Physical Protection of Secured Facilities

With Special Emphasis on Military Critical Infrastructures

Abstract

The physical protection of critical infrastructures is a complex, multivariable system‑design challenge in which the physical, informational, and human subsystems do not operate in isolation, but continuously influence one another’s functioning and jointly determine the overall performance of the system. This complexity is particularly evident in military facilities, where operational experience consistently indicates high threat intensity and considerable diversity, factors that directly shape planning and operational decision‑making.

The study analyses the physical protection of military critical infrastructures through system‑level interdependencies, with particular emphasis on multilayered defence architectures, the applicability of modern engineering solutions, and the practical effects of the regulatory environment. The analysis builds on international doctrines, engineering guidelines, and national–European standards that have proven in practice to provide a stable and comparable framework for the design and evaluation of physical protection systems. The findings highlight that the effectiveness of physical protection is fundamentally determined by the quality of information flow between subsystems, the system’s ability to delay hostile actions, and the integration of the response chain—factors that collectively shape the operational performance of the entire system.