Posted on 11/23/2008 2:07:03 AM PST by CE2949BB
Gone are the swashbuckling days of repelling pirates with cutlasses -- a British firm is spearheading use of a high-tech "sonic laser" to beat bandits on the high seas.
The piracy problems of shipping firms running through the Gulf of Aden and down Africa's east coast have been thrown into the spotlight this week by the seizure of the Saudi Arabian super-tanker Sirius Star.
But help could be at hand in the form of a long range acoustic device (LRAD) -- hooked up to a humble MP3 player.
About the size of a domestic satellite dish, LRADs blast the target with a precise beam of sound -- warning messages, noises, sirens -- which can be turned up to excruciatingly painful levels should an attacker get too close.
British private firm Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS) hires out three-man teams of ex-military personnel bearing LRADs on ships and has been inundated with work as the piracy problem off Somalia worsens.
"You'll be in absolute agony," APMSS chief executive Nick Davis, a 38-year-old ex-army man, told AFP.
"They're loudhailers that are coupled up to an MP3 player.
"It's very effective up to 1,000 metres and excruciating if you get within 100 to 200 metres if it's at full power. It would give you more or less permanent hearing damage."
With close to 100 attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean this year, pirates pose an increasing threat to international trade.
Heavily in demand, APMSS will have its full complement of 10 three-man security teams operating on ships in the Gulf of Aden next week.
Hiring a team with all the equipment for a three-day journey costs around 14,000 pounds (21,00 dollars, 16,500 euros) inclusive of insurance and travel costs.
Davis said his firm uses a "non-lethal approach", adding: "but you've got to get very close to lethal for it to be an effective deterrent".
"The operator can point the dish towards the incoming pirate boats and initially give them warning tones and then messages to make their intentions clear.
"If they continue coming, they give them a warning in their native language," he said.
An APMSS crew thwarted a pirate attack on a chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden last Thursday, just 15 miles (24 kilometres) off the Yemeni coast.
Three skiffs hurtled towards the vessel, but were spotted by the team at five miles away, triggering a full response with evasive manoeuvres, water cannon, an alert to coalition forces -- and the LRAD.
"At two miles they sounded the general alarm. The pirates slowed down at around 600 metres and continued to 400 metres, waving AK47s," Davis said.
But the sonic blast put them off.
"The pirates then turned away and went to the vessel without security that was three to four miles behind ours," he said.
"They fired against the vessel, by which time, luckily, the French navy were only 40 miles away. A Lynx helicopter was dispatched and when the pirates saw that they diverted towards the Yemeni beach.
"That attack was foiled. A good encounter."
The problem is somewhat like the story of the Sirens in the Iliad:
How does one avoid hearing the Madonna songs while playing them for the pirates?
What am I missing about this in thinking ear plugs would neutralize such system?
Yep, it’s the old ‘don’t bring a boombox to a rocket launcher fight’ dilemma.
We need an unmaned decoy ship for them to steal.
Loaded with explosives.
Let them sail it into their home shores and then set it off.
How expensive would it be to buy a Browning M-2 .50 cal, mount it behind some armor, and man it with some electro-optical/night vision devices? Probably a fraction of the cost of your “non-lethal” politically correct alternative here.
These pirates don’t understand anything but death when it comes to deterring them. I say give it to them liberally and pile their heads on their home land beach.
This sounds pathetic. “Stay away or we’ll make your ears hurt!”
Why don’t we just send in SEALs and kill them all?
Ed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXLEURxozc&feature=related
Scaring them away to fight another day is no solution...
Here are some more permanent solutions to your pirate problems...
Probably a 1KHZ square wave.
No big deal, but it could make you spew your guts like that sound in the old Star Trek.
Not lethal and certainly not high tech.
Remember, No pirate is illegal! /sarc
“How does one avoid hearing the Madonna songs while playing them for the pirates?”
Stop up ears with wax...tie oneself to the mast...
"At two miles they sounded the general alarm. The pirates slowed down at around 600 metres and continued to 400 metres, waving AK47s," Davis said.
But the sonic blast put them off.
I prefer Indiana Jones' cut-to-the-chase solution in the first movie, with the saber-taunting muslim.
They already have something like that anchored off shore, a full Saudi tanker. The only problem is the crew might still be on board...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31vm3-BQRJU
You know, these shipping companies don’t have to spend a cent, and they could make a bundle by selling tickets on their oil tankers for a “Redneck Open fire Cruise”, with entertainment as demonstrated above, and I feel sorry for the pirates at this point. BYOG (Bring Your Own Gun), food, ammo, and beer supplied, and you would have waiting lists for spaces available.
Hmmm---I predict a run on sound-canceling active earpieces.
Shoot the bastards and be done with it.
You block your ears with wax and tie yourself to the mast like Odyeseus did.
Recomendations to the brits:
Rob halford - voice craklin, may force a pirate to yar, kill hiself
King Diamond - very irritating to a muzzie, I like it tho
Paul Pott - not po pott, Culture disects thine enemy.
My “hopefully” ex old lady Cindy Lauper - will cause confusion
Ronnie James Dio - what? I wanna rock!
Ian Gillan - To irritate the muzzies, doing Jesus christ super star
That dude singer from green jello. or any other harsh band, Incubus, Metallica, Gwar etc...... Explodes pirates heads on contact
LOL! One more....”Indian Love Call” by Slim Whitman.
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