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Perimeter security glossary - R

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R

Radio frequency interference (RFI)

Undesired radio frequency signals that compete with desired signals in amplifiers, receivers, and instruments.

Radio Frequency Motion Detection

A means of detecting the presence of an intruder through use of radio frequency generating and receiving equipment. The protected area is saturated with a pattern of radio frequency waves and any disturbance initiates an alarm signal. See Detectors, Motion Detection, Motion Detection Alarm.

Rapid Deployment Force (RDF)

Described as short-notice contingency forces, RDFs can be formed both unilaterally and with partners, and be deployed in situations where their military organization, training, and equipment, such as transport and communications, enable them to cope with a totally civil situation; their activities range from disaster relief (earthquakes, floods etc), to humanitarian relief (famines), to operations to maintain the peace by separating warring sides, to actual warfare; RDF is the generic term, whereas rapid reaction force is the name given to various specific formations. See Rapid Reaction Force.

Rapid Reaction Force (RRF)

The name of various specific formations: one set up by NATO, another created to support UNPROFOR, another proposed under UNSAS; the generic term used for this type of formations is Rapid Deployment Force.

Rate of Fire

The number of rounds per minute a weapon can fire.

RCIED

Abbreviation for Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device.

Reactor

A facility that contains a controlled nuclear fission chain reaction. Can be used to generate electricity, conduct research, and produce isotopes and man-made elements such as plutonium.

RED HORSE

RED HORSE squadrons provide the Air Force with a highly mobile civil engineering response force to support contingency and special operations worldwide. They are self sufficient, 404-person mobile squadrons capable of rapid response and independent operations in remote, high-threat environments worldwide. The Air Force organic heavy repair units designed for contingency support.

Originally created in 1965 when Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara asked Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown if the Air Force had the capability to construct expeditionary airfields and, if not, what could be done to develop such a capability. The response to McNamara’s question was RED HORSE (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineer). Six 400-man RED HORSE squadrons were organized and deployed to Southeast Asia by November 1966. These squadrons carried out major construction on several bases and completed much of the vertical work left undone by the contractors. RED HORSE squadrons constructed over 400 concrete aircraft shelters at six bases in South Vietnam between 1967 and 1969. The RED HORSE squadrons succeeded in making the bases much more livable for Air Force personnel.

Some famous RED HORSE Squadrons include the 557th and the 820th. Primary RED HORSE responsibilities include engineering, food service, lodging, mortuary affairs, medical, personnel, supply, equipment maintenance, and contracting operations. See Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, Prime BEEF.

Red Horse Squadron

Civil Engineering Squadrons (Heavy Repair).  The original Red Horse Squadrons were deployed to Phan Rang and Cam Ranh Bay Air Bases, respectively, in South Vietnam during February 1966.

Red Team

A technique for assessing vulnerability that involves viewing a potential target from the perspective of an attacker to identify its hidden vulnerabilities, and to anticipate possible modes of attack. See Tiger Team.

Reflected Shock Wave

(DoD) When a shock wave traveling in a medium strikes the interface between this medium and a denser medium, part of the energy of the shock wave induces a shock wave in the denser medium and the remainder of the energy results in the formation of a reflected shock wave that travels back through the less dense medium. See Blast Wave, Shock Wave.

Regulation

A principle, rule, or law designed for controlling or governing behavior or to set to minimum standards.

Relative Effectives (RE) Factor

Explosives vary in detonating rate or velocity (meters or feet per second), as well as other characteristics, such as density and energy production. These characteristics determine their effectiveness for cutting, breaching, or cratering charges. Most military demolitions involve cutting or breaching. The amount of explosive used is adjusted by a relative effectiveness (RE) factor, which is based upon the shattering effect of the explosive in relation to that of trinitrotoluene (TNT). The shattering effect of a high explosive is related to its detonating velocity. For example, TNT with a detonating velocity of 6,900 meters per second has a relative effectiveness factor of 1.00, while Composition C4 with a detonating velocity of 8,040 meters per second has a relative effectiveness factor of 1.34. See C4, Explosives.

Report

A loud sound produced by an explosion. See Explosion.

Response Force

The people who respond to an act of aggression. Depending on the nature of the threat, the response force could consist of guards, special reaction teams, military or civilian police, an explosives ordnance disposal team, or a fire department.

Response Time

The length of time from the instant an attack is detected to the instant a security force arrives onsite.

Restricted Area

Any area with access controls that is subject to these special restrictions or controls for security reasons. See controlled area, limited area, exclusion area, and exclusion zone.

Retaining wall

A wall built to hold back a mass of earth. See Revetment.

Retarding Transmitter

An alarm transmitter that delays transmission of an alarm signal for a predetermined time, usually seconds.

Retractable/Automatic Bollards

Permanent barriers operated by hydraulic or pneumatic power units that can be lowered below ground to allow vehicle entry. Special emergency settings allow the posts to return to an upright setting in case of a security threat.

Revetment

A barricade to provide shelter or protection against bomb fragments or strafing. A protective wall (dirt, sandbags, metal wall, etc.) for gun emplacements and other equipment or personnel. Any earthwork that affords protection against explosive occurrences. On an airfield, a pad where combat aircraft are parked (outside of HAS), surrounded by concrete blast-walls or screens, or by earth mounds, as a protection against bomb blast. An area adjacent to a runway or taxiway, surrounded by a protective wall or mound of earth where aircraft may be dispersed for temporary shelter, refueling or rearming. Revetments can be soil berms, sand bags, concrete modules, bin revetments, sacrificial panels, and sand grids. See A-1 Revetment, B-1 Revetment, Blast-Wall, Corrugated Metal Revetment, Sandbag.

Risk

The potential for loss of, or damage to, an asset. It is measured based upon the value of the asset in relation to the threats and vulnerabilities associated with it.

Risk Analysis

Determination of the probability of occurrence and the impact or effect if a given loss occurs.

Risk Assessment

A systematic process that determines the likelihood of adverse health effects to a population after exposure to a hazard. Health consequences may depend on the type of hazard and damage to infrastructure, loss of economic value, loss of function, loss of natural resources, loss of ecological systems, and environmental impacts and deterioration of health, mortality, and morbidity. The major components of a risk assessment include a hazard identification/analysis and a vulnerability analysis that answer the following questions: What are the hazards that could affect a community? What can happen as a result of those hazards? How likely is each of the possible outcomes? When the possible outcomes occur, what are the likely consequences and losses? Risk assessment is a fundamental planning tool for disaster management, especially during prevention and mitigation activities. See Vulnerability Analysis.

Roadways

Any surface intended for motorized vehicle traffic.

Rocket

A self-propelled vehicle whose trajectory or course, while in flight cannot be controlled.

Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG)

The rocket propelled grenade is a shoulder-launched, man-portable weapon which is used to fire a warhead over long distances. The RPG's warhead varies, with high explosive (HE) being most common for use against personnel and bunkers, high explosive antitank (HEAT) used against armored vehicles, and a variety of rarer specialty types available as well. The most common rocket propelled grenade launcher is the Russian RPG-7, a design that dates from the Second World War, and consists of a reusable launcher and the rocket propelled grenades themselves. This design is still used by low technology armies and insurgents on battlefields and war zones today.

Roll Formed Panels

Steel panels created using a metal forming process that uses sheet, strip, or coiled stock and bends or forms it into shapes of essentially identical cross section by feeding the metal between successive pairs of rolls that increasingly shape it. Roll formed panels are often used in metal revetment walls and barriers due to their light weight and increased strength. See A-1 Revetment, B-1 Revetment, Corrugated Steel Panels, Revetments, Anti-Ram Vehicle Barrier.

Rotating Drum or Rotating Plate Vehicle Barrier

An active vehicle barrier used at vehicle entrances to controlled areas based on a drum or plate rotating into the path of the vehicle when signaled.

Routinely Occupied

An established or predictable pattern of activity within a building that terrorists could recognize and exploit. See Terrorists, Terrorist Group.

Russian Time Cube

A sophisticated, yet easy to operate, electronic time delay device used in the construction of terrorist bombs. See Bomb, Terrorist.

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