In 2010, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Office in the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) issued a solicitation for a remote device that could better stop a fleeing vehicle. The result of the request was the Safe, Quick, Undercarriage Immobilization Device, aptly shortened to SQUID, which was created by engineers from the Engineering Science Analysis Corporation (ESA).
SQUID was a nice first step — with the simple push of a button, spiked arms attached to durable rope shot out and entangled the wheel axles of a fleeing a car, bringing it to a sudden, screeching halt.
SQUID releases spiked arms with rope to entangle the wheels of a car and bring it to a stop.
Never ones to rest on their laurels, the engineers and law enforcement still saw room for improvement.
“ESA engineers further examined the SQUID to identify spiral technologies that could be gleaned from the design. The law enforcement community told us it had to be lighter and smaller,” said ESA president Martín Martínez.
The folks at ESA, along with members from manufacturing partner Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company (PSEMC), went out and spoke with Border Patrol agents and police officers to see how else they could make the equipment faster and safer. The result of these discussions: take SQUID and make it into two individual devices.
Officially patented and commercially available, SQUID is now known as Pit-BUL and NightHawk, two devices that have proven capable of stopping everything from a compact car to a full-sized SUV.
Pit-BUL
Pit-BUL is short for Pit-Ballistic Undercarriage Lanyard. Hidden within it is a set of spikes attached to a net. When deployed, the spikes puncture the tires and the net entangles the car’s axles.
Pit-BUL uses spikes and netting to stop a car almost instantaneously.
Since Pit-BUL is made up of easy-to-combine panels, it can be used for either single or double-lane coverage. It can also be equipped with a motion activated sensor for locations that need secondary security (e.g. a gate near a private facility).
“If a driver blows through a checkpoint, the agent can press a button and the car’s tires are spiked and netted in milliseconds,” said Mark Kaczmarek, the SQUID program manager in S&T’s Borders and Maritime Security Division. “No high-speed pursuit is needed, and no one’s life is put at risk.”
PSEMC has performed more than 225 tests with Pit-BUL, all of which have resulted in the fleeing vehicle being stopped in its tracks. See for yourself below:
NightHawk
NightHawk was developed by PSEMC and partner Stop Stick Ltd. It’s a remote-controlled spike strip disguised as a small suitcase. The point behind it is to do away with the dangerous chore of a police officer laying down spike strips in a fleeing car’s path, which normally takes place in the last few seconds of the vehicle’s approach so as to not impede other traffic.
The NightHawk simply gets placed on the roadside — it does not require an officer to be near it at all.
“When an officer is radioed that a fleeing vehicle is approaching, they can quickly place NightHawk on the side of the road and move a safe distance away,” explained Martínez. “When the target vehicle approaches, before the driver has a chance to react, the officer can remotely trigger the spiked arm to deploy across the street and puncture the vehicle’s tires.”
NightHawk does not require an officer to be near it in order for the device to be operated.
Pushing the button a second time retracts the spikes out of the way of oncoming traffic. See how NightHawk works in the clip below:
“It all comes down to officer safety,” said Kaczmarek. “When somebody flees, they put their life, the officers’ lives, and nearby pedestrians’ or commuters’ lives in danger. Pit-BUL and NightHawk provide law enforcement officers the added safety as well as the ability to halt feeling vehicles from a distance.”
“Police departments with a ‘no pursuit policy’ now have a way to bring cars to a controlled stop, said S&T Deputy Under Secretary Dan Gerstein. “Criminals are caught and police don’t have to give chase. These first generation devices are the start of a change in the decades old game of cat and mouse.”
Story via: dhs.gov
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