Question from Military Fiction Author on bridge destruction

[QuantumAuthor]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance to those who are kind enough to respond to my questions here. I'm asking this question here because the weaponry in question appears to mostly be used by ground forces.

I'm an author on my third book and the story I have forming has a heavy military influence. Unlike many authors I like to take great pains to ensure that the scenarios I detail are as accurate as possible.

The event that kicks off the story is the terrorist destruction of a bridge that sits at a critical point in a major US highway. This highway is a critical trucking route for a large portion of the US and so it's destruction is crippling to the economy.

In the original scenario I had envisioned the terrorists destroy the is a double decker cantilever truss bridge by targeting the two large concrete and steel support structures that are in the river below. The resulting explosions are powerful enough to cause the bridge to buck upwards 10-20 feet and for one half of the bridge to immediately collapse into the river. The other half has a portion perched atop its support that remains standing for approximately 11 minutes before it collapses as well.

I had originally envisioned the terrorists using two truck mounted TOW BGM-71H's to destroy the bridge supports. But the supports are pretty significant in size and mass. (see attached photo) I'm unsure if the BGM-71H would be sufficient to cause immediate structural failure. If it is not then I'd be interested in opinions on what weaponry would be appropriate?

I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone with expertise in this area.


Thanks!

 

[Abraham Gubler]

I had originally envisioned the terrorists using two truck mounted TOW BGM-71H's to destroy the bridge supports. But the supports are pretty significant in size and mass. (see attached photo) I'm unsure if the BGM-71H would be sufficient to cause immediate structural failure. If it is not then I'd be interested in opinions on what weaponry would be appropriate?

TOW missiles would not cause any damage to such bridge supports. To knock down bridges like this the typical military attack is a pair of 2,000 pound laser guided bombs with delay fuse into each support. If its terrorists, assuming they have the skills and the local security, they can just go in and do a proper bridge controlled explosion demolition job.

 

[FormerDirtDart]

A more logical method of attack would be a number trucks/vans loaded with ANFO, detonated on the lower deck of the bridge.

Destroying multiple bridge piers like the one pictured, via external demolitions placement, would likely require several thousand pounds of high grade explosives.

 

[Abraham Gubler]

If you want your terrorists to realistically destroy this bridge from afar, say as an unsuspecting VIP convoy drives over it, in a way that will surprise and intrigue your audience then have a look at USAF’s Operation CAROLINA MOON from the VietNam War. This was an attempt to destroy the heavily defended bridge at Thanh Hoa known as the “Dragon’s Jaw”. A USAF C-130 dropped a large shopped charge mine into the waters upriver of the bridge. The mines floated down the river and when under the bridge detonated thanks to a magnetic sensor. The blast was focused upwards into the bridge theoretically knocking it down. Two attacks were launched with only minor damage being inflicted and after the second attack the C-130 was shot down. However your terrorists can learn from the experience and build a giant floating daisy chain of EFPs and float them down river timed via the current to arrive under the bridge as the convoy goes overhead and then big bada boom.

 

[Cadredave]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance to those who are kind enough to respond to my questions here. I'm asking this question here because the weaponry in question appears to mostly be used by ground forces.

I'm an author on my third book and the story I have forming has a heavy military influence. Unlike many authors I like to take great pains to ensure that the scenarios I detail are as accurate as possible.

The event that kicks off the story is the terrorist destruction of a bridge that sits at a critical point in a major US highway. This highway is a critical trucking route for a large portion of the US and so it's destruction is crippling to the economy.

In the original scenario I had envisioned the terrorists destroy the is a double decker cantilever truss bridge by targeting the two large concrete and steel support structures that are in the river below. The resulting explosions are powerful enough to cause the bridge to buck upwards 10-20 feet and for one half of the bridge to immediately collapse into the river. The other half has a portion perched atop its support that remains standing for approximately 11 minutes before it collapses as well.

I had originally envisioned the terrorists using two truck mounted TOW BGM-71H's to destroy the bridge supports. But the supports are pretty significant in size and mass. (see attached photo) I'm unsure if the BGM-71H would be sufficient to cause immediate structural failure. If it is not then I'd be interested in opinions on what weaponry would be appropriate?

I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone with expertise in this area.


Thanks!

To destroy the piers completely would require the Insurgents to bore holes in the structure itself and then lay the charges at predetermined points tamp the charges in connect to det cord and fuses, camouflage up to look normal at the same time try and fool everyone that they are working on the bridge with the proper permits to do so then wire in to the electrical circuit and wait hoping no RF type emitter might come along and accidently set it off before time?

reality has a habit of catching out fiction

 

[John Newman]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance to those who are kind enough to respond to my questions here. I'm asking this question here because the weaponry in question appears to mostly be used by ground forces.

I'm an author on my third book and the story I have forming has a heavy military influence. Unlike many authors I like to take great pains to ensure that the scenarios I detail are as accurate as possible.

The event that kicks off the story is the terrorist destruction of a bridge that sits at a critical point in a major US highway. This highway is a critical trucking route for a large portion of the US and so it's destruction is crippling to the economy.

In the original scenario I had envisioned the terrorists destroy the is a double decker cantilever truss bridge by targeting the two large concrete and steel support structures that are in the river below. The resulting explosions are powerful enough to cause the bridge to buck upwards 10-20 feet and for one half of the bridge to immediately collapse into the river. The other half has a portion perched atop its support that remains standing for approximately 11 minutes before it collapses as well.

I had originally envisioned the terrorists using two truck mounted TOW BGM-71H's to destroy the bridge supports. But the supports are pretty significant in size and mass. (see attached photo) I'm unsure if the BGM-71H would be sufficient to cause immediate structural failure. If it is not then I'd be interested in opinions on what weaponry would be appropriate?

I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone with expertise in this area.


Thanks!

As a regular reader of the type of book you appear to be writing, there is nothing more annoying than when the writer paints a picture that isn't real to life, which obviously you are trying to avoid happening.

Rather than trying to destroy the two supports at either end, which appears to be a difficult task to achieve in either fiction or real life, why not try and paint a picture of trying to destroy/damage the bridge at a 'softer' point, like the bridge span itself?

Or you could have the terrorists 'hijack' a ship on the river upstream of the bridge and smash it into the supports causing a section of the bride to collapse into the river.

Have a look at the links below of a 'real life' accident that happened here in Australia back in 1975:

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasman_Bridge_disaster"]Tasman Bridge disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...bPK3xiAfsoYDACw&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=673

The first link tells the story of the accident, the second link shows a lot of photographs of the incident, especially interesting is the cars that managed to stop and were left 'hanging' over the edge.

A bulk ore carrier called the Lake Illawarra crashed into the supports of the Tasman Bridge causing a 127 metre section of the bridge to collapse, that section of roadway also fell onto the ship causing it to sink too.

Anyway, just a thought!

PS, the bridge has been repaired, every time I'm in Hobart Tasmania and I drive over the bridge I get this rather big chill up my spine thinking about what had happened, rather spooky!!

 

[My2Cents]

Suggest you look up FM 3-34.214 EXPLOSIVES AND DEMOLITIONS on line.

It should cover most of the details you need, like locations, calculating charge sizes, etc.

 

[the road runner]

Be better off destroying 2 ends of the steel truss,so a section of the bridge falls in the water and the columns are still intact.

 

[QuantumAuthor]

Everyone,

Thanks so much for your input. I'm sure one of these scenarios will work for what I'm after. Unfortunately I do need to stick to the premise of destroying the supports for a variety of plot reasons.

I'm going to take a few weeks to research the various options you've suggested and I may revisit this thread for some help refining my solution.


Based on the AMAZING support and response I can guarantee my return to this forum as the book progresses. You've all been great.

Thanks!

 

[FormerDirtDart]

The event that kicks off the story is the terrorist destruction of a bridge that sits at a critical point in a major US highway. This highway is a critical trucking route for a large portion of the US and so it's destruction is crippling to the economy.
!

A major hole in you plot: your theoretical target does not exist.
There has been numerous and repeated instances of major logistics corridors throughout the US being closed via catastrophic failure. All without crippling even the local economies, let alone the national economy.

If you consider that Hurricane Katrina wiped out nearly hundreds of miles of the I10 corridor, for months, and this was in some very restricted access areas. The national economy was not significantly phased.

To begin to achieve the goal of triggering near economic collapse you would likely need to drop a significant number of spans crossing the Mississippi.

 

[StobieWan]

On the plus side, you don't have to actually destroy the bridge to close the route - we had a fire under a bridge on the M1 in the UK - a scrap yard with a lot of tyres, LPG cannisters and what not went up in smoke. The results caused chaos by closing the main arterial route until it could be proven safe.

Scrapyard fire shuts M1 in London | UK news | The Guardian

If you could damage the pillars enough but not drop them, it might actually take *more* work to re-open the road.

I'd side with earlier comments that it'd be hard to find a choke point like that in a country like the States however. The UK grinds to a halt on a daily basis on the other hand

 

[Abraham Gubler]

A major hole in you plot: your theoretical target does not exist.

Also even if such a bridge did exist and you were to knock it down your local military engineering unit could put in place a ribbon bridge in a few hours and provide river crossing for all that critical economic infrastructure.

 

[QuantumAuthor]

Bridge plot issues

Abraham and Dirt Dart,

Thanks for the feedback. I do agree that under normal conditions the facts you bring up would preclude serious impediment to the economy.

However, I have selected the bridge in question (it does exist) after a great deal of consultation with former FTA experts. In fact, the US Government actually has a great deal of concern about this particular bridge and are weighing options for solving it.

Several unique conditions exist regarding this span that would preclude, or severely impact the time it would take to use traditional solutions like a ribbon bridge. The general agreement is that a complete reroute of traffic would be necessary while a more substantial, fabricated replacement be put into place. This reroute would obviously not stop the flow of land based shipping, but it would slow it significantly due to defects in the surrounding infrastructure. There are simply no ways to route tractor trailers around this without causing massive backup and adding many hours to any trip. There are two possible reroutes farther back along the expressway that avoid causing backups, but the distance they add incurs the same amount of delay and also adds the extra fuel cost.

I'm sure that in 99.9% of situations you are both quite correct. That is in fact why it took me so long to find an infrastructure point that could do this, and this bridge really is the trifecta of shitty situations.

Also, it is not my intention to postulate a complete economic collapse from this event, but rather a crippling blow that has impact for months. The intention of the terrorists in this particular instance is not to do any real lasting "big picture" damage, but rather to be a royal pain in the ass. They are far from done by just doing this.

Another scenario I had considered, but discarded due to it seeming seriously cliche` would be to collapse the Lincoln Tunnel or another major NYC pinch point. Sure, it wouldn't stop things moving in a way that would have lasting economic impact... but dear god would it piss off New Yorkers.

Do this to several major US cities over the course of a year and America gets very, very grumpy.

Hope that helps.

 

[WGEwald]

Another scenario I had considered, but discarded due to it seeming seriously cliche` would be to collapse the Lincoln Tunnel or another major NYC pinch point. Sure, it wouldn't stop things moving in a way that would have lasting economic impact... but dear god would it piss off New Yorkers.

Proposed toll increases will have the same effect.