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| The Delta barricade that protected the consulate staff in Herat was the DSC1100 |
Delta Scientific recently announced that Delta barricades at the United States Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, stopped a bomb-laden car and SUV from penetrating the entrances to the facility. The Taliban attacked the consulate in western Afghanistan with car bombs and guns on Friday, September 13 (2013), killing at least four Afghans but failing to enter the compound or hurt any Americans. The two drivers of the explosives-filled vehicles did not survive.
“The attempted breach of the consulate in Herat again shows how important it is that facilities are protected from vehicle bomb terrorists with certified, proven barriers, barricades and bollards,” emphasises Greg Hamm, Delta Scientific vice president of sales. “Our barriers have also been in place when attacks occurred at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan as well as U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In all cases, they did exactly what they were supposed to do, protect the people that worked there.”
The Delta barricade that protected the consulate staff in Herat was the DSC1100, which will stop a 15,000 pound (66.7 kN) vehicle going 40 mph (64 kph). Certified by the U.S. Department of State, the DSC1100 features a phalanx-type rising plate barrier mounted within multiple inertial pods and can be deployed in high traffic locations for full manual or automatic operation within two hours. The plate barrier lies level to the ground to allow vehicles to pass and is raised or lowered into position utilising a hydraulic cylinder driven by a Delta hydraulic power unit or manually.
“From what has happened at Herat and the other government buildings that have been protected by Delta barricades while under attack, it is easy to discern that a large factor in saving lives from vehicle bombers is to successfully stop the attacking vehicle far enough away from the building to avoid the high pressure shock wave of a bomb blast,” emphasises Hamm. “In a Reuters photo published September 13 on the BBC website, one can pick out the DSC1100 along with the charred and demolished car.” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24075687 - Look to the bottom centre of the photo for the diagonal stripes. That is the DSC1100.)
The barricade used at Herat is one of fifty styles of vehicle barricades that Delta Scientific supplies to embassies, consulates, private corporations, banks and hotels to protect people from truck bomb attacks. Delta's product line encompasses barricades that can be set up in fifteen minutes and used at short term events to permanently installed barricades designed to stop a fully loaded dump truck that will continue to operate after the attack. Prior to introducing barricades, Delta Scientific conducts full scale crash tests of the design.
