Posted on 05/05/2007 9:52:47 PM PDT by SmithL
OAK RIDGE - If Tennessee's Atomic City ever becomes a terrorist battleground, the protective forces will bring plenty of firepower to the fight.
Grenade launchers and Gatling guns. Machine guns galore. Armored vehicles equipped for warfare.
In the past few months, the government has seriously upgraded armaments and related technologies to counter the latest terrorist threats.
"If the bad guys are stupid enough to hit a nuclear facility, you've got to think they'll be well-outfitted," said Jean "John" Burleson, general manager of Wackenhut Services, the security contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and other federal facilities.
Oak Ridge guards are armed and ready, he said.
"We'll be at least as equipped, but we'll far outnumber them, too," Burleson said during an interview at Wackenhut's central training site a couple of miles west of Y-12. "They won't bring in 1,000 people."
Wackenhut learned Friday that the company had won new five-year contracts to provide security at the Oak Ridge facilities.
Earlier in the week, the contractor displayed a wealth of gear available to special response teams and security police. That dwarfs the pre-9/11 weaponry that consisted mostly of .357-caliber Magnum handguns and M-16 rifles.
Some of the stuff - such as the Dillon Aero Gatling gun - is so new that security personnel haven't had a chance to train with it.
The Gatling guns are set up to fire 7.62-millimeter bullets at a rate of 3,000 rounds a minute. They're mounted inside turrets on Lenco Bearcat armored vehicles, and they provide an anti-aircraft capability at the Oak Ridge plants.
"At 3,000 rounds per minute, it can be used for just about anything," said Sgt. Jason Morrow of Wackenhut's special operations group. "It's going to stop just about anything it comes in contact with."
Burleson said the guns can blast their way through 18 inches of reinforced concrete.
Grenades at the ready The preferred ammunition for the new guns is in high demand for the military missions in Iraq. Burleson said it might be another two months before the Oak Ridge forces get their supply, delaying the deployment of that equipment.
"Nobody is given equipment until they've been trained on it," the Wackenhut chief said.
Security squads, however, have begun driver training on the newly acquired armored vehicles that carry the Gatling guns, Burleson said.
Grenades are another important part of the arms buildup.
"Because of terrain and stuff that we're defending, you can throw a grenade into an area where the enemy could be hiding," Burleson said. "They're effective at getting into 'dead spots' - areas you couldn't reach otherwise."
In addition to the M67 fragmentation grenade, the Oak Ridge guards have access to Bushmaster M4 rifles equipped with 40-millimeter grenade launchers.
The launchers have a range of 300-350 meters, according to Lt. Robert Conner of the special operations group.
The grenades have a kill radius of 5 meters and a casualty radius of 15 meters, meaning an adversary would be incapable of carrying on the fight, he said.
Y-12 houses the nation's largest supply of weapons-usable uranium, and it would be a prime target for terrorists wanting to make a nuclear bomb. Oak Ridge National Laboratory also houses sensitive nuclear facilities such as the High Flux Isotope Reactor and Building 3019-A - a repository for uranium-233.
Safety concerns There are obvious questions about the safety of having grenades and other explosives in proximity to strategic nuclear materials.
"It's a concern having grenades anywhere because they're very lethal," Burleson said. "You have to weigh that against the threat of someone coming in and taking the stuff (enriched uranium)."
Dean Sheridan, a safety officer with the National Nuclear Security Administration, said there was a detailed analysis of which weapons could be used inside the sensitive nuclear facilities. The talks involved security, safety and operations specialists.
"We went through a complete list," Sheridan said. "We looked at the Carl Gustaf rocket launchers. We looked at the AT4 (anti-tank weapon)."
Officials felt some weapons clearly went beyond the scope of protecting the Oak Ridge plants, Sheridan said. "We don't need to be taking out Wal-Mart," he said, referring to the store a couple of miles away.
Sheridan said Oak Ridge personnel came up with protective tags and other measures to reduce the chance of grenades or other powerful weapons exploding accidentally.
The grenades used in the M4 launchers are armed in flight according to the spin rate of the device, Sheridan said. "It can't go off while still in the launcher," he said.
With the hand grenade, at least three different things have to be done for it to be accidentally misfired, the federal official said.
In the heat of battle, however, you take weapons wherever they're needed, Burleson said.
The Project On Government Oversight has been a frequent critic of security at Oak Ridge and other nuclear defense sites.
Last year, POGO released a report that said Y-12 and ORNL both were vulnerable to terrorist attacks, raising the possibility of a nuclear bomb being detonated on site.
Peter Stockton, senior investigator with the watchdog group, said there are strong concerns about the safety of some remotely operated weapons used at Oak Ridge. Guards have said there are "friendly fire" issues with the pop-up weapon systems, he said.
Stockton also questioned the "rules of engagement" for some of the weapons being deployed, especially the possibility of Gatling guns being fired on aircraft.
"POGO is not against technology," Stockton said. "However, it has got to be safe."
He said security analysts believe some new weapons could be knocked out easily by well-armed terrorist assaults.
Oak Ridge security police recently were outfitted with a new generation of bullet-resistant vests from PACA. Among other items in use:
n AVON respirators to protect against chemical and biological agents;
n thermal-based surveillance cameras;
n Sig Sauer P226 semi-automatic 9 mm pistols;
n distraction devices that use concussion and light effects to disorient an adversary;
n ballistic helmets with night-vision devices attached;
n four variations of the M4 rifle;
n M249 and M240B machine guns;
n a fleet of Advanced Concept Armored Vehicles, which are Ford F-350 trucks that have been armored and equipped with remotely operated weapon systems.
"We're not your typical rent-a-cops," Burleson said. "We are a paramilitary organization with the same equipment, same tactics as the military."
Sgt. Jason Morrow stands near Wackenhut’s new Lenco Bearcat vehicle with a roof-mounted Dillon Aero Gatling gun. Wackenhut, the government’s security contractor in Oak Ridge, showed off some of its new armaments and equipment available to security forces at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant.
Oak Ridge security police have been outfitted with new armored vehicles equipped for warfare, including a fleet of Advanced Concept Armored Vehicles, such as this Ford F-350 truck with a remotely operated M240B machine gun mounted in the rear.
Excellent for the morning commute.
Here is a vehicle for you.
Pretty cool, huh?
http://dillonaero.com/LM134.html
Don’t forget their titanium gatling guns for weight-critical applications!
We're rent-a-cops with machine guns and time and a half for overtime.
An uber “Technical”.
All of this is P.R. posturing. My question is do they have the training, balls, willpower, authority and ammo to git 'er done???
What the heck is having a gun to do 3000 rounds per minute and all they got is a can of 200 rounds on the belt?? (Which I really hope not!).
Mind you with this new Democrat House/Senate running the way it is, I feel that they'd have these anti-terrorist guys rather sit down and have tea with the terrorists rather than actually FIGHT THEM - after all isnt that what they are doing with our guys in IRAQ & AFGANISTAN???
Hey, that thing is attached to a...BLACK HELICOPTER!!!! (Cue X-Files music.)
At the rate things are going, this is what mallcops will be driving in 5 years.
Similarly, what good is it going to do to have a gun that fires 3000 rounds per minute if the 'perps watch these guys for a few months, figure out where they like to eat lunch, then infect them with a bio-agent? Incapacitate them with a bio-agent and walk right in the front door.....
>>The Gatling guns are set up to fire 7.62-millimeter bullets<<
I don’t think it will fare too well against a .50 with AP rounds.
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