LONDON PRESS SERVICE INFORMS
Super X-Net Traps Suspects in its Web
Security and police forces across the world are able to catch more
criminals and terrorists – literally – thanks to being supplied with thousands of an
amazing invention called the X-Net.
Sounding similar to something from the pages of comic-book heroes such
as Spider-Man, X-Net is a portable spike and net system developed by the QinetiQ group,
the largest independent science and technology company in the United Kingdom.
When thrown in a vehicle’s path, X-Net can bring it to a complete and
safe standstill, typically within 75 metres – whether or not the vehicle is equipped
with standard or run-flat tyres – dramatically reducing any danger to the public and
law-enforcement crews.
Easy to deploy across a road in front of oncoming cars and light and
heavy trucks, the net wraps around the wheels and axle while puncturing the tyres to stop
any chance of a getaway. Attempts to drive forwards or backwards are thwarted by the net.
It causes minimal damage and, despite its strength, can be cut away
with a knife. And the potential to save vast amounts of money by preventing damage and
destruction of municipal, private and police property is enormous.
Road to nowhere: the X-Net is a portable spike and net system developed
by QinetiQ of the UK.
“Every year cars are stolen and the resulting damage caused by these
irresponsible acts of car theft and joy-riding can cost the tax-payer – both indirectly
and directly – millions of dollars a year,” said a QinetiQ spokesman. “Because X-Net
offers a greater degree of public safety, it has a huge potential to reduce hazards to
police users and the general public, simply because it has the power to stop vehicles
completely.”
With the ability to set up and deploy rapidly, X-Net can be very
effective in:
pursuit management, allowing specific vehicles to be targeted for
arrest;
cordoning off regions or roadways to stop vehicles entering or leaving
defined locations such as inner-city rings of steel, buildings or airports;
mobile checkpoints to control vehicle flow, such as peacekeeping
operations and during terrorist alerts.
Michael Burns, one of QinetiQ’s leading security experts, welcomed
the success of the device, saying: “When used in military counter-terrorism operations,
X-Net is extremely effective at controlling vehicles that might be used against highly
important but vulnerable sites.
“When used by the police, cars can be safely stopped that might
otherwise be driven in a lethal manner in our towns and cities. There is no doubt that
X-Net has great potential to save lives and protect property wherever it is deployed.”
X-Net is made of Dyneema, a super-strong polyethylene that is used as
nets for fishing trawlers and as tethers for super tankers. Kilogram for kilogram, Dyneema
is eight times stronger than steel.
The fibres have a tacky coating to keep them supple so that they can
absorb the enormous amount of heat and friction that is generated when they wrap around
wheels and axles. The overall system weight is fewer than 12kg, making the net extremely
portable; the smallest variant can be carried in a backpack.
Today, vehicle “arresting” has become a key operational capability
for military peacekeeping operations. With the ever-present threat from terrorists,
QinetiQ’s X-Net system is already being used to establish vehicle checkpoints to protect
against suspect vehicles and bombers.
Fiona Lewinton, managing director of QinetiQ’s Land Division, said:
“Non-lethal equipment such as X-Net provides an intermediate solution between the
soldiers ‘shouting’ and ‘shooting’, particularly with the increased threat from
vehicle-borne explosive devices.”
QinetiQ has secured a five-year contract for the supply of X-Net to the
United States military. The base contract has the potential to supply up to 2,000 X-Nets a
year, as well as supply training for variants. The first orders for deployable and
training nets, worth about 9.2 million US dollars, have been placed and other X-Net-based
prototype solutions may become part of future agreements.
X-Net is a UK invention that was originally developed for the UK
military and is now sold worldwide to police and security forces. Traditional roadside
arresting systems typically use hollow spikes but have limitations in that they only
puncture tyres and do not rapidly stop a vehicle.
Not long since its official launch, there has been international
interest in X-Net, with the US military successfully deploying the system in Haiti and,
more recently, Iraq. With suicide car bombings increasingly frequent in troubled hotspots
across the globe, the X-Net provides military, police and civilian authorities with a
valuable life-saving device.
By Richard Maino
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