{{Short description|Flood control and military fortification barrier}} [[File:Porta john hescos.JPG|thumb|HESCO MIL units stacked two units high around portable toilets in US-occupied Iraq]] [[File:Camp marmal02.JPG|thumb|German base (Norwegian section) inside Camp Marmal near Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Note the internal lines of gabions to reduce and compartmentalize mortar effects.]]
A '''Hesco bastion''',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Watch the moment WW2 bomb is blown up|url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/malling/news/watch-the-moment-ww2-bomb-is-blown-up-227195/|date=May 14, 2020|website=Kent Online|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519161802/https://www.kentonline.co.uk/malling/news/watch-the-moment-ww2-bomb-is-blown-up-227195/|archive-date=May 19, 2020|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> also known as a '''Hesco barrier''',<ref>{{Cite web|title=What are the 'HESCO' barriers used to shore up the LA River?|url=https://www.scpr.org/news/2016/01/11/56742/army-corps-to-shore-up-la-river-with-hesco-barrier/|date=January 11, 2016|website=Southern California Public Radio|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920160042/https://www.scpr.org/news/2016/01/11/56742/army-corps-to-shore-up-la-river-with-hesco-barrier/|archive-date=September 20, 2017|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> and formally '''Concertainer''',<ref name="Heselden97" /> is a gabion introduced in 1989 and primarily used for flood control and military fortifications.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ex-miner's £10m gift to good causes|url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/student-sponsored-leadership-course-biggleswade-rotarians-2175632|date=25 March 2008|website=Yorkshire Evening Post|language=en|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116023941/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/ex-miner-s-163-10m-gift-to-good-causes-1-2175632|archive-date=November 16, 2016|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> It is made of a collapsible wire mesh container and heavy-duty geotextile fabric liner and is used as a temporary to semi-permanent levee or blast wall against small-arms fire or explosives. It has been used in military applications in Iraq and Afghanistan.
==History== British ex-coal miner Jimi Heselden designed a geotextile fabric-lined bastion for erosion and flood control on beaches and in marshes.<ref>''[http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/Media/6/7/8/FFSDPFactSheet1-2006.pdf Flood Fighting Structures Demonstration and Evaluation Program] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622211036/http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/Media/6/7/8/FFSDPFactSheet1-2006.pdf |date=2006-06-22 }}'' U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, Factsheet January 2006</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/technology/28segway.html?src=me&ref=general "Owner of Segway Company Dies in Segway Accident"] New York Times, September 27, 2010</ref> He founded HESCO Bastion Ltd. in 1989 to produce what he dubbed the “Concertainer”, a portmanteau of "concertina" and "container" for the unique way that units fold flat like a concertina for efficient packaging, handling, and erection.<ref name="Heselden97">{{cite conference | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yYFKGHm4yLYC&pg=PA129 | title = Reinforcement and Control Using Concertainers | first = J.W. | last = Heselden | author-link = Jimi Heselden |date=November 1997 | conference = Geosynthetics Asia 1997 | conference-url = http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9789054107705 | editor = C.V.J. Varma | others = G. Venkatappa Rao; A.R.G. Rao | book-title = Geosynthetics Asia 1997: Select papers | publisher = CRC Press | location = Bangalore, India | pages = 496 | isbn = 9789054107705 | access-date = 2012-08-27 | quote = The name 'Concertainer', which is a registered trade mark, refers to the unique way that units fold flat concertina style. This ensures very efficient packaging, handling, and erection. }}</ref>
Hesco bastions were used in 2005 to reinforce levees around New Orleans in the weeks between Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.progressiveengineer.com/company_profiles/hesco.htm |title=HESCO Bastion - A simple approach to flood protection and much more |website=Progressive Engineer |date=2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201164026/http://www.progressiveengineer.com/company_profiles/hesco.htm |archive-date=2008-12-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref> During the June 2008 Midwest floods, {{convert|8200|m|yd|abbr=out}} of HESCO barrier wall were shipped to Iowa.<ref>''[https://archive.today/20130125030653/http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2008/06/25/top_stories/9258.txt Hammond company helps Midwest hold back flood]'' - David, David; ''Hammond Daily Star'', June 25, 2008</ref> In late March 2009, {{convert|10700|m|yd|abbr=on}} of HESCO barrier were delivered to Fargo, North Dakota, to protect against floods. In late September 2016, {{convert|10|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} of HESCO barriers were used in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the fall flood of 2016.<ref>''[http://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Cedar-Rapids-discusses-permanent-flood-protection--394890941.html Cedar Rapids Discusses Permanent Flood Protection]'' - Kalk, Jordee; ''KCRG'', September 26, 2016</ref>
==Assembly== Assembling the HESCO unit entails unfolding it and filling it with sand, soil or gravel, usually using a front end loader.<ref>Mike Nowatzki, [http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/235006/ Flood Update: Portable floodwalls will be used in flood fight as city scrambles for protection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727190423/http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/235006/ |date=2011-07-27 }} [http://www.inforum.com/Fargo The Fargo-Moorhead INFORUM] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215193506/https://www.inforum.com/fargo |date=2021-12-15 }} March 23, 2009.</ref>
The HESCO barriers are varied in sizes and models. Most of the barriers can also be stacked, and they are shipped collapsed in compact sets.
<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px"> File:US Navy 090411-N-8547M-025 Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5 lift a HESCO barrier into alignment during a project at Camp Bastion.jpg|United States Navy Seabees assembling HESCO MIL units File:Iraqi Hesco.JPG|Iraqi Army engineers fill a section of four-foot HESCO MIL with a wheel loader </gallery>
== Variants == Since the original concertainer, HESCO has developed specialized variants, including:
* a rapid in-theatre deployment design (in which a container is dragged along the ground to deploy multiple barriers);<ref>[http://www.HESCO.com/raid/ HESCO Raid] (from the manufacturer Web site)</ref>
* an "accommodation bunker" (with an aluminum roof and a pre-detonation screen);<ref>{{cite web |title=HESCO ACCOMMODATION BUNKER |url=https://www.hesco.com/products/protective-structures/hab/ |website=Hesco}}</ref>
* a "Terrablock" combining concertainer ballast and metal mesh fencing; <ref>{{cite web |title=HESCO TERRABLOCK |url=https://www.hesco.com/terrablock/ |website=Hesco}}</ref>
* a lightweight overhead protection system; and,
* the Sangar, a fortification kit consisting of MIL walls, protective roof, and windows.
==See also== * Bremer wall – steel-reinforced concrete blast walls
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Hesco bastions|HESCO bastions}} * [http://www.hesco.com/ HESCO Bastion Ltd]—HESCO company site
{{Fortifications}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:HESCO Bastion}} Category:British inventions Category:Flood barriers Category:Fortification (architectural elements) Category:Gabions Category:Engineering barrages