Presidential Visit – VIP convoy security review

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

By Eyal Avidov

U.S President Obama is visiting Israel this week and without doubt special preparations have been made by security officials for this significant event. There are concentric security circles – near and sterile that were taken into consideration, and which represent the last and most important line  in securing and escorting  the convoy and all of its movements throughout this special event.

Armored vehicles are equipped with various measures designed to save lives and their importance is critical. At least four vehicles will be on the move in the convoy. The lead and rear  vehicles will generally have electronic blocking devices (Jammers) installed, which are designed to disrupt and block different types of transmissions. Both vehicles will appear identical and will often even carry exactly the same license plate.

Another identical convoy will depart on a different route but maintaining  the same tight schedules. This is a deception and camouflage convoy, again using identical vehicles.

In order for the transmission blocking systems to operate continuously, they are fed by power and backup sources. The options are varied from an additional alternator to a battery bank providing power to the generator that operates at a time when the vehicle is in motion and the Jammer is operating.

The next security circle involves the use of an aircraft, either a helicopter or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).  Both of these options provide the capability of generating a video image in real-time to the convoy’s command truck and the event commander in his front command room.

The illustrations provided  for this article show a scheme of the convoy’s movement and the details of solutions provided including various jamming systems installed on vehicles intended for the protection of VIPs and escorting units.

By Eyal Avidov, Bastion Vehicles

Armored and modification task vehicles