Model of crash tested road blocker that has been tested in anger

Cova Full Depth Road Blocker Prevents HVM Attack

Posted on 16th January 2020 at 09:06

Consulate Bomb Attack in 2003

More than 3 years ago our CSG 10503 Full Depth Road Blocker was installed at the British Consulate General in Istanbul Turkey, one of our very first major international government projects.

In a twin bomb attack in the city on the same day In November 2003, one of the bombs went off at the British consulate, the other at the London-based bank, HSBC. A lone suicide bomber carrying a 4 ton bomb, breached the main entrance gate of the Consulate and impacted our road blocker which was sited behind the gate, arresting the truck outright from impacting the main Consulate building preventing considerable loss of life.

The bomb at the consulate was so big that buildings hundreds of metres away had their windows blown out.

This terrorist incident occurred prior to any 'crash testing' standards being available in the UK, demonstrating how robust our product was back then, and still is today with our PAS68:2010 rating.

This CSG 10503 product was installed at the British Consulate General in Istanbul Turkey in 1989 and since this time a wide range of differing HVM products have been brought to market.

The introduction of the suicide bomber – has undoubtedly ramped up the threat level for this type of terrorism.

In the past, vehicles were very often parked in close proximity to the intended target and the bomb exploded remotely. Nowadays the typical terrorist is intent on breaching a perimeter – in effect driving at the intended target before initiating the explosion.

In November 2003 at the British Consulate General in Istanbul, a terrorist bomber attacked the entrance gate at speed in a truck – breached the entrance gate and ran into the Cova Security Gates road blocker (sometimes referred to as road wedges or wedges) located just inside the entrance.

The road blocker arrested the vehicle and prevented further intrusion to the intended target – the Consulate building.

The resulting explosion caused extensive damage to surrounding areas however, this incident proved conclusively that a well-sited HVM product can and will protect the intended target – in this case, the Consulate was left relatively unaffected protecting hundreds of people.

CSG 10503 product was installed at the British Consulate General in Istanbul Turkey and protected the premises

Cova Security Gates was the first company worldwide to have a HVM product tested in anger and this incident together with other terrorist events throughout the World at that time resulted in the UK setting up a separate Government body to tackle this form of terrorism.

The CPNI – (Critical Protection of National Infrastructure) was thus created in 2007.

In the US independent crash testing (anti-ram) and verification of HVM product was started some years earlier with the US DOS scheme – such products as road barriers (road blockers) and rising bollards were tested using a 7.5 ton US truck at various speeds – the most common being 50mph/80kph.

Cova Full Depth Blocker positioned behind the gate that took the full impact of the bomb detonation.

Vehicle Test Weight:	7500kg
Vehicle Class:	N2
Vehicle Speed MPH:	50
Vehicle Speed KMH:	80
Vehicle Angle:	90
Vehicle Penetration:	0.0
Dispersion Distance:	25

Here you can see the left hand gate post prior to the attack, and on the right - the damage caused with the left hand post still in tact.

Post the bombing attack the British Consulate General in Istanbul Turkey was rebuilt (below) and replaced their perimeter security with a replacement full depth road blocker (CSG 10503) and more robust trackless bi-folding gate (CSG 10604).