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M23 VX mine

D

Dragontooth

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Where can I find info on the development of this mine?
Did Pine Bluff make the mine or maybe a contractor?

IIRC there was a VX plant in Indiana and I don't think they were ever fielded.
 
The VX plant was in Newport, Indiana. It was shut down in the late 80s and the remaining facilities were destroyed a few years ago under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The last of the M23s were also destroyed under the treaty, at their various storage facilities.

Unless you count the CS filled munitions during the Viet Nam War (argueable), no US CW were ever "fielded", even in WWI. In WWII stocks were sometimes moved closer to the battlefield (sometimes too close) to support the US policy of "Retaliation in Kind" While these stocks were occasionally attacked (see Bari, Italy) and weapons were frequently lost, the CW was never "fielded".
 
too bad it wasn't used, should have used it on the VC tunnels.
 
An US agency guy told me in Vietnam that they definately been using CW (no CS) on strategic spots durig retreat fom there and some other special occassions.
 
From all I was ever able to find, the the talk of use of CW (nerve, etc) in VN was total crap. Some news folks thought they had a story and ran unconfirmed rumors, leading to years of speculation. Going over declassified documents, conducting research in the National Archive, talking with qualified Veterans (who knew somethiing about actual CW agents) and speaking informally with Vienamese officials, I have found zero evidence or credible accounts. In addition I have personally examined thousands of pieces of ordnance buried because of it's toxic nature - all non-conventional pieces were RCA (riot contriol agent) filled and of RCA design.

EOD, with all due respect, I treat "Agency Guys" like SOCOM and SF guys. If a quarter of the claimed "Spec-Ops" guys had actually been there, it would have been a crowded house. Talk is cheap and easy.

In regard to RCA and the related munitions, we used them on a very significant scale, and in the same manner as non-persistent chemical weapons. Documents show that in 1970 alone we took more than 7000 tons of CS into theater.
 
I've always thought that I could count all my time in the MacDill AFB Officer's Club in the 70s and 80s during exercises and be as "qualified" as some of the people you hear expound on various SF topics. And the guys who really DID that stuff rarely talk much at all!
 
In Vietnam, almost all tunnels were initially hit with the M7A2 series of CS. There, however, was another way that they placed CS in the Tunnels. That was by pumping it into an opening of the tunnel. The name of some of the machines used were the: "Military Disperser, Portable, Riot Control, Agent, M3", "Military Desperser, Riot Control Agent, Helicopter or Vehicle Mounted, M5", GOEC MK And MK-XII-A Pepper Fog, or even the "GOEC MK-17 Pepper Fog.

CS grenades including the XM58 were used by SOG across the borders. Ocassionally, in Combodia and even lesser amounts to be used in Laos were the air droppable CS weapons from "Fast Movers". Whenever the request was made to use them for a RT in bad in deep doodoo, the FAC had to request it to CINCPAC then to the Ambassador of either country in which was to be used in. This usually took no more than an hour to get a reply. So they would go ahead and use it anyways and just move the men in closer to the Vietnam border on paper because those maps were far from perfect back then If you know what I mean.

Allot of RT's and their members were saved by doing this, and it WORKED!
 
Dragontooth said:
Where can I find info on the development of this mine?
Did Pine Bluff make the mine or maybe a contractor?

IIRC there was a VX plant in Indiana and I don't think they were ever fielded.
Click to expand...

I have only description of adapter for M23 for transform in in like "Bouncing Betty" device.(in attachment few pages from related document so file big than 500 kB i cannt upload full version )
 

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Never read about this modification of the M 23, but the same set up was used for the XM-54 PWP pop up mine. Not sure if it was ever fully fielded though.

On a side note Subs is correct = VX GB HD what ever were never fielded in VN - with all the studies and clean up going on there documeted evidence would ahve been provided or found my now. But BZ was used, the US released the EODP for the M 125 to the Vietnamese government. And the USAF SEA Bombing data base listed it as being released twice, both time were inthe delta region and each release consisted of a single cluster with 20 bomblet. That part is a little strange as the cluster for the M 125s lists more then 20 in its payload.
 
Mike you might want to check your M-numbers. Do you meant perhaps the M138?
If I recall correctly the mod kit for the M23 was the XM41 and it is nearly identical to the XM54. I was going to throw on some photos, but the system seems to be down -
 
Sorry right the M 138, I had just finished reading a report on the 125 when I opened BOCN to see whats up.

I ahve a few photos of the XM 54, and you're right they are almost identical. TM 9 -1985-51 has some info on the 54
 
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