W
hen the first International Breaching Symposium was conceived, founders Alan Brosnan, Russ Hart and Steve Mattoon wanted an event that focused entirely on breaching. Together with the break-out sessions by subject matter experts and case studies of actual operations, the exhibiting vendors have played a signifi cant part at the conferences. T e trade show portion is nearly exclusive to breaching related items. Personnel staffi ng the booths are not just salesmen, but excep- tionally well versed on the various aspects of breaching. T ey have a depth of knowledge about their product and its application. In many cases, it’s the proprietor or product developer on hand. Some of the vendors are presentation speakers because of their ex- pertise. At the Symposium, you get to talk directly to the main guys. Symposium co-founder Steve Mattoon stated, “T e vendors are the backbone of the symposium; some have been with us since the fi rst one at Gunsite many years ago.”
One such exhibitor is Cherry Engineering from New Mexico. Chris Cherry, Sr. has been a guest speaker at the symposium 13 times. His presentations focus on information of widespread applica- tion rather than specifi c to a product. With a background in Special Forces and an engineering degree on top of that, much of his current eff orts are directed at minimizing the amount of net explosive weight used for breaching. According to his son, Chris Cherry, Jr., this premise is based on
shock physics and target failure mechanics to allow breachers to apply smaller quantities of energetics. T ey pointed out that the ef- fects of explosive breaching have far-reaching implications in both legal scrutiny and public opinion when a ‘too hot’ charge causes injury or substantial property damage.
Bill Nixon of Omni Distribution has been with the symposium since its incep- tion. He also has been a featured presenter as well as being highly involved with the range demonstrations. Bill holds several patents in the explosives fi eld and also invented the Universal Breaching System (UBS), which is a modular set of frame charge sections in straight, corners and tee shapes. T e segments attach together to make various size port charges primarily for wall breaching. T e design allows for dimen- sional fl exibility, but also for detailed charge construction. T e sections are hollow, which allows for water tamping and are sized to be compatible for breaching bottles for larger charges. Omni sells a diversity of explosive products and ancillary items.
ROBOTICS AND BREACHING At this year’s symposium, Nixon de- veloped a specialty charge device to be placed by a robot that was successfully demonstrated at the first range session. Engi- neering charges to work with robots present
S THE TEC TORCH BEING USED ON REBAR CAGE FAÇADE. THE SYSTEM IS ABLE TO CUT UP TO 5/8” DIAMETER STEEL ROD REGARDLESS OF ITS ALLOY COMPOSITION. DURING THE BREAKS ON THE RANGE, ATTENDEES ARE ABLE TO GET CLOSE-UP DEMONSTRATIONS ON SELECT ITEMS.
some unique challenges.
Nixon said, “A man placing a charge on the door is entirely diff er- ent than using a robot.” T e challenges include a device that is light enough to be transported and placed by a remote device. T e other is a lack of tamping materials such as a water impulse charge due
S EXPLOSIVE BREACH ON THE BREACHING FAÇADE. THE DEMONSTRATION SHOWED A VARIETY OF CHARGE CONFIGURATIONS FOR PUSH DOORS, PULL DOORS, PLUS CLASS 1 AND CLASS 2 DOORS.
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