| Mk-15 Barrack Buster | |
|---|---|
 IRA's Barrack Buster mortar | |
| Type | Mortar |
| Place of origin | Northern Ireland |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Provisional IRA |
| Wars | The Troubles |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1992 |
| Manufacturer | Homemade |
| Specifications | |
| Shell | HE 196–220 pounds (80–100 kg) |
| Caliber | 320mm (12.75in) |
| Maximum firing range | 275 yards (250 m) |
Detonation mechanism | Impact |
Barrack buster is the colloquial name given to several improvised mortars, developed in the 1990s by the engineering unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The improvised mortar properly called "barrack buster" - known to the British security forces as the Mark 15 mortar - fired a 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long metal propane cylinder with a diameter of 36 centimetres (14 in), which contained around 75 kg (165 lb) of home-made explosives and had a range of 75 to 275 metres (246 to 902 ft). The cylinder is an adaptation of a commercial gas cylinder produced by the Cobh company Kosangas for heating and cooking, and used in rural areas across Ireland.[1]
The Mark 15 was first used in an attack on 7 December 1992 against an RUC/British Army base in Ballygawley, County Tyrone,[1][2] The projectile, fired from a tractor parked near the town's health center, was deflected by the branches of a tree besides the perimeter fence. A number of civilians had to be evacuated.[3][4] It took ten hours for the British Army technicians to defuse the device.[5] A later IRA statement acknowledged that the mortar bomb had "failed to detonate properly".[6] The following, more successful attack took place on 20 January 1993 in Clogher, also in County Tyrone,[2] where the local RUC compound was heavily damaged,[7] and several RUC constables wounded.[8]
- ^ a b Geraghty 1998, p. 193
- ^ a b Ryder 2005, p. 256
- ^ "New IRA mortar threat", Sunday Tribune, 7 March 1993.
- ^ The Irish Emigrant, 1 February 1993
- ^ "150lb bomb defused". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 8 December 1992. p. 1.
- ^ "Barrack Buster Bomb". ulib.iupuidigital.org. The Irish People. 13 February 1993. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ Fortnight Magazine, Issues 319-23, p. 33 (1993)
- ^ "RUC police officers injured in mortar attack". UPI. Retrieved 1 June 2020.