Private Security Drones for Anti-piracy Ops
Depiction of ATAC Anti-piracy UAV. |
Commercial shipping companies embraced private security as a means for protecting their ships after piracy in the Indian Ocean expanded significantly in the late 2000's, putting crews at risk and costing shippers billions in dollars in increased insurance premiums.
Incidents of Somali piracy have been virtually non-existent since 2012, primarily due to the hardening of commercial shipping targets by embarked security teams. Other counter-measures, such as fire hoses, razor wire, and hardened crew citadels were too easily defeated by pirates, but to date, no ship with an armed security team has been successfully hijacked. UAVs make a lot of sense to enhance the effectiveness of these teams. According to Advanced Tactics and Countermeasures Global, "acting as a forward scout and transmitting a live video feed of possible threats, the ATAC UAV simultaneously video documents each step from the identification to even the escalation of force, if necessary." ATAC's video depicts a quadcopter launching from a container ship, which would work in conjunction with their designated marksmen onboard the ships to deter and neutralize a pirate attack. The ability of the UAV to get much closer to suspicious skiffs will also help security teams to reduce liability and mistaken identification of fishermen as pirates.
Skeldar UAV integration team is board Spanish Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel BAM Relámpago for anti-piracy operations in September 2013. (Photo: Armada Española) |
More discussion of ATAC Global's modern approach to Maritime Security will covered at our "2015 ATAC Anti-Piracy Conference Sponsored by Maritime Executive"
ReplyDeletehttp://atacglobal.com/atac-anti-piracy-2015-registration/
Unmanned aerial vehicles are very useful to provide the best high-tech protection. For security purpose, UAV has been deployed in anti-piracy operations.
ReplyDeleteShips with fire hoses and razor wires are not helpless victims.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marsecreview.com/2014/07/non-lethal-defence-for-merchant-ships/