Can Nets Stop Homicide Truck Bombers?

Stopping a speeding truck in its tracks is a daunting engineering task. Unhappy with standard barriers, officials at Andrews Air Force Base have been searching for years for a better way to keep their base safe from vehicle-borne bombs and other threats.

Inventor Mike Lamore, a civil engineer from Greensboro, N.C., thinks he has a good solution: giant nets.

The military is considering buying the "Barrier-1" security system to protect hangars and airfields from terrorist attacks. Lamore's company, Carolina Professionals Inc., weaves the 200-foot-long nets from a high-tech plastic that is related to Kevlar, the material often used in bulletproof vests.

• Click into the video tab to the right to watch a report by FOX News' Erik Liljegren.

When Kevlar and similar plastics are spun into a rope-like form, they become extremely strong. Strong enough, they hope, to stop homicide bombers from murdering innocents or damaging artillery or buildings.

"The amount of people that we could save and help protect and give a sense of security to ... I think that made us all dig deep ... work hard," Scott Harper, of Carolina Professionals, said.

Lamore says the Barrier-1 nets could be easily transported to foreign countries to guard airfields without the need for hydraulic lifts or electric power. Because Kevlar and similar plastics do not rust or corrode, the nets could conceivably be deployed to guard canals and inlets along waterways.

But can something that looks like an overgrown tennis net really stop a speeding 15,000-pound truck?

Lamore's team tried to use a remote-controlled version to test his invention, but the truck spun out of control, almost hitting some camera crews invited to film the event.

In the end, a brave stunt driver agreed to slam the truck into the barrier at 52 mph. The nets gave way some, but the truck certainly wasn't going anywhere.

Lamore's team has redesigned the nets over 30 times, and say they will continue until it can create a working version.

"Everyone deep down believes that they're doing a good thing," Lamore said. "It very much is the American way."

Click into the video tab above to watch a report by FOX News' Erik Liljegren.