Fifth Luna Drop -- Second Neo Zeon War -- MechaBay

The Fifth Luna Drop (フィフス・ルナ落とし, Fifusu Runa Otoshi) was the opening attack of the Second Neo Zeon War, occurring on 6 March Universal Century 0093. Char Aznable, leading Newborn Neo Zeon, dropped the asteroid colony Fifth Luna onto Lhasa, Tibet, devastating the region and demonstrating Neo Zeon’s capability and resolve to force humanity’s complete migration to space.

Prelude

Char’s Return

Following years in hiding after the First Neo Zeon War, Char Aznable emerged to lead a newly reorganised Neo Zeon movement. Styling himself as the champion of spacenoids and humanity’s evolution, Char declared his intention to render Earth uninhabitable, forcing humanity to migrate permanently to space and thereby trigger the evolutionary leap to Newtype consciousness he believed inevitable.

Fifth Luna Seizure

Neo Zeon forces seized control of Fifth Luna, a small asteroid colony, converting it into a kinetic weapon. The operation proceeded with minimal Federation resistance, as Londo Bell – the Earth Federation’s special anti-Zeon task force – had not yet fully mobilized in response to Char’s return.

Char deliberately announced his intentions beforehand, both to give civilians time to evacuate and to demonstrate Neo Zeon’s confidence in the Federation’s inability to prevent the attack. This psychological warfare aimed to demonstrate the Federation’s weakness and spacenoid grievances’ legitimacy.

The Drop

Execution

On 6 March UC 0093, Neo Zeon forces manoeuvred Fifth Luna out of its stable orbit and directed it towards Earth. Despite Londo Bell deploying mobile suit teams to intercept, the Federation lacked sufficient forces and time to destroy or divert the massive asteroid.

Federation Forces attempted to evacuate Lhasa and surrounding regions, but the short warning period limited evacuation effectiveness. The asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic velocity, its descent creating a spectacular and terrifying spectacle visible across Asia.

Impact

Fifth Luna struck Lhasa, Tibet with devastating force. The impact:

Created a massive crater obliterating the city entirely
Generated a shockwave that devastated surrounding regions
Threw immense amounts of debris into the atmosphere
Caused regional climate disruption
Killed millions of civilians despite evacuation efforts
Contaminated the region with radioactive materials

The attack achieved Char’s immediate goals: demonstrating Neo Zeon’s capability, proving the Federation’s inability to protect Earth, and advancing his agenda of forcing humanity to abandon the planet.

Aftermath

Immediate Consequences

The Fifth Luna Drop shocked the world and transformed the Second Neo Zeon War from a theoretical threat into brutal reality. Key consequences included:

Political Chaos: The Federation government faced intense criticism for failing to prevent the attack
Mass Panic: Earth’s population feared additional drops, triggering mass evacuation attempts
Londo Bell Mobilization: Full military mobilisation under Captain Bright Noa
International Response: Spacenoid colonies divided over Char’s methods despite sympathising with spacenoid grievances
Tactical Success: Neo Zeon demonstrated it could execute major operations despite Federation opposition

Strategic Impact

The attack fundamentally altered the war’s strategic landscape:

Proved Char possessed both capability and willingness to drop asteroids
Forced the Federation to treat Axis – Char’s next declared target – as an existential threat
Divided spacenoid public opinion between supporting Char’s goals versus his genocidal methods
Validated Londo Bell’s warnings about the Neo Zeon threat
Set the stage for the climactic battle to prevent the much larger Axis asteroid from dropping

Long-Term Consequences

The Fifth Luna Drop represented one of the Universal Century timeline’s worst atrocities. Its impact persisted for decades:

Accelerated space migration as Earth residents sought safety in colonies
Intensified anti-spacenoid sentiment among Earth’s remaining population
Created precedent that would influence later conflicts (asteroid drops became recurring threats)
Added to the catalogue of war crimes committed in the name of forcing human evolution
Demonstrated that even Newtypes like Char could commit atrocities when pursuing ideological goals

Analysis

Char’s Motivation

Char’s decision to proceed with the Fifth Luna Drop despite evacuations revealed the complexity of his motivations:

Ideological Commitment: Believed rendering Earth uninhabitable would force human evolution
Tactical Demonstration: Needed to prove Neo Zeon’s capability to encourage defections and recruit spacenoids
Psychological Warfare: Aimed to demoralise the Federation and demonstrate its powerlessness
Personal Conviction: Genuinely believed he was acting in humanity’s long-term interest

However, the attack also revealed Char’s fundamental contradiction – he claimed to champion human evolution whilst killing millions who had no choice in the conflict.

Military Effectiveness

From a purely military perspective, the Fifth Luna Drop succeeded completely:

Achieved all tactical objectives
Minimal Neo Zeon casualties
Maximum political and psychological impact
Validated Neo Zeon’s operational capabilities
Set conditions for the Axis operation

However, it also:

United Earth’s population against Neo Zeon
Provided Londo Bell political capital for unlimited operations
Eliminated potential sympathisers appalled by the mass casualties
Created determination to stop Axis at any cost

Comparison with Previous Colony Drops

The Fifth Luna Drop shared characteristics with previous colony drop operations:

Operation	Date	Target	Perpetrator	Outcome
Operation British	UC 0079	Sydney	Zeon	Partially successful
Fifth Luna Drop	UC 0093	Lhasa	Neo Zeon	Complete success
Axis Drop (attempted)	UC 0093	Earth (global)	Neo Zeon	Prevented

Unlike Operation British during the One Year War, where colony drops occurred amid total war, the Fifth Luna Drop occurred during peacetime, making it arguably more shocking to the Universal Century’s political establishment.

Legacy

The Fifth Luna Drop’s significance extended beyond its immediate death toll:

Demonstrated that rogue spacenoid factions could threaten Earth’s habitability
Influenced Federation military doctrine regarding asteroid monitoring
Contributed to cycles of violence between Earth and space that would persist for decades
Represented the tragic culmination of spacenoid grievances turned into genocidal action
Showed that even legendary figures like Char Aznable could commit atrocities when pursuing ideological goals

Hathaway Noa’s trauma from witnessing the drop’s aftermath and his role in Chan Agi’s death would drive his later actions as leader of the terrorist organisation Mafty in Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway.

Behind the Scenes

Director Tomino Yoshiyuki used the Fifth Luna Drop to establish the stakes of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack immediately. By opening the film with a successful catastrophic attack, Tomino made clear that Char’s threat was not hypothetical and that the Axis operation had to be stopped at any cost.

The choice of Tibet as the target was deliberate – a region of historical and cultural significance, making the attack’s horror more visceral for audiences. Tomino wanted to show that Char, for all his charisma and ideological convictions, was willing to destroy irreplaceable human heritage to achieve his goals.

The Fifth Luna Drop also established the film’s tone of inevitability and tragedy – characters could act heroically, but millions had already died before the film’s main action even began, making it clear that even the “heroes’ victory” would come at catastrophic cost.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack

External links

Second Neo Zeon War on the Gundam Wiki

Fifth Luna Drop