Riga tests barriers to slow military movement

Riga tested its ability to deploy counter-mobility barriers and respond to security threats during a military mobility exercise on Friday, LSM reported. The exercise focused on cooperation between the armed forces and civilian partners, including employees of municipal companies.

Metal anti-tank hedgehogs made from old tram rails, concrete blocks and heavy equipment temporarily turned part of the Latvian capital into a military training ground. Participants examined how quickly and effectively transport and military vehicle movements could be restricted in an urban environment if necessary.

They built various barriers using logs, concrete blocks, anti-tank hedgehogs and other materials. The aim was to make it more difficult for an opposing force to move personnel and equipment while improving coordination and rapid decision-making.

Concrete blocks and log barriers can stop cars and wheeled vehicles, while hedgehogs are a traditional anti-tank defence element. The barriers are intended to force an opponent to stop and consider how to overcome them, said Roberts Zariņš, commander of the Engineer Company of the National Guard’s 1st Riga Brigade.

“The barrier may not look like it does in a textbook or in beautiful pictures, but it still achieves its ultimate effect. The vehicle will stop and think, and perhaps not drive on. That is the point,” Zariņš said. He added that he could not say whether a vehicle would get past the barrier, although it might do so slowly.