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Hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) is a generic term that covers a suite of anti-terrorist protective measures that are often employed around buildings or publicly accessible spaces/venues of particular significance. The design of these various vehicle security barriers and landscape treatments came about as security authorities across the globe sought to mitigate the effects of vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED). The sorts of places that warrant consideration as potential terrorist targets in need of HVM include: government buildings, airports, large railway stations, sports venues, concentrations of entertainment and crowded night time economy, etc.


Usage

Common types of HVM include locally manufactured barrier systems such as the
Jersey Barrier A Jersey barrier, Jersey wall, or Jersey bump is a modular concrete or plastic barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing vehicle crossovers resu ...
and Bremer T Wall; as well as propriety crash-tested and engineered vehicle bollard systems designed to resist the effects of a vehicle ram attack. HVM can also include adapted hard landscape features, resistive street furniture, sculpture, planters and significant level changes; with a little imagination HVM may be disguised inside architectural features in a street scene. HVM when installed and fixed correctly is designed to resist hostile vehicle penetration of certain categories of vehicle moving at a range of speeds, these vehicle security barriers undergo various destructive tests carried out by accredited test establishments. The three standards that are generally quoted when specifying HVM performance are: *
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Is ...
IWA 14-1 - an international working agreement * BSI PAS 68 - the UK standard *
ASTM ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, an ...
F2656-07 - the US standard. These standards set roughly similar criteria for destructive impact testing, although there are differences between the three and vehicle geometries in particular are at the root of some of these differences. HVM barrier selection will be conditioned by a hostile
vehicle dynamics For motorized vehicles, such as automobiles, aircraft, and watercraft, vehicle dynamics is the study of vehicle motion, e.g., how a vehicle's forward movement changes in response to driver inputs, propulsion system outputs, ambient conditions, air ...
study carried out by a suitably qualified security specialist. Ideally a protective layer of HVM should surround the building or place being protected and this HVM protection line should be stood off from the building facade or places expected to be crowded. This protective standoff distance is critical in the case of VBIEDs as 'every metre counts' and often distance is one of the best ways to achieve explosive blast effects mitigation. More recently the focus of HVM has expanded to reduce the potential for vehicle ram attacks directed at crowded events and places. Recent non-VBIED (i.e. vehicle as a weapon) attacks against pedestrians include: * The
2016 Nice truck attack On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The dri ...
* The
2016 Ohio State University attack On November 28, 2016, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack occurred at 9:52a.m. EST at Ohio State University's Watts Hall in Columbus, Ohio. The attacker, Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was shot and killed by the first respo ...
* The
2016 Berlin truck attack On 19 December 2016, a truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured. One of the victims was the truck's original dr ...
* The 2017 Jerusalem attack * The January 2017 Melbourne car attack * The 2017 Sandy, Utah attack * The 2017 Stockholm truck attack * The
2017 Westminster attack On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place outside the Palace of Westminster in London, seat of the British Parliament. Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old Briton, drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster ...
* The
2017 London Bridge attack On 3 June 2017, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London, England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on Borough High Street, just south of the River Thames. The van's three occu ...
* The 2017 Finsbury Park attack HVM can also be used to protect against
ram raids Ram-raiding is a type of burglary in which a heavy vehicle is driven into the windows or doors of a building, usually a department store or jeweller's shop, to allow the perpetrators to loot it. Overview The term came into widespread use after a ...
which are invariably criminal attacks against high net-worth targets such as jewelers, cash and valuables in transit depots,
bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from the ...
storage facilities, art galleries, museums, 'high end' fashion stores, etc. Correctly installed HVM barrier systems should not adversely affect pedestrian permeability.


See also

* Deaths by car bomb *
Improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
(IED) *
List of mass car bombings This is a list of car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car b ...
*
Vehicle-ramming attack A vehicle-ramming attack is an assault in which a perpetrator deliberately rams a vehicle into a building, crowd of people, or another vehicle. According to Stratfor Global Intelligence analysts, this attack represents a relatively new militan ...
*
Counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...
*
Security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
*
Physical security Physical security describes security measures that are designed to deny unauthorized access to facilities, equipment and resources and to protect personnel and property from damage or harm (such as espionage, theft, or terrorist attacks). Physica ...


References

{{Reflist Counterterrorism Traffic management