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March ARB installs anti-terrorism barrier

  • Published
  • By Will Alexander
  • 452nd AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  Tucson police had no clue what Fidel Antonio Lopez-Sanchez was up to two years ago when he sped pass gate guards at Davis-Monthan AFB in his pickup truck at 6:45 a.m. He had cocaine in his pocket and a loaded .45-caliber revolver under his seat. The inside of his truck reeked of alcohol.

Although the motives behind the gate breach at Swan and Golf Links roads baffled security forces guards, they were certain that truck wasn't getting on base.

A few seconds inside the gate was the DCS501, an advanced counter-terrorism barrier system. It's designed to stop in its tracks a 15,000-pound truck traveling at 50 mph.

The guards activated it immediately. Lopez-Sanchez and his passenger crashed into the barrier, decelerating the truck's speed from 50 mph to 0 mph in about an inch of space.

The truck was destroyed. Lopez-Sanchez and his passenger suffered facial and head injuries that left them hospitalized in critical condition.

After workers cleared the debris with a forklift and tow truck, the barricade - designed to withstand multiple assaults - was ready for the next attempted breach.

Officials at March ARB liked how the DCS501 performed, so they contracted Delta Scientific Corp. to install the same system at the base's main gate earlier this year.

The automatic pop-up barriers are now fully deployable. The barrier system complies with a 2003 Air Force chief of staff memo directing that barriers be used at installation entry control points to stop hostile forces from employing vehicle-born improvised explosive devices.

Col. Jeffrey K. Barnson, 452nd Air Mobility Wing vice commander, received a demonstration of the barricade system. He calls it "another weapon in our security forces arsenal to protect and defend all of us" at March ARB.

Before the base got the barriers, gate sentries were instructed to shoot into the vehicles of gate runners if they determined there were viable threats to the base, said Master Sgt. Darryl Heisser, NCO in charge of police services for the 452nd Security Forces Squadron. The barrier system gives guards a weaponless option to overcome threats without endangering innocent bystanders or damaging property.

"It's an anti-terrorism force protection measure to stop a vehicle from entering the base that could be laden with explosives," said Sergeant Heisser.

"It's actually designed to stop a 15,000-pound truck traveling at 50 mph with zero penetration. Zero penetration means that type of vehicle hitting the barrier at that speed will not pass the barrier."

Sergeant Heisser said the system was also crash-tested using a 65,000-pound dump truck moving at 50 mph.

"With the 65,000-pound truck, part of it did get past the barrier, but the vehicle was totally destroyed," he said. "It sheared the vehicle off the frame. When they pulled it out, the barrier still worked. It's amazing."

The barrier system works as follows: In the lowered position, the barricade's ramp is flush with the road. The barriers are raised and lowered by hydraulic cylinders, which are driven by a hydraulic power unit.

The barriers are raised or lowered at the push of a button on the power unit. Although the barriers are 39 inches high at the fully raised position, they can do the job at 18 inches.

"Eighteen inches is just enough to hit the axles," Sergeant Heisser said. "They grab the axle and the engine, and they just tear it underneath the vehicle."

The hydraulic power unit also has an emergency fast-operate feature that allows it to be raised faster.

"I sleep well knowing our defenders are equipped with the latest tools and keeping watch 24 hours a day over our most effective weapon, the men and women of the 452d Air Mobility Wing," said Colonel Barnson. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)