[Krankor]

It is solely a “cost effective” response. As another Freeper mentioned, the ships aren’t armed because of insurance reasons. If Obama authorized the same type of response as the drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the pirates would lose heart really fast. And I’m talking about, once you identify a mother ship, you blow it out of the water- no chance to surrender or debate or even talk. Just blow them away.

[CodeToad]

“the ships aren’t armed because of insurance reasons.”

I thought international law forbids arming of ships, not to mention local laws as they pull into ports forbid weapons.

[Joe 6-pack]

I'm actually surprised the Insurance companies that underwrite these ships and cargoes haven't done a little recruiting themselves. It seems to me that hiring a few “loss prevention technicians” would be much cheaper than making the payouts they do to the pirates.