Saturday, February 26, 2011

FOXX Floating Port Security Barrier protects sensitive infrastructure from waterside attacks




Waterside barriers, developed by the Geobrugg AG, Romanshorn / Switzerland Security Engineering Division protect sensitive infrastructures like oil and LNG terminals, ships, harbours and ports, nuclear facilities, dams, bridge piers and waterside industry from intruders and terrorist attacks. The threat can arise from high speed / low tonnage vessels and low speed / high tonnage vessels loaded with explosives.

There are two forms of waterside protection barriers, the “Fixed Security Barrier FSB” and the “Floating Port Security Barrier PSB”:

The Fixed Security Barrier FSB can be attached to existing structures or driven piles. High-tensile SATURN nets from Geobrugg are fixed to the piles, without resorting to a wear-intensive floating construction. The protection system can span widths of up to 60 m, sustain large tidal differences and be resistant to wind, currents and corrosion (seawater). Such fixed security barriers are e.g. in use in the very tough environment of the Persian Gulf since 2005.

The new Geobrugg FOXX Floating Port Security Barrier (PSB) consists of independent floating modules of 50 m in length equipped with the high-tensile MAXX nets with a height of 2.5 m. The FOXX Floating Barrier can easily be assembled on shore and drawn to water. The floating modules are connected to each other and thus protect a defined area from waterside boat attacks. Under the supervision of the Polish Naval Academy the FOXX Floating Barrier successfully passed 1:1 live crash tests with multiple hits. Due to the floating design the barrier absorb large tidal differences, heavy winds and waves. Due to the low drag in the water the FOXX floating barrier is very suitable for gate operations. Made from high-tensile stainless steel wire the barrier is highly corrosion and UV resistant.

The new Geobrugg FOXX floating barrier is on display at the NAVDEX marina in 1:1 scale.

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