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."
My suggestion is for someone to obtain a recording of Huckabee and his "band" from his Fox News Sat. nite programs. He butchers old standbys until it hurts my ears without even cranking up the sound!
It sounds as though at least some of the ransome money is making its way to al Qaeda. Which is making me wonder if there isn’t some collusion going on between the pirates and some of these companies/countries.
How long before the pirates get their own “sonic blasters?” I’m sure that they are available to anyone willing to pay the price, whatever that is.
“How long before the pirates get their own “sonic blasters?” I’m sure that they are available to anyone willing to pay the price, whatever that is.”
Surrender now or we will shoot you with more Michael Bolton!
You could wear the head phone style of ear plugs over them, too.
I was thinking this new “non lethal” device might come in handy to play “Ride of the Valkyries” -ala- Apocalypse Now, while a couple helicopters with Mini-guns make short order of any evil intent out there. Of course, the Mini-gun mounted on the side of the ship would be most effective and a deterrent.
What?? And have the ACLU sue on behalf of the pirates for "cruel and unusual punishment"??
This idiocy of not blowing up pirates to Kingdom Come is all about political correctness and the effette considerations of "legality" as per "international law."
I'm with you - obliterate these pirate ships so much that the seas are turned red and only fragments of flotsam and human remains are detectable through microscopic examination.
But let's not forget - if America's military is going to police the high seas, we want compensation, otherwise, feh!.
Interesting. Did you archive that 2003 thread? Here we are on the verge of closing down the Gitmo country club so the parasitic lawyers can now get paid with our tax dollars to “defend” the human scum from Afganistan. Lets “arrest” the pirates and clog up our court system with them too. Money to be made from Uncle Sam. At some point the golden goose (meaning those of us who work and pay taxes) will be killed. Then the fun starts.
Great Idea...where do I sign up???
Swift Boat sailor 1965-66
Cowards, nothing but cowards. And I’m NOT referring to the pirates.
You don’t shoo these people off to attack the next ship that happens past, you hunt down the pirate ships and execute the #*% %$^#@% pirates!
Are the Indians the only people on earth with any manhood left in their leaders?
Interesting. I wonder how effective the system is once the target ducks behind cover such as a car, wall or rubber tire barricade?
I suspect the pirates will try to counter these devices by installing accoustically protected fixed firing positions on their boats.
That does sound fun doesn’t it?
I’m there!
That would prove the system is working if the enemy has to run and hide because of the pain to which we can now target the enemy and destroy them without worrying about them hitting back.
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