Posted on 04/15/2009 12:12:08 PM PDT by Onelifetogive
It's on the horizon, but the way they are planning to do it the drones will be large, heavy and expensive. There will be significant challenges in launching & recovering drones of this size safely. But I agree with you. It would seem possible to do this very cheaply.
Nice!
Even modern PT boats would need a tender to act as a floating base or dock. This is all possible, but the solution needs somebody to give the order.
The Tarawa class also have the ability to dock and store landing craft. They could act as base ships for fast boats as well.
Alabama ping!
USS Peleliu was involved in stopping a pirate attack in that region just last year.
I was just looking at this vessel in your picture. Our ‘tea-party’ was on the opposite side of the river from this ship. We had an excellent tea party too...between 2,000-4,000 people attended.
Looking like a fishing boat is effective deterrance to a "search and destroy" drone. Only by boarding pitate ships can we be sure they are pirate ships. Even then it is difficult, as non-pirate boats must arm themselves against pirate ships.
I’m not surprised in the least that the US Government would look to a $220 million dollar solution, when they can achieve the same result for a few thousand dollars by outfitting the crew with a couple dozen Remington 870’s, Marlin 308’s and 338’s, Bushmaster AR-15’s, and surplus bowling balls.
Good point. Given that the default position of the Media is to report “Dead Civilians”, when in fact they are terrorists, drone strikes against small vessels could quickly become counterproductive.
I don’t know why they don’t just send the PC-1 Cyclone class.
Cheaper solution: long-endurance Predator-type UAVs that can be launched from a base ship (not a super-carrier), patrol long stretches of water, and engage pirates with rocket and machinegun fire
I think along the same lines. It would be good also to consider using a radar aircraft (piloted or not) to keep all boats/ships in the area under surveilance. That way when a pirate boat approached a cargo ship you would know where it came from - and could sink the mother ship as well as the actual attack boat.For defensive purposes, a Marine on board a freighter with a .50 cal Barrett rifle with some explosive rounds would be able to give any attack boat something to think about besides ransom money. Would they need to board the freighter at sea to get around firearm restrictions at ports of call?
Sounds like something that the Global Hawk reconnaissance UAV was designed for. Have one or two Global Hawks on station finding targets for a few Predators.
One rule of thumb we can apply is that if the boat has an engine capable of speeds exceeding 15 knots, and there are arms aboard, we put a bullet through the engine and give them some paddles to get home with.
Agree ... and a few bullet holes in the hull a inch or two below the waterline. That'll keep'em busy ...
Global Hawk
Sounds just right!I'd imagine they are a high-value asset, needed in Afghanistan.
This is sounding more like the original mission of the Swift Boats in the Vietnam war, interdicting arms traffic offshore.
The mission changed and they went upriver later, iirc.
Few boats are going to have enough armor to resist RPGs and shallow enough draft to do the job. Maneuverability and speed are always in a tradeoff over crew protection.
Using drones to shadow such vessels and separate the fishermen from the pirates and track them might be the way to go.
If there was some way to 'tag' the boats (RFID transponders?) and know which was which, even the 'dual use' vessels could be monitored and appropriate action taken.
For Heaven's sake, no! Let the pilots have some fun and get some practice! ;-D
A drone pilot can have some fun, blast some bad guys and at 5:00 pm go home to the wife and kids.
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