IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 6

more online at www.spectrum.ieee.org

Technology vs. Pirates

Unmanned aircraft may be the best bet
to fight Somalian piracy

O

ver the past few months,
the popular image of
pirates has morphed from
drunken swashbuckler to Somali
bandit, as raiders in the Gulf of
Aden, off the Indian Ocean, have
brazenly taken on larger targets-
like the oil tanker Sirius Star-and
more of them. During the first
nine months of 2008, there were
more than 120 pirate attacks off
East Africa, compared with 60 in
2007 and 13 in 2004, according
to the International Maritime
Organization. Military missions
haven't succeeded at stemming
piracy so far, but could there be a
technological fix?
Combating pirates has proved
tricky for several reasons. The
www.SPEctrUm.iEEE.org

sheer length of the Somali
coastline-just over 3000
kilometers-makes it hard to
cover. Pirates typically operate
from mother ships resembling
legitimate fishing vessels, from
which the bandits send out
speedboats. This allows the
pirates to cover a huge area
and to capture ships far from
the coast. Also, the merchant
vessels they target often have
small crews and don't see the
pirates coming until it's too late.
Because the 4 million square
kilometers of ocean off Somalia
make up an area far too large
for a navy to guard by ship,
Rand Corp. senior analyst Peter
Chalk argues that ship crews

should take steps to protect
themselves. First, ships should
increase the size of their crew,
which would help spot pirates
early enough to evade them or
to call for help. But there are
also nonlethal technologies
that can make boarding a ship
more difficult, such as putting
an electric fence around its
perimeter or equipping the ship
with high-pressure fire hoses.
Cruise ships have succeeded
in keeping pirates at bay by
using long-range acoustic crowdcontrol devices, such as those
made by HPV Technologies,
based in Costa Mesa, Calif.
When a vessel's crew spots an
unidentified ship, the device's
operator tries to fend off the ship
with an amplified verbal warning.
If the warning goes unheeded,
the crew can blast the ship with
an excruciatingly painful noise.
Such devices, depending on

easy targets:
Pirates seized
this fishing vessel
and forced it
to Somalia
last November.
Experts say
shipboard
technology and
unmanned aerial
patrols can help
prevent piracy.
photo: Jason R. Zalasky/
U.s. navy/Getty ImaGes

february 2009 * Ieee Spectrum * Na

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http://www.spectrum.ieee.org http://www.SPEctrUm.iEEE.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum February, 2009

IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 4
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 5
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 6
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 7
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 8
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 9
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 10
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 11
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 12
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 13
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 14
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 15
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 16
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 17
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 18
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 19
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 20
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 21
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 22
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 23
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 24
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 25
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 26
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 27
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 28
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 29
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 30
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 31
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 32
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 33
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 34
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 35
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 36
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 37
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 38
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 39
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 40
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 41
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 42
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 43
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 44
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 45
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - 46
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2009 - Cover4
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