|
|
www.halodefense.com |
Protecting vital maritime assets
By Robert J “Rocky” Spane, VADM (ret), US Navy*
Today the political, social and economic climate in many countries is both unstable and dangerous. The United States is committed to the safety and protection of its private citizens, government officials and military forces around the world; it is the responsibility of the US government to offer its people its full force and measure of support and security. United States’ military forces, deployed throughout the world in hostile environments, are particularly vulnerable to terrorist organisations and fringe groups intent upon striking out and inflicting damage indiscriminately on people, property and vital assets. The next terrorist battleground will be on the oceans and seas across the globe.
Landside defences
Since 9/11, tens of billions of dollars have been spent on global security. Much of this has been landside. Whereas before 9/11 it was possible to gain nearly unfettered access to government buildings, airports and other transportation facilities and military installations, there are now barriers and barbed-wire fences, restricted zones and airspace, gates and long security lines, bag checks, body searches, new technologies like face recognition cameras and bomb detection systems, fingerprint scanners, all kinds of land and aerial surveillance and even armed guards and military weapons systems. Approaching a secure facility like a naval base or oil refinery from the landside presents the potential intruder with layer upon layer of security: physical, electronic and deadly.
Waterside vulnerability
Since the bombing of the USS Cole on October 12, 2000, in the Yemeni port of Aden, the maritime environment, like every aspect of our lives it seems, has become more dangerous. In the case of the Cole, terrorists, hiding behind a facade of friendship, took advantage of the United States’ policy of restraint to gain close proximity to a ship only to detonate their small craft, inflicting a 40 by 60ft hole in the hull of the ship and killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others in the process.
There have been other episodes of violence at sea by small craft and these are on the increase. On October 6, 2002, Yemen, the oil tanker Limburg was rammed by an explosives-laden dinghy. On October 18, 2006, Sri Lanka, suicide bombers detonated two boats packed with explosives near an important southern tourist and port town. On January 7, 2008, Persian Gulf, Iranian speedboats buzzed three US warships in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. On April 25, 2008, Persian Gulf, a US-contracted cargo ship fired warning shots at two approaching speedboats. Most recently, on June 19, 2008, in one of the boldest and most important attacks since the Cole, militants aboard three boats travelled 120km across the Niger Delta to attack Shell’s US$3.6bn “Bonga” oil platform, disrupting the flow of an estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil.
Small craft as weapons
Small craft have become al-Qaeda’s and other terrorist organisations’ weapon of choice. In another recent incident, a number of Iraqi men on a boat illegally entered Kuwaiti territorial waters and gained access into the ''no trespassing'' zone of Shuaiba Port. So, while there are certainly defence systems employed on the waterside, including radar, CCTV and warships, they are clearly not sufficient to keep out highly manoeuvrable and in most cases, unidentifiable, small boats of potentially ill-intent. An impenetrable line of defence that states in no uncertain terms, KEEP OUT! is needed The Halo maritime barrier provides just such protection.
Formidable, stable, dependable
Based on over a decade of research and proven technology used in the fabrication and deployment of wave attenuators, the Halo Barrier is a completely different type of security barrier system, employing advanced composite materials and designed to be both low maintenance and ecologically friendly. Halo can be used to protect individual ships or fleets, harbours and ports, and can be adapted to protect shipyards, shorelines and other types of infrastructure.
Attacks by boats both large and small are stopped instantly upon first impact. The patent pending and dependable catamaran structure can weather heavy seas and storms and, unlike competitive floating fences and ad hoc structures, the Halo system is fully able to defeat swarm attacks by multiple craft individually or simultaneously.
Halo absorbs impact and shock from both physical ramming and explosives. Modular construction, moreover, provides a system that is movable and completely adaptable to the type of asset being secured or level of activity at the installation being protected.
“Halo is clearly not a line of demarcation like many barriers being deployed today in response to the Cole, but rather a formidable boom standing an impressive 8ft out of the water,” according to Kirk Lippold, CDR, USN (ret), commander of the Cole during the attack and an advisor to HMDS.
The Halo security barrier has been successfully proven in actual crash test scenarios in the Persian Gulf.
How it works
Halo Maritime Defense Systems, formerly known as Elemental Innovation (EI), has aligned itself with technology leaders in the areas of marine design and architecture (AMOG Consultants), technical rope and cable making (Cortland Companies), mooring and anchoring systems (Jeyco Mooring and Rigging), and state of the art global security products (Honeywell International) to produce a world leading maritime security barrier.
The Halo Barrier is a second-generation product. Previous EI wave attenuators use layers of structure to reduce the amount of energy in a wave, allowing a gradual release of energy and reducing wear on components and anchor loads. In the Halo Security Barrier, the same principles are applied to the release of energy from a boat impact. Instead of designing a barrier out of massive, heavy, and costly components, a holistic approach creates a structure that dissipates the kinetic energy of impact. The system is not dependent on stopping the tremendous initial impact of a boat by a single structural member, but instead relies on co-operation from other parts of the system and, most importantly, is not reliant on mooring to stop a boat.
The Halo Barrier uses principles of strength and flexibility: “We designed the system for sustainability and performance under all threat conditions, known and unknown, like using the very best mooring solutions and ultra high holding power for added confidence and sea keeping ability,” according to inventor Justin Bishop.
Benefits of the HALO™ Maritime Security Barrier |
|
The patent pending Halo Barrier is specifically engineered to protect waterside assets. It is durable, low-maintenance, easily installed, highly customisable to the expected threat, and capable of countering multi-vessel attacks. Like the formidable defences routinely seen on the landside, it is imperative in today’s world that the same level of restricted access is applied on the waterside.
*Author: Robert J “Rocky” Spane is the Chairman of the Board of Halo Maritime Defense Systems. A career naval officer, he retired as an Admiral after 34 years of service. His assignments included Commander of the Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group during Desert Storm, Commanding Officer of the nuclear aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise and Commander of all naval aviation assets in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
For more information, contact:
Halo Maritime Defense Systems
660 Madison Avenue
17th Floor New York
NY 10065
USA
Email:
info@halodefense.com
Web: www.halodefense.com
PRESS RELEASE January 6, 2009
HALO Maritime Defense Systems, a producer of maritime security barriers to prevent incursion of small to medium sized boats into critical maritime assets, announces that the company has made a major transition from the design phase of their latest product, the HALO™ Maritime Security Barrier, to the validation phase with first parts off new production molds.
The company, according to CEO Paul Jensen, “is implementing the most innovative and effective solution for protecting key assets that border water such as Ports, Fuel Storage Tanks, LNG Transfer Stations, and Naval Bases.” Unlike competing solutions, the HALO™ Barrier is a Stable and Passive structure built upon proven experience and patent-pending technology, enabling a secure floating breakwater at significantly less total lifecycle cost.
RIGHT SOLUTION AT THE RIGHT TIME
The company believes they are delivering precisely the right solution
at the right time. According to Jensen, HMDS customers need the
HALO™ solution to respond to the challenges of today’s terrorist
environment wherein:
- Unsophisticated Attacks by Small boats are the threat, and very difficult to defend against;
- Attacks by these boats are on the rise, and are a preferred vector for Terrorists, including multiple, “swarm-type” attacks;
- While there are layers of protection on the Landside, little exists on the Waterside;
- Patrol boats are ineffective at stopping speed boats in open water;
- Until now, there has been No Effective Way to protect maritime assets from these threats.
The Mumbai Attacks in India reinforced across our military and intelligence communities that a worldwide terrorist threat is still very real. Although the attacks occurred in hotels and cafes across Mumbai, the attackers still arrived in small boats by sea – the easiest means of arriving undetected into the city. “The need for the HALO™ Maritime Security Barrier in the world today and the global level of interest in our product has never been greater,” says Jensen.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Rich Capuano
Director of Sales
HALO Maritime Defense System
Tel: +1.401.253.1896
Email :
info@halodefense.com
Ten Alps Communications Ltd t/a Sovereign Publications
Copyright ©
2008 Sovereign Publications