Vomit cannon to protect vessels from pirates, paparazzi Seagoing Scottish mercenaries/security operatives say they have deployed a radical laser puke-ray weapon aboard shipping transiting the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden. The device may also be used on paparazzi by reclusive superyacht owners. The Scotsman reports that ProForm Marine, a company run by ex-Royal Marine commandos and …
why can I see sales of Oakley sunglasses going up in a large way to the pirate population of that area? Surely just wearing some decent dark glasses would pretty much eliminate any effects (if not minimise them to a level of it just being slightly annoying) of any laser based non-burning weapon?
Just what is wrong with a .50 cal, 20mm cannon or something a little larger?
Im sure that were these areas adequately patrolled by our Navy then there wouldnt be a problem.
oops, silly me, I forgot about defence cuts & the fact that pirates may take legal action for any distress caused whilst conducting their daily business.
if there the super yacht owners will be getting hit with some form of assault charge.
While not a fan of the press if they are in a public place it seems unfair that the super rich can take action and a normal person would be in deep shit for taking any action.
As for a puke ray vs RPG I would still think the RPG has the advantage
RC said "As for a puke ray vs RPG I would still think the RPG has the advantage".
Not sure about that - depends on how effective the bart ray was against it's target ... is it just 'inconvenient' or really debilitating? I just did a quick search and the Dazer (referred to in Lewis' piece) has a claim max range of 2400m whereas the old RPG7 is only good for 300-500m.
If ProForm Marine are reusing US non-lethals, then I'd be tempted to wait for puke ray v2 which, (I assume), will couple a puke dazzler with one of those ultrasonic(?) bowel looseners. I would have thought that a zap with those two would go a long way to convince a budding Blackbeard to give up.
Although personally, I'd agree with others here, in that a couple of 50 cals is a heck of a better deterrent. Either that, or bring back execution as the punishment for piracy. I've got no problem with either approach.
Here was me imagining large ships carrying stores of puke around with them to shoot at oncoming Pirates.
Maybe that could be the UK's next big industry? vomit exports, encourage binge drinking and set up "puke Points" in every town / city centre to keep copious supplies of vomit ready for use
What these ships really need is a proper 'watch' to look out for these marauders.
A
s Ross Kemp explains to us [Ross Kemp on Pirates $ky 1], the boats they use are tiny and they attack at the rear of the larger vessel over powering the crew once they have climbed aboard.
Maybe the days of a convoy are soon to return?
Vomit cannon? - you're having a giraffe.
Makes me laugh that. Sounds like a good way to rip off rich people with pointless gadgets. Good luck trying to aim a presumably un-stabilised laser at a moving target on a heaving ship! I would guess the laser would need to be kept consistently on target for a period of time to achieve the requred effect too?
I read about an interview with a ship's captain who successfully repelled pirates by weaving his ship from side to side while the crew and passengers threw larges chunks of wood overboard in front of the pirate speed boats forcing them to dodge or get their boats/propellors messed up. RPGs and machine guns are no good for actually stopping or sinking a ship while a nice block of wood really does ruin the pirates' day.
Merchantmen crewed by Navy personnel and Marines armed with the latest in shoulder-launched weaponry and small-arms. Rotate the crews between different ships so the pirates won't know which ones are armed.
Pirates attack, down goes the merchant flag, up goes the Navy ensign, kaboom, splat, no more pirates.
Pirates are in the piracy trade because its (currently) easy money with minimal risk. If there was a somewhat higher chance that they won't return from a raid they may decide a career change is in order.
but a survey reflector prism is designed to reflect a laser beam back to its origin within about 30 degrees of its facing. Cheap one would cost maybe $60 ? depending on currency and availability in whichever region.
Less used these days as GPS becomes more prevalent in the surveying world, but still pretty common.
By the time the signal has traveled a couple of kilometres each way it wouldn't have a lot of strength left, especially in a sea level environment..... but Im sure there would be enough energy for some kind of laser painted targeting missile to follow "evil grin"
Here's an experiment. Have someone point their card headlights on full beam at you at nighttime, somewhere reasonably dark. You probably won't be able to see very much.
Now, take a small mirror, and reflect the light back at them. It wil. be annoying, but hardly blinding
Sure, a suitably big parabolic might be able to collect, reflect and focus enough of the beam to distress people on the boat, but:
- That's a big, fragile thing to carry on a speedboat
- That's a non-trivial and non-cheap bit of optics to manufacture
- That's a tricky thing to aim and focus from a little boat in open water.
- Good luck aiming at something that is dazzling you with a vomit ray
And that's even before you consider it has a fixed focal length... too close or too far away and it won't be much good...
So, no. You can't defend yourself this way.
I don't think these things are for making people "sick". You're shooting a beam 4km in daylight - pretty energetic beam. Anything too much closer, it's gonna start burning retinas...
But, you see, it's MARKETED as a "safe weapon"...so there is limited liability. The fact that the pirates/paps were temporarily or permanently blinded is a function of their persistence when faced with a non-lethal weapon - in short, it's their fault!
And I bet that in a pinch, any scanning or pulsing technology on that gun can be overridden to produce a really, really powerful beam - not one that will burn, but one that will blind. And it doesn't take much - I lost my red eyesight in one eye from a couple of fast exposures to a weak Class III HeNe laser decades ago when building a laser show (damned mirror slipped its mounts when I was testing it and had the box open).
I think that may actually be a much better deterent to piracy than any lethal weapon - the thought of becoming blind, in a society (Somalia, etc.) that has no provisions for the blind....
Pirates need to get close to board a vessel, so a "less-lethal" weapon that can be used to warn them off at a distance, and melt their eyeballs if they persist, is a reasonable option.
As for Paparazzi, they may be hanging further back, but they would be looking at the vessel through telephoto lenses etc. I can see (heh) laser camera/binocular blasters becoming popular accessories wherever celebrities actually do want to discourage paparatzis -as opposed to the ones who delibrately seek the attention.
And as I mentioned in another post, if the laser itself doesnt scare them away, follow up with a laser guided missile.
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