BIDEC 2019: BCB International presents its non lethal boat stopping system.

BCB International LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BCB International Ltd, a UK family-owned company that has extensive experience in developing innovative new products. BCB has been developing boat stopping capabilities for 5 years. Initially working on entanglement systems.

Boat stopping system by BCB International (Picture source: Army Recognition)

Entanglement systems either have to be large and therefore difficult to deploy or have poor success rates, especially in higher sea states, so BCB has developed an arrestor wire concept that uses a floating line with braking drogues on either end. This system has been found to be 100% effective against most common boat configurations.

The arrestor line system is simple and effective. It consists of a floating UHMWPE ( Dyneemaor Spectra ) line with sea anchors at both ends. The line and one sea anchor is launched in a streamlined container. At the end of the flight phase, the sea anchor is ejected by inertia. The floating line snags the stern gear of a boat, the sea anchors at either end inflate and create enough drag to slow the boat to walking pace in seconds. During rigorous and extensive trials and development, the arrestor line system proved capable of bringing a twin 250hp engine 28 foot RHIB travelling at 40 knots to a speed of fewer than 4 knots within a matter of yards.

The family of pneumatic launchers is highly scalable. The current range: Barracuda, a close-range hand-held launcher, Buccaneer, medium-sized boat-mounted interception model, Sea Stinger, large launcher for mounting on fixed installations or capital ships capable of launching a line out to 300 yards or a heavier net system 100 yards enabling the user to quickly close a dock, river or harbour.

Refinement of the current system has been carried out in collaboration with the Royal Navy and UK Ministry of Defence Police protecting high-value Naval assets.

BCB was founded in 1914 and has a long and enviable history in New Product Development for specialist military units having worked with the British SF since WW2.