, 1965
|May 30, 1966
|{{right|$2,138,432}}
|-
|June 1, 1966
|May 30, 1967
|{{right|$2,911,861}}
|-
|June 1, 1967
|May 30, 1968
|{{right|$155,700}}
|}
On the American side, growing political and financial pressure caused by the [[Vietnam War
== Testing ==
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=== 5-inch gun systems ===
The 5-inch HARP guns were based on a modified [[120 mm gun M1|120 mm T123 service gun]] and used by the [[Ballistic Research Laboratory]] before the HARP program in order to fulfill the needs of the U.S. military's Meteorological Rocket Network, a program dedicated to collecting atmospheric wind and temperature data. They were designed to carry a 0.9 kg payload to an altitude of 65 km, which consisted of radar reflective chaff to collect wind data and small [[radiosonde]]s that returned radio telemetry of information like temperature and humidity as they drifted back down under large parachutes.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Kampe|first=H.J.|date=October 1960|title=Meteorological Rocket Network: For Measuring Atmospheric Parameters up to 250.000|journal=Weatherwise|volume=13|issue=5|pages=192–195|doi=10.1080/00431672.1960.9940979|bibcode=1960Weawi..13e.192K }}</ref> This initial design for the 5-inch HARP gun reached an altitude of 130,000 ft when tested in 1961.<ref name=":14" /> The 5-inch L70 smoothbore guns was the first vertical firing gun system developed under Project HARP.<ref name=":11" /> In 1962, a 10-ft extension was implemented for the 5-inch HARP gun by welding a second barrel section to the first, allowing it to launch projectiles at muzzle velocities of 1554 m/s (5,100 ft/sec) to altitudes of 73,100 m (240,000 ft).<ref name=":14" /> Throughout HARP, further modifications were made to the 5-inch gun, such as adding three sets of stiffening wires to maintain barrel alignment. Due to their small size, they were easily transported from their initial site at Aberdeen Proving Ground to different launch sites across North America and the Caribbean.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":15" /> One of the 5-inch HARP guns was acquired by the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory (which consolidated into the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in 1992) to measure the stratosphere's winds.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Bruce|url=http://www.wsmr-history.org/HandsAcrossHistory-02-15.pdf|title=Gun Probe Was Used To Study Winds|date=February 2015|work=Hands Across History|access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref> The 5-inch gun was deemed successful as a low-cost launch system, costing only around $300 to $500 per launch.<ref name=":4" /> By May 1966, a total of the HARP program's 5-inch guns launched 162 flights at Wallops Island, 47 flights at White Sands Missile Range, 30 flights at Barbados, and 24 flights at Fort Greeley.<ref name=":14" />
=== 7-inch gun systems ===
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==== Yuma Proving Ground ====
The 16-inch HARP gun at Yuma Proving Ground was constructed in 1966 in order to establish a functional 16-inch gun on American soil and holds the record for achieving the highest projectile launched.<ref name=":3" /> It was almost identical to the 16-inch gun on Barbados, being 119 ft long, but was limited by a 35-mile range restriction. However, unlike the Barbados gun, its projectiles could be recovered since they were not lost in the ocean upon their journey back down. The Yuma 16-inch gun was primarily used for flight tests, such as those testing altitude control and telemetry components.<ref name=":5" /> In 1966, the 16-inch Yuma gun underwent three firing series using wooden slugs, Martlet 2C's, and a Low Altitude High-Velocity cone.<ref name=":0">{{cite report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/654123.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216040500/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/654123.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 16, 2018 |title=HARP 5-Inch and 16-Inch Guns at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona |last1=Murphy |first1=Charles |last2=Bull |first2=Gerald |date=February 1967 |publisher=Ballistic Research Laboratory |id=AD654123 |via=Defense Technical Information Center}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"
|+Performance Test of Yuma 16-inch HARP gun in 1966<ref name=":0" />
!Date
!Round<br /> number<ref>All projectiles used for this test were Martlet 2C's, except for the ones indicated with (W), i.e. wooded slugs, and (L), i.e. Low Altitude High Velocity cone.</ref>
!Mass<br /> (lb)
!Muzzle<br /> velocity<br /> (ft/s)
!Apogee<br /> (kilofeet)
!Apogee<br /> (kilometers)
|-
|June 7
| |||