K&C is a leader in defining realistic blast threat environments in collaboration with our clients.  State-of-the-art physics-based analytical models and access to an extensive archive of blast testing results allow K&C to reliably quantify the vulnerabilities and consequences associated with a diverse range of malicious (e.g., acts of terrorism) and accidental (e.g., vapor cloud explosions) threats to assets.  Once they are equipped with a representative and quantitative assessment of the threats to personnel, property, equipment, and business continuity, our clients are able to effectively implement risk management strategies to mitigate the hazardous effects associated with explosions to their portfolios.

Perimeter protection barriers offer a first layer of defense against hostile actors. Such barriers, if designed properly, not only provide protection from vehicle ramming but also serve to enforce standoff distance for vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) threats. Over the past 25 years, K&C has utilized high-fidelity physics-based analytical methods to develop innovative and cost-effective anti-ram barrier solutions.  These solutions have in turn been verified through physical crash testing. Barrier solutions have been developed to address the most stringent demands of the DOS K-rating and ASTM F2656 M-rating standards. Additionally, K&C regularly performs vehicle vector analyses to determine the required barrier rating based on site specific geometry

The active shooter is an ongoing threat to the population in our time.  According to www.fbi.gov, there were over 300 active shooter incidents in the United States between 2000 and 2019 accounting for over 2,600 casualties.  K&C appreciates the importance and urgency of this threat and provides physical security assessments aimed at mitigating casualties arising from an active shooter event.  These assessments stress collaboration between various stakeholders within and outside the client organization and require periodic reviews to ensure evolving threats and risks are adequately considered.

The Department of Defense (DoD) defines antiterrorism as “defensive measures used to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and property to terrorist acts.” Antiterrorism is distinct from counterterrorism, which refers to “offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism.” Both are part of the DoD concept of force protection, which brings together all the security disciplines in a broad program to protect service members, civilian employees, family members, facilities, and equipment. K&C has supported many antiterrorism / force protection (AT/FP) efforts for U.S. military bases, U.S. embassies, and many other facilities around the globe for decades.

Earth Covered Magazines (ECMs) are structures built to store explosives, munitions, and/or ammunition for both military agencies and defense contractors. K&C provides several specific services related to explosive safety and ECMs including the structural assessment of existing and aging ECMs, the analysis and modeling of existing ECMs for new storage use cases, and/or the design of new ECMs using both existing construction methods (i.e., reinforced concrete) or next generation structural systems including composite panels.

Every project brings unique aesthetic and programmatic requirements to the building façade. If one of these requirements is blast and/or ballistic resistance, there is an added level of complexity trying to balance aesthetics, costs, and blast resistance performance. K&C has extensive experience designing and testing curtain wall and other façade systems, including their connections, for blast and/or ballistic loading conditions.  This experience enables K&C to offer design solutions that reduce connection complexity and the overall cost of high security facades.

Blast and/or forced entry protection doors can refer to single leaf building doors used for antiterrorism / force protection applications all the way up to massive 15+ meter doors used to protect vital assets against a direct hit from munitions and/or nuclear weapon effects. K&C’s long history of designing test programs and conducting field tests for blast doors is invaluable to door manufacturers designing or testing new systems and/or engineers of record looking for design insight and assistance for project specifications and design parameters.

A primary strategic objective of protective design is to design structures so they are not susceptible to a disproportionate collapse in the event a localized portion of the structure is catastrophically damaged. While several analysis methods are available to practicing engineers seeking to assess the potential for a disproportionate, or progressive, collapse, these methods largely rely on formulaic approaches that have not been rigorously validated through testing.  However, by virtue of its incident investigation and field testing work, K&C has firsthand experience modeling and observing how concrete and steel structures actually collapse.  This experience, coupled with K&C’s analytical prowess, enables K&C to provide unique value to facility owners interested in understanding how they can secure their facilities and protect their people from a disproportionate collapse scenario.

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An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb that can be fashioned from a number of unconventional military explosives (e.g., fertilizer, gunpowder, ANFO). There are dozens of different types and constructions of IEDs, however, their delivery systems generally fall into one of three categories: person-borne, vehicle-borne (i.e. both land and water), or unmanned aero system (UAS)-borne. Understanding how a particular site is vulnerable to IEDs is essential to proactively designing effective protective solutions. K&C has decades of first-hand experience observing the evolution of IEDs and developing analytical methods and solutions to address this changing IED threat landscape.

Fire is inextricably linked with explosions.  But even when an explosion is not the proximate cause, K&C gets asked to model potential fire events to ensure personnel in the vicinity  are not placed in a position of undue hazard.  To perform these assessments, K&C’s team of experts uses a mixture of in-house and open source analytical tools to model the combustion and heat transfer associated with energetic materials.

K&C has a rich history designing structures and systems to resist nuclear weapons effects. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, K&C was heavily involved in the nuclear Silo Test Program and other efforts aimed at hardening the nation’s infrastructure and systems in the event of nuclear war.  Although funding for many of these efforts subsided following the conclusion of the Cold War, recent world events had reminded the U.S. and her allies of the importance of nuclear readiness and survivability. K&C remains active in the design of structures and systems exposed to nuclear weapons effects.

Ballistic threats are an ever-present threat to service members and civilians in hostile areas.  K&C has worked with Department of Defense and Department of State to develop ballistic protection systems for personnel, ships, and facilities.  The development of these systems has leveraged both K&C’s high-fidelity physics-based computational abilities in tandem with testing at partner laboratories.  K&C is well versed in the various kinds of ballistic ratings required of high security facilities.

K&C collaborates with vendors and manufacturers to develop and design new and novel M-rated and S-rated bollard systems, as well as other custom designed rated perimeter protection devices, to meet the evolving needs of the security industry. In order to be successful in such a competitive industry, perimeter protection devices must meet the required and designated crash-ratings and penetration-ratings. They also need to be cost-effective, modular, easy to ship & install, and scalable.