Role of Vehicle Armor

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Executive Protection: The Role of Vehicle Armor in Executive Protection Operation
By Lt. Thomas A. Taylor, Missouri State Highway Patrol

On June 28, 1988, U.S. Navy Captain William Nordeen, a defense attaché stationed in Athens, Greece, drove away from his home at 8:10 a.m. in a lightly armored Ford Grenada. He turned left onto a one-way street, as he always did on his way to work. A blue Toyota with counterfeit plates was parked along the curb to his left. Its trunk contained 50 pounds of ANFO (ammonium nitrate and fuel oil) explosive with a radiocontrolled firing device. Bags of concrete were stacked on the curb side of its trunk to direct the blast toward the street. Standing alongside their stolen motorcycle, two members of the terrorist group "17 November" watched from a distance. When Nordeen reached the Toyota, they triggered the device. The explosion blew the Toyota 25 feet up the street. Nordeen’s car was thrown 18 feet to the right, landing on its top. Nordeen’s decapitated body landed 30 feet past his car. The terrorists escaped. (So much for lightly armored vehicles!) An incredible number of attacks directed at public figures are carried out while they are in or around their cars. While an armored vehicle will not make a dignitary invulnerable to all attacks, it doesn’t take a NASA scientist to figure out that the use of such a vehicle will increase the chances of surviving most attacks. It, quite simply, buys time to escape the "kill zone". In his book Weapons and Equipment of Counterterrorism, Michael Dewar writes that in 1969 the Secret Service took delivery of an armored Lincoln Continental that carried two tons of steel and bullet-resistant glass. It was also capable of traveling 50 mph wit all its tires shot out. The ability to maintain mobility on run-flat tires was considered to be as important as its heavy armoring.

Bullets and Bomb Fragments
In the early morning hours of September 15, 1981, a three-car motorcade approached an intersection on Highway B37, outside Heidelberg, Germany. The first car contained two civil police officers, assigned to "sweep" the route. The second vehicle was an armored Mercedes, driven by a German police officer, with U.S. General Frederick Kroesen and his wife in back. They were followed by an unmarked car with two U.S. MPs. As the motorcade stopped at a traffic light, the wooded area to their left erupted in gunfire. Four

Red Army Faction terrorists, one a woman, fired two RPG-7 anti-tank grenades and a burst from an H&K-53 assault rifle. The first grenade struck the top of the trunk on Kroesen‘s car and passed through, exiting from the right rear fender. It shattered the rear window, spraying the Kroesens with glass. The second grenade missed, exploding beyond the car. Four H&K rounds struck the car, but didn’t penetrate the armor. They quickly drove away, escaping with only scratches. This is only one of many examples where the use of a fully armored vehicle bought enough time for the dignitary to escape. Other precautions can also be used to survive such an assault. Public figures should always vary their schedules and routes traveled. Terrorists look for any activity that is routine in order to know where and when to launch their attack. The "Shell-game" Defense At 6:40 p.m. on September 8, 1986, Chilean President Augusto Pinochet was returning to the capitol from his weekend retreat. He was riding with his grandson in the back of an armored Mercedes, which was the fourth car in a five-car motorcade. Suddenly a car pulling a trailer swerved across the road ahead, blocking their path. Sniper fire erupted from both sides of the road, knocking out the two lead motorcycles. The motorcade stopped. A rocket struck the second car in the motorcade (the usual position for a protectee's car), killing the five bodyguards inside. Automatic weapons fire raked the rest of the motorcade, setting some of the cars on fire. Pinochet's driver reacted quickly. He backed up, striking the car behind him, then made a U-turn and escaped. Pinochet later put his bullet-riddled Mercedes on display. Not only had its armor and his driver's quick reaction saved his life, but also moving his car from the second to the fourth position in the motorcade had fooled the terrorists.

Bomb-resistant vs. Bomb-proof
Let's say that you’re a public figure with a healthy budget at your disposal. What kind of armored vehicle do you need or want? In 1984, President Ronald Reagan wanted a U.S. made car. The Secret Service started with a stock Cadillac Fleetwood limo, costing $31,512. It was then stretched 17 inches to a more presidential length of 22 feet. The Hess and Eisenhardt Armoring Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, which started out protecting coaches in 1876, added a few features that the Secret Service won’t discuss. Suffice to say that it is bullet-and-bomb resistant. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a bomb proof car. Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco learned that lesson the hard way. At 9:30 a.m., on December 20, 1973, he was riding through Madrid, Spain, in the back of his armored 1973 Dodge Dart with his driver and two bodyguards. They were followed by another car with a driver and two more bodyguards. It was a trip they routinely made every day. The terrorist group ETA knew it, too. They had rented a basement apartment along the route and dug a T-shaped tunnel, which extended out under the street. They then packed the top of the "T" with three explosive charges, totaling about 1200 pounds of TNT. An Austin car was double-parked to force Blancos limo to drive directly over the charges. As his car approached, a lookout signaled the triggerman. Blanco’s car was

blown over a five-story church! It struck the roof, bounced over, and landed on its side on a second-floor balcony, located on the opposite side of the building. All the occupants were killed.

Armoring Materials
Armor can be transparent or opaque, rigid or flexible. Transparent armor comes in three basic "flavors": glass, acrylic and polycarbonate. Glass must be quite thick, and therefore heavy, to stop high-powered rounds. Acrylics are considerably stronger and lighter than glass, but are susceptible to scratching and flammability. Polycarbonates are considerably stronger than acrylics and about 300 times more resistant to breakage than glass, but are also prone to scratching. Opaque materials include metals, ceramics, fiberglass-reinforced plastics and fabrics. The most commonly used metals are steel and aluminum. Steel offers the most protection, but it is heavy and not appropriate for some applications. The most commonly used aluminum is 2024-T3. A quarter-inch of this material will stop most 9mm rounds. More armored vehicles are probably fabricated with aluminum than any other material. Ceramics are most commonly used in helicopter seats and other aircraft applications, where its extreme light weight is valuable. It is also extremely expensive and not practical in many applications. Fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) is rigid, light, fire safe and has excellent ballistic properties. A 24-ply sheet of HF-738 FRP, half an inch thick, will stop a .30-carbine slug fired from five feet away. Mounted inside a 19-gauge steel car door, the combination of metal and FRP would provide excellent protection from most small arms fire. Fabrics such as Kevlar are most commonly used in bullet-resistant clothing and vests, but can also be used to armor vehicles. As a rule, the amount of protection is directly proportionate to the number of layers used. Kevlar, by itself, is not practical for protection against rifle fire.

Threat Classification Levels
What areas of the car should be armored? And to what level? Armor materials are given a numbered classification to indicate the level of ordnance that they will stop. Typical classifications used by Underwriters Laboratories and others are Levels I through IV. Level I armor would defeat medium-powered small arms fire, up through a .38 caliber super round, for example. Level IV armor would defeat everything up through super powered military ammunition, to include 7.62 NATO. The trade-off is that the higher the level of protection, the higher the cost and weight of the armor needed. Clearly, Captain Nordeen’s partially armored Ford was meant to stop only small arms fire. On October 25, 1986, Governor Rafael Garrido, his wife and son were riding in their partially armored limo through downtown San Sebastian, Spain. When they stopped at a

traffic light, two ETA terrorists on a motorcycle pulled alongside and placed a duffle bag on the roof of their car. Moments later the bag exploded, killing Garrido and his family. The roof was not armored. In a similar attack on April 19, 1989, San Salvador Attorney General Roberto Alvarado was stopped at a traffic light in El Salvador. Two leftist guerrillas placed a bomb on the roof of his partially armored Jeep Cherokee. The package exploded, killing him. It should be obvious that partially armored vehicles offer little protection against bombs.

The "Big Bang" Approach
As illustrated with the assassination of Prime Minister Blanco, even a fully armored vehicle will not always defeat an attack. Four recent cases provide a graphic example. On July 9, 1986, industrialist Karl Beckurts was riding to work in his armored limo. The Red Army Faction had placed a remote-controlled bomb along the road to Munich, West Germany, that Beckurts traveled every day. As his car passed the device, it exploded, killing him and his driver. Governor Antonio Roldan Betancur was riding in his armored limo past a sports stadium in Medellin, Colombia, on July 4, 1989. The Medellin Drug Cartel set off a remote controlled car bomb, killing Roldan, two bodyguards, two pedestrians and a councilman. Another bodyguard was wounded. President Rene Mouawad was riding in his armored Mercedes in a ten-car convoy through the streets of Beirut, Lebanon, on November 22, 1989, when a remote-controlled bomb exploded. The president's car was hurled off the street, killing him, ten bodyguards and 13 pedestrians. Thirty-six others were injured. Finally, on November 30, 1989, bank executive Alfred Herrhausen was enroute to work in Bad Homburg, West Germany. A remote-controlled bomb, planted by the Red Army Faction, exploded as his armored BMW went by, killing him and wounding his driver. Note that in all of these attacks, the terrorists obviously knew the motorcade route ahead of time. These cases would lead you to believe that there is no value in vehicle armor if the bad guys are using anything bigger than a .22-caliber squirrel rifle. If so, consider these six recent attacks. Surviving the "Kill Zone" On May 25, 1985, a motorcade carrying Sheik Jaber, the leader of Kuwait, was rammed by a suicide driver in a bomb-laden car. The explosion killed the terrorist, two bodyguards and a bystander. Jaber, protected by his armored limo, was only slightly injured.

Defense Minister Camille Chamoun was riding through Beirut, Lebanon, in his armored Mercedes on January 7, 1987. A remote-controlled bomb, containing 165 pounds of explosives in a blue Peugeot car, exploded as his motorcade went by. The blast left a crater 14 feet wide and 6 feet deep, and destroyed 26 cars. Three bodyguards and a bystander were killed, and 35 others were wounded. Camille's armored car was hurled 20 yards off the road, but he survived. On September 28, 1988, John Buttle, president of Texaco-Colombia was riding in his armored Mercedes through Bogota, Colombia. A remote-controlled bomb, which contained about 45 pounds of TNT, was ignited by ELN terrorists as he drove past. Two bodyguards in a follow-up car were injured, along with two bystanders. Although his car was almost destroyed, Buttle was unhurt. Defense Minister Guerrero Paz was saved by his armored Lancia on November 23, 1988, when he left his Bogota, Colombia, office at 8:15 p.m. A 20-pound explosive charge hidden in a lamppost exploded, killing three bodyguards and wounding two others. Paz escaped uninjured. On January 30, 1989, party chief George Saade was riding through the streets of Beirut, Lebanon, in his armored Alfa Romeo. He was escorted by three carloads of bodyguards. A nearby car bomb exploded, killing three and wounding 17. Although his car was damaged, Saade was unhurt. General Maza Marquez, the police chief of Bogota, Colombia, was enroute to his office on May 30, 1989, when a car bomb exploded. A bodyguard and three others were killed, and 37 were wounded, including seven bodyguards. Protected by his armored limo, Marquez escaped with only bruises.

The Protection Package
It should be clear by now that vehicle armor is only part of a successful protection operation. This, in conjunction with varying the time and route traveled, utilizing evasive techniques (such as President Pinochet's sleight-of-hand trick), clearing the route to be traveled, and knowledge of ambush countermeasures will sharply reduce the odds of a successful attack. It is unfortunate that protectees and their bodyguards, riding in an armored vehicle, often suffer from the same "John Wayne" syndrome that police officers in body armor feel: that the armor alone will keep them alive and no other safeguards are needed. Best-selling author Tom Clancy, in his novel Clear and Present Danger, falls into the same trap when he describes the security measures taken by FBI Director Emil Jacobs security detail for his highly dangerous trip to Bogota, Colombia. "The car they drove in was a Cadillac Fleetwood chassis. Its special equipment included thick Lexan windows that could stop a machine-gun bullet, and Kevlar armor all around the passenger compartment. The tires were foam-filled against flattening, and the gas tank of a design similar to that used on military aircraft as protection against explosion. Not surprisingly, the car was known in the embassy motor pool as the "Tank."

Sadly for Jacobs and the other two officials in the "tank," their schedule is known to the drug cartel. The motorcade route has not been properly secured by his agents, either. When the motorcade stops for a traffic light, three RPG-7D rockets are fired into the roof of the armored Cadillac by terrorists in the third-floor windows of the buildings along the street, killing Jacobs and his party.

The Armor-resistant Budget
The increasing number of terrorist attacks against VIP motorcades is alarming. Vehicle armor, once considered extravagant, is quickly becoming commonplace and prudent. In 1985 the Hess and Eisenhardt Armoring Company developed a $12,000 survival kit for the average urbanite who felt unsafe on the highways. The package included bulletresistant windows, and tires with steel inserts that can roll for ten miles while flat. As technology develops stronger, lighter and more affordable armoring materials, its use will become even more prevalent. There is no doubt that armored vehicles are not needed, or affordable, for all VIPs. In this day of the tight budget, the first resources usually requested are for "needless" security measures. The truth is, if VIPs can afford a protection detail, they can probably afford to have his vehicle armored with bullet-and bomb-resistant materials.

Conclusion
This article has examined 16 attacks against individuals riding in armored vehicles. Eight were killed; eight survived. They included two presidents, two governors, two generals, two defense ministers, two corporate executives, a prime minister, an attorney general, a party chief, an industrialist and a sheik. All 16 attacks were carried out by criminal or terrorist groups, using explosive devices. If the attacks had only involved small arms fire, all 16 would have probably survived. The key ingredient of any successful attack is the element of surprise. Terrorists understand this advantage and use it whenever possible. While armored vehicles cannot be expected to endure sustained attacks or assaults involving powerful explosive devices, they can provide the tactical edge to allow a security detail the time to react and escape the kill zone.

Lieutenant Tom A. Taylor, Missouri State Highway Patrol, is director of the Governor's Security Division. He also serves as secretary to the National Governor's Security Association.

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