Five New Weapons The Maersk Alabama Could Use To Foil Pirates

Picture: U.S. Navy
LRAD Weapon: Loud, annoying noises have been a "weapon" at the personal level for millennia, but recently the world's security and military forces have been using a far more potent sonic weapon known as the "long range acoustic device" or LRAD. Just under 3 feet in diameter and weighing 45 pounds, the black circular device emits an intense 15- to 30-degree-wide acoustic beam -- a high-pitched shrill tone similar to a smoke detector alarm -- that can easily cause permanent auditory damage at close range. At 100 yards, the LRAD beam is extremely painful, but it is typically used at ranges of 300 to 500 yards as a warning or deterrent weapon. LRAD's are used by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard to warn off approaching vessels, and the weapon has been tested in Iraq in various capacities.

From Christian Science Monitor:

Armed guards on the Maersk Alabama helped repel Wednesday's attack by pirates. An array of nonlethal weapons – from acoustic devices to a system that fires nets or even golf balls – is coming onto the market.

London - Got "stingers" or laser guns on your ship?

While armed guards have been credited with repelling today's Somali pirate attack on the US-flagged Maersk Alabama, a separate industry based on the development of nonlethal weaponry to protect ships is booming.

BCB International, a British firm, has developed a pirate-busting "stinger," a device designed to stop attackers by tangling their propeller up in ropes.

In a demonstration last week off England's south coast, the company showed how the device can be fired at short notice into the path of pirate skiffs.

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My Comment: Armed guards with machine guns is the best guarantee to not be boarded by pirates .... acoustic weapons, propeller nets, water canons .... these are all gimmicks.