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Perimeter security glossary - F

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F

Fabric Covered/Metal Frame Construction

A construction type that can be identified by a metal, load-bearing frame (usually aluminum) with some type of fabric (such as canvas) stretched or pulled over the frame. Examples of the types of structures that should be considered under this classification of structures include Frame-Supported Tensioned Fabric Structures (FSTFS); Tent, Extendable, Modular, Personnel (TEMPER Tents); and Small and Medium Shelter Systems (SSS and MSS); and air supported fabric structures. Testing has shown that for these fabric structures, the frame is what causes hazards.

Facility

One or more buildings or structures that serve a particular purpose, are related by function and location, and form an operating entity. Government installations are not usually included in this definition.

Family Housing

DoD buildings used as quarters for DoD personnel and their dependents. See DoD Buildings, DoD Personnel.

FAST Company

Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team. An elite unit of the USMC that specializes in CQB methods and anti-terrorist tactics. See CQB.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Currently an independent agency reporting to the President and tasked with responding to, planning for, recovering from and mitigating against disaster. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Joe M. Allbaugh as the director of FEMA. Within months, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th focused the agency on issues of national preparedness and homeland security, and tested the agency in unprecedented ways. The agency coordinated its activities with the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, and FEMA's Office of National Preparedness was given responsibility for helping to ensure that the nation's first responders were trained and equipped to deal with weapons of mass destruction. Billions of dollars of new funding were directed to FEMA to help communities face the threat of terrorism. Just a few years past its 20th anniversary, FEMA was actively directing its "all-hazards" approach to disasters toward homeland security issues. Today, FEMA - a 2,500-person agency supplemented by more than 5,000 stand-by disaster reservists - has a mission to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with a vision of "A Nation Prepared." At no time in its history has this vision been more important to the country than in the aftermath of Sept. 11th. See Emergency, Disaster.

Fence Protection

An intrusion detection technology that detects a person crossing a fence by various methods such as climbing, crawling, cutting, etc.

Fence Sensors

Exterior intrusion detection sensors which detect aggressors as they attempt to climb over, cut through, or otherwise disturb a fence.

Fencing

A structure functioning as a boundary or barrier. See Perimeter Security, Perimeter Defenses.

Fertilizer

A substance used to make soil more fertile, such as ammonium nitrate.

Fertilizer Bomb

Explosive device made using common fertilizer such as ammonium nitrate. See ANFO, Ammonium Nitrate-Fuel Oil.

Field Artillery

Equipment, supplies, ammunition and personnel involved in the use of cannon, rocket or surface-to-surface missile launchers, and mobile enough to accompany and support infantry, mechanized, armored, airborne and airmobile units in the field.

Field Assessment Team

A small team of pre-identified technical experts who conduct an assessment of response needs (not a PDA) immediately following a disaster. The experts are drawn from FEMA, other agencies and organizations--such as the U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the American Red Cross--and the affected State(s). All FAST operations are joint Federal/State efforts. See FEMA.

Field Defense Stores

Defense stores include: concertina wire, barbed wire, fence posts, sandbags, observation towers, gabions, T-walls, corrugated metal, timber, gates and chain link fences and barriers. See Barriers, Corrugated Steel Panels, Gabions, Revetments, Sandbags.

Field Disturbance Sensor

A sensor that triggers an alarm upon detection of change in a radiated or ambient energy field. These sensors are generally used in perimeter security applications. See Perimeter, Perimeter Defenses, Physical Security Sensor (Perimeter).

Field Expandable

A term describing equipment that can be readily expanded or modified at the point of installation rather than at the place of manufacture. See Hesco Bastions.

Fill Material

Material used to fill sandbags and revetments. Dry sand is always a good choice for fill material. Large aggregate, rubble, and clay balls are not recommended for fill. Aggregate and rubble can become a projectile themselves. Large rock intensifies the force of an explosion and can cause severe damage to the inside of the revetment wall. See A-1 Revetment, B-1 Revetment, Revetment, and Sandbag.

Fire Bomb

An incendiary device, typically homemade, which when thrown will produce fire upon impact. A fire bomb usually consists of gasoline and a wick in a glass container. The wick is ignited, and the bomb is thrown. When the glass container breaks, a flash explosion occurs. See Bomb.

Fireball

The atmospheric burning of a fuel-air in which the energy is mostly emitted in the form of radiant heat. The inner core of the fuel release consists of almost pure fuel whereas the outer layer in which ignition first occurs is a flammable fuel-air mixture. As buoyancy forces of the hot gases begin to dominate, the burning cloud rises and becomes more spherical in shape.

Firing Chain

A chain of four elements necessary to produce an explosion. The four elements are: firing device, primary explosive, booster explosive, and main charge. See Explosive, Firing Device.

Firing Device

An item that starts the basic firing chain typical of most explosions. A match, firing pin, and safety fuse are types of firing devices. See Explosive, Firing Chain.

Firing Pin

That part of a firearm or a fuse which, on being actuated, strikes the primer or detonator. The firing pin leaves a distinctive mark on the head of a fired shell which can be of help in matching a shell with the weapon that fired it. See Detonator, Fuse.

First Responder

Local police, fire, and emergency medical personnel who arrive first on the scene of an incident and take action to save lives, protect property, and meet basic human needs. This term has increasingly been broadened in recent years to include bystanders who perform search and rescue, transportation, and communication during the incident. See Emergency Medical Technician, Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic, Emergency Medicine.

Fixed Bollards

Permanently placed small barriers that provide cost-effective ways to protect large areas. They serve the same purpose as concrete planters, for example, protecting the perimeter at airports.

Flood

A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from overflow of inland or tidal waters, unusual or rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters, or mudslides/mudflows caused by accumulation of water (FEMA definition). See Disaster, FEMA, Natural Disaster.

Floor Sensor

A sensor installed under, in, or upon a floor and designed to trigger an alarm when an intruder moves across the floor. Typically, a floor sensor operates on a weight or pressure principle.

Flyrock

Rock that is propelled through air from a blast or explosion. See Blast, Explosion.

Footprint

An impression left on a surface by footwear or the dimensions of a wall, revetment, or building. See Revetment.

Force Protection (FP)

Security program developed to protect service members, civilian employees, family members, facilities and equipment, in all locations and situations, through the planned and integrated application of combating terrorism, physical security, operations security, personal protective services supported by intelligence, counterintelligence, and other security programs. See Terrorism.

Force Protection Condition (FPCON)

A Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-approved program standardizes the military services' identification of and recommended responses to terrorist threats against U.S. personnel and facilities.

Forced Entry

Entry to a denied area achieved through force to create an opening in fence, walls, doors, or other physical structures or to overpower guards.

Forward area

(DOD) An area in proximity to combat.

Forward Operating Base (FOB)

(DOD) An airfield used to support tactical operations without establishing full support facilities. The base may be used for an extended time period. Support by a main operating base will be required to provide backup support for a forward operating base. Also referred to by its acronym - FOB.

Forward Operations Base

(DOD) In special operations, a base usually located in friendly territory or afloat that is established to extend command and control or communications or to provide support for training and tactical operations. Facilities may be established for temporary or longer duration operations and may include an airfield or an unimproved airstrip, an anchorage, or a pier. A forward operations base may be the location of special operations component headquarters or a smaller unit that is controlled and/or supported by a main operations base. See also Advanced Operations Base.

FPCON ALPHA

This condition applies when there is a general threat of possible terrorist activity against personnel and facilities, the nature and extent of which are unpredictable, and circumstances do not justify full implementation of FPCON BRAVO measures. However, it may be necessary to implement certain measures from higher THREATCONS resulting from intelligence received or as a deterrent. The measures in this THREATCON must be capable of being maintained indefinitely.

FPCON BRAVO

This condition applies when an increased and more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists. The measures in this THREATCON must be capable of being maintained for weeks without causing undue hardship, affecting operational capability, and aggravating relations with local authorities.

FPCON CHARLIE

This condition applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action against personnel and facilities is imminent. Implementation of measures in this THREATCON for more than a short period probably will create hardship and affect the peacetime activities of the unit and its personnel.

FPCON DELTA

This condition applies in the immediate area where a terrorist attack has occurred or when intelligence has been received that terrorist action against a specific location or person is likely. Normally, this THREATCON is declared as a localized condition.

Fragment Retention Film (FRF)

Optically clear, tough film attached to the inside of a glass surface with a strong, pressure-sensitive adhesive. Films are composed of polyester polyethylene terephthalate, or composite materials. To be considered a FRF the film must be at least a 7-mil thickness.

Fragmentation

One of main effects of an exploding bomb or shell, the casing shatters and metal fragments fly in all directions. The extent to which rock, blast mitigation barrier, equipment, or infrastructure is broken by blasting. Term applied to military munitions indicating that it is primarily intended to produce a fragmentation effect. Also, the breaking up of the confining material of a chemical compound or mechanical mixture when an explosion occurs. Fragments may be complete items, subassemblies, or pieces thereof, or pieces of equipment or buildings containing the items. See Fragmentation Zone, Fragmentation Velocity, Secondary Fragmentation.

Fragmentation Velocity

The velocity of metal, glass, or other fragments created and accelerated by an explosion. The fragmentation velocity decreases with the distance from the detonation point. When there is enough distance from the blast that no fragments can penetrate bare human skin, the safe fragmentation distance has been reached. See Fragmentation, Fragmentation Zone.

Fragmentation Zone

The area covered by that fragmentation will travel from the point of detonation. There are several factors which require to be reviewed when determining this zone; the amount of explosive, body construction, type of material, ground conditions etc. See Fragmentation, Secondary Fragmentation.

Frangible Construction

Building components which are designed to fail to vent blast pressures from an enclosure in a controlled manner and direction.

Fuse

A fiber wrapped cord of black powder used to initiate blasting caps or low explosives. See Black Gunpowder, Blasting Caps, Low Order Explosion.

Fuzee Flare

A burning flare placed on or next to the roadway to warn approaching motorists of a hazard, such as a stalled vehicle or traffic accident. The flare has a spike at the bottom end and a cap at the top end.

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For more information about Infrastructure Defense Technologies' perimeter security products and applications, please call us at 1-800-621-5617, email us at info@themetalith.com, or fill out our contact form.

The Metalith
A Division of Infrastructure Defense Technologies
3575 Morreim Drive • Belvidere, Illinois 61008
Phone: 1-800-621-5617• Fax: 1-815-323-1317
Email: info@themetalith.com