Author Topic: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon  (Read 6934 times)

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« on: January 28, 2012, 07:46:49 AM »
A few months ago (actually way back in September, 2010) I posted a request for information on another forum asking about the weapon called Carolina Moon.  My own research had been off and on over the years with little to show for it in hard information other than written descriptions of the weapon being used against a rather troublesome bridge in North Vietnam and the unsuccessful results of these attacks that had been made by a standard cargo carrying C-130 Hercules. 

What I do know about the hardware (weapon) is summed up in this excerpt from the book titled "Gradual Failure: The Air War Over North Vietnam: 1965–1966" written by Jacob Van Staaveren and published by USAF History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C.:
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Operation Carolina Moon

The most creative bridge assault during the three-month period was against the Thanh Hoa rail and road bridge in route package 3 (RP3).  Bombed repeatedly in 1965, the structure withstood Air Force and Navy bombs while ground fire inflicted considerable losses.  To destroy its two heavy spans, the Air Force devised a special attack program nicknamed Carolina Moon.  This called for dropping five huge 5,000-pound bombs from a Hercules C–130 cargo plane into the Song Ma River upstream from the bridge.  The bombs would float towards the bridge and explode when they struck the superstructure.  General Moore believed an upstream bomb drop was the only feasible method of attack, given the heavy air defenses in the vicinity of the bridge.  Preparations for Carolina Moon began in late 1965 at the Air Force's Tactical Air Warfare Center at Eglin AFB, Florida.  At the Center's Armament Development Laboratory, personnel constructed a number of high-explosive bombs, 96.0"wide and 31.5 high, with affixed sensors.  The bomb weighed about 3,750 pounds, but the attachments increased the weight to about 5,000 pounds.  During the extensive test and training period that followed, aircrews made about 80 test drops of the huge bombs from C–123 and C–130 aircraft, while two aircrews underwent special training in two C–130 Hercules planes that would conduct the mission in the war theater.
 

Suggestions were made by forum members to request the information through the Freedom of Information act.  I was a bit reluctant to do so thanks to my first ever and absolutely last attempt to request information about the 280mm shell used with the Atomic Cannon that resulted in a visit from an FBI agent out of the local FBI office and his sidekick from the Naval Investigative Service at Naval Submarine Base, Bangor, WA.  To put it mildly, I was not pleased with the attention that my request had generated from the local constabulary and I was told to not attempt any further requests for information on that particular subject.  This kind of negativity will certainly make you think twice before trying to ask nicely for anything from the government.  Anyway, to make this a happy ending, one of the other members on the forum stepped up and did the legwork and succeeded where I failed.  He has now posted the results of his efforts at Global Security with a diagram of the launch sequence for the Carolina Moon device.  The diagram is informative and also adds another question as to the actual shape of the device.  The diagram depicts a device that is not the "hockey puck" shaped circular shape that I had envisioned based on the available descriptions, it shows instead what appears to be a multifaceted object that is hexagonal or octagonal in shape which further complicates my attempts to model this thing in SketchUp. 


"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2012, 10:37:45 PM »
Based on the diagram provided at the Global Security.com page on the subject of Operation Carolina Moon (TAWC OPLAN 155) Project 1559 I decided to model what I could based on the dimensions provided in the various sources on the subject.  Not knowing if this was a six-sided or eight-sided object I modeled both in SketchUp as shown in the two screen shots attached to this post.  Until a better source for the information is found there will continue to be some unknown features that could be added now but may not be factual.  So basic shapes as an octagon and hexagon with a green tactical paint scheme and a 3.0" (76 mm) yellow high-explosive identification stripe around the circumference of the device are as far as I am willing to go in speculation on the appearance. 





***edit to upload different images based on further analysis of the sketch provided via the FOIA it is apparent that the Carolina Moon weapon was an octagon shape. 
« Last Edit: February 08, 2012, 12:44:54 PM by Jeffry Fontaine »
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2012, 11:55:24 PM »
Interesting design Jeff, so basically it's a mine only designed for river purposes. 

I wonder why they even considered it, it seems a bit of a slap-dash sort of effort, once dropped in the river it could go just about anywhere except to the target.  It could miss the piers altogether, then what?  And a torpedo net would be a cheap and easy counter to it I think.


Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2012, 05:23:54 AM »
There were two fuzing systems on the weapon.  One was a proximity fuze that was adapted from the BOMARC surface to air missile and the other was an infrared fuze.  The weapon was not intended to crash into the bridge piers or abutments.  The designers planned for the weapon to float under the bridge span and then detonate based on the fuzing systems sensing the optimum moment to fire the weapon.  Certainly a lot of effort went into the planning and execution of the mission and it is a shame that it was not successful plus the cost of the aircrew killed and the aircraft destroyed.   
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline finsrin

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Re: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2012, 05:57:24 PM »
Gee Jeff,  you get to meet interesting folks.
In my decades of defence work I also got meet folks with unusual experience/information.  But nothing to write about here or elsewhere.

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2012, 03:00:49 AM »
When I first read about the Carolina Moon weapons and how they were used it got me interested and with no images of the actual weapons ever being released that would show you what it looked like it left me guessing and trying to figure out what shape this thing would take.  My original 3D model was a hockey puck shape with a rounded top and the sensor/fuzing window in the center.  After the FOIA request was answered it was obvious that my simplistic approach was down the wrong path and I started over again.  Not being sure if it was a hexagon or octagon shape had me creating two 3D models until I could study the sketch a bit more and I determined that this device was octagonal in shape with a truncated top and bottom.  Exact dimensions are still out on where the faceting begins and ends so I went with what looked close enough to make me happy.  Until an actual drawing or photograph of the device surfaces for public consumption we will never know for sure. 
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Story

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Re: Carolina Moon Focused Energy Weapon
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2020, 08:27:30 PM »
Quote
Earth’s battle against asteroids — just in case we get thrown into some sort of Deep Impact scenario — isn’t just going to be fought on this planet.

ESA wants to take it all the way to the Moon. When the Lunar Gateway is finally in orbit, besides serving as an outpost for astronauts headed to the cratered surface and (eventually) as a launchpad to Mars, it could also be on the front lines of asteroid defense. NASA is already getting ready to launch its DART mission next year to see how well it can take out a non-threatening asteroid, with ESA’s Hera spacecraft examining the aftermath. ESA is now collaborating with Politcecnico di Milano to see how we could best use the Gateway to defend Earth against potentially fatal asteroids.

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/esa-could-deflect-killer-asteroids-from-lunar-gateway