Just because people stop reporting on something doesn’t mean the problem itself stops. The Somalian pirate attacks on oil tankers and cargo ships have stopped being newsworthy ages ago. That said, they’re still happening. Fortunately, British defense company BAE has a great idea to fight off pirates, from Somalia or elsewhere. BAE has unveiled a new anti-piracy laser weapon, designed to use high-frequency beams of light to distract and blind pirates, while alerting crews to their presence.
“We have started to look at the piracy issue over the past 18 months due to the increasing threats to vessels around the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea,” said the head of BAE Systems’ new anti-piracy arm, Bryan Hore. “The laser provides a secondary capability over larger distances as it can act like a warning. Pirates approaching a vessel rely on the element of surprise, so by detecting those vessels and directing a laser onto them more than a kilometer away, it provides a clear signal to them. As the pirates come closer to about 400 or 500 meters of the ship, the power of the laser can be increased so that it affects their concentration and distracts them. We are also going to look at how different patterns and flickering can increase that affect.”
The laser, a three-foot-wide beam of green light, is being paired with a high frequency surface radar to help it detect and stop the kind of ships that Somali pirates favor. It is believed that more than 600 sailors are being held for ransom by Somalian organized crime elements; 47 ships were hijacked near Somalia in 2010. The weapon still needs to be approved by the United Nations before it can be put into service.
Tags: laser cannons to fight pirates, lasers to be used against pirates, fighting pirates with lasers, science fiction, sci-fi, science fiction made reality, BAE, Roy Clarke, Bryan Hore, Somalia, Somali pirates, pirates to be fought with high-tech lasers, lasers designed to confuse and frighten pirates, anti-piracy laser