Halo Maritime Defense Systems (HMDS) announced the company has completed installation of a first-ever fully automated marine gate at a naval base in Israel. The gate spans theentire breakwater-to-breakwater length of the opening to the base, fully completing the security perimeter. A simple push of a button retracts the barrier and allows vessels to pass.
"Normally, the waterside opening to a base like this would be secured with surveillance cameras and possibly patrol boats but never before with a proven, automated 24/7 protective gate," said HMDS President Brendan Gray, a 30-year veteran of the US Navy whose responsibilities included force protection for eight naval bases in Europe and the Mediterranean. "The marine gate provides ease of access while offering unparalleled security," added Gray, "and at significantly less life-cycle cost than the alternatives with a Return on Investment (ROI) of less than 2 years."
The HMDS Guardian Gate has been under development for the past two years with the help of the US Navy and the Ocean Engineering Program at the University of New Hampshire. Boasting a 15-year design life, the HALO barrier is the only barrier in the world to have been validated in independent, fully instrumented crash testing by the US Navy. Applications for the new technology include ports and harbors, oil and gas assets, nuclear power plants and other sensitive waterside infrastructure.
Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania and first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and an advisor to HMDS said, "I am proud to be working with a firm that has developed what I believe to be the definitive answer to addressing the threats posed by small boats to strategic and sensitive waterside assets around the globe – military, commercial and even residential."
