Military HESCO Barrier defensive wall

The HESCO bastion is a modern gabion primarily used for flood control and military fortifications. It is made of a collapsible wire mesh container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary to semi-permanent levee or blast wall against explosion or small-arms. It has seen considerable use in Iraq and Afghanistan It was developed in the late 1980s by a British company of the same name.

Originally designed for use on beaches and marshes for erosion and flood control, the HESCO Bastion quickly became a popular security device in the 1990s. HESCO barriers continue to be used for their original purpose. They were used in 2005 to reinforce levees around New Orleans in the few days

Assembling the HESCO bastion entails unfolding it and filling it with sand, soil or gravel,. The placement of the barrier is generally very similar to the placement of a sandbag barrier or earth berm except that room must generally be allowed for the equipment used to fill the barrier. The main advantage of HESCO barriers, strongly contributing to their popularity with troops and flood fighters, is the quick and easy setup. Previously, a slow undertaking, with one worker filling about 20 sandbags per hour. Workers using HESCO barriers and a front end loader can do ten times the work of those using sandbags.