US President Joe Biden has been in Poland since Monday evening, and cars from the long presidential column can be seen on the streets of Warsaw. What vehicles are included in this column? Who accompanies the American leader in it?
The US president moves by car with an escort of at least a dozen vehicles. During the ongoing visit, the column with Joe Biden drove through the streets of Warsaw for the first time on Monday before midnight from the airport to the Marriott hotel in Śródmieście. Reporter Bartłomiej Ślak looked at this column and special program on TVN24 he explained on its example the function of the individual vehicles included in it.
Presidential Beast in Warsaw, February 21, 2023PAP
US President in “The Beast”
The US president’s column is always opened by a local police car, in this case a Polish police vehicle previously approved by the Secret Service. Behind him are American SUVs, the so-called column protection. Its role is to control what is happening in front of the column itself, to check whether there are any obstacles on the way.
The column is then secured by more police cars and an American vehicle with electronic warfare systems. These vehicles have the ability to generate interference or completely cut off communications in the vicinity of the column, should such communications be used to carry out an attack.
Vehicles with members of the direct bodyguard of the US president follow next. They are preceded by at least two armored presidential limousines, commonly known as Beasts or Cadillac One. In each presidential convoy, there are at least two identical Beasts with identical license plates, so that potential attackers cannot be sure which vehicle the head of state is currently in.
Joe Biden in The Beast PAP/Tomasz Gzell
US President’s Column
Behind the limousines carrying the US president are CAT vehicles – the Secret Service Assault Squad, the heaviest armed part of the entire column. They are followed by a vehicle or vehicles with the president’s closest associates, a car with journalists, and a mobile traffic management center of the column. This is “another vehicle that has communication and can react in real time in the event of any complications on the route of the convoy” – stressed reporter Bartłomiej Ślak on TVN24.
Presidential Beasts, behind them CAT vehicles – Secret Service Assault Squad, Warsaw, February 21, 2023PAP/Kalbar
Near the end of the column there is also the so-called Roadrunner, a vehicle equipped with a satellite communication encryption system. Thanks to this, the president can contact any place in the world with a connection encrypted by Pentagon. On Monday night, the column was closed by a Polish ambulance and vehicles securing the column from the rear.
The presidential column looked a bit different during Tuesday’s drive from the Mariott Hotel to the Presidential Palace. Depending on the place and nature of the visit, the configuration of the vehicles may slightly differ.
Presidential “Beast” outside the Marriott Hotel, February 21, 2023TVN24
Main photo source: PAP/Kalbar