Robot Helicopters To Single Out Pirate Ships

Hugh Pickens writes "Innovation News reports that the U.S. Navy plans to upgrade its robotic Fire Scouts with electronic 'brains' that are able to automatically recognize small pirate boats spotted through 3D laser imaging by bouncing millions of laser pulses off distant objects to create a 3D 'radar' image of any boats on the high seas — a technology known as LIDAR or LADAR — so that their new software can automatically compare the 3D images to pirate boat profiles on record. Having smarter robotic helicopters could ease the workload strain for Navy sailors, who must otherwise eyeball the data coming from the new Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS) — a sensor mix of high-definition cameras, mid-wave infrared sensors and the 3D LADAR technology. Meanwhile, the Navy has begun testing other new technologies to tackle the problem of piracy — an especially thorny issue because of Somali pirates attacking ships off the coast of East Africa. Its more forceful countermeasures include a combination of lasers and machine guns, as well as swarms of smart rockets capable of picking out their own small boat targets."

Comments

Arrrr!

[dutchwhizzman]

Yer cannet detact me skull'n'bones flag!

Re:Arrrr!

[Motard]

Couldn't we just hide GPS tracking devices in peg legs?

Re:Arrrr!

[Ihmhi]

You fight piracy by going to the root cause and removing it.

One of the "root causes" is foreign corporations overfishing and dumping toxic waste off of their coastal waters, thereby ruining the local fishing industry and putting a LOT of Somalis out of the jobs. How would you go about solving that?

Robots Vs. Pirates

[hey!]

I am the only one who thinks that sounds like a summer movie?

Re:Robots Vs. Pirates

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Ninjas still win.

Re:Robots Vs. Pirates

[DigiShaman]

Robots Vs. Pirates Vs. Aliens Vs. Ninjas Vs. Cowboys. Vs. Wizards. An epic battle coming soon to a theater near you.

Re:Robots Vs. Pirates

[monktus]

Pirate pours seawater over robot, alien shoots pirate with ray gun, ninja decapitates alien, cowboy shoots ninja, wizard hexes cowboy, Spock nerve pinches wizard, scissors cut paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitate lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporises rock, rock crushes scissors.

Re:Robots Vs. Pirates

[SuricouRaven]

Not epic battle.

Ultimate showdown.

Of ultimate destiny.

Re:Robots Vs. Pirates

[Arancaytar]

But I can't see any ninjas anywhere in that title---

oh.

Re:Robots Vs. Pirates

[tverbeek]

Yeah, well I hate it when those quiet scenes from art films in adjacent theaters bleed through and suck up the stupid from my Michael Bay films!

Bigger issue that needs solving

[Calydor]

What is the use of this until a far greater problem with the Somali pirates is solved?

Capturing them does nothing. No African nation will take them and prosecute them, so after a few weeks the navy ships are forced to simply release them, after which they go right back to pirating. Until that problem is solved, really, what is the use of better detection tools?

Re:Bigger issue that needs solving

[Fallingwater]

I assume action would follow detection. Profile identification is only good for initial suspicion, after that a manned patrol boat would have to be sent. Hail suspect vessel, identify, provoke into attacking and riddle full of holes as deemed necessary.
Note that I'm not debating the morality of the issue, I'm just saying what I think is the most likely scenario. Drastic actions are easier to provoke and justify on the seas.

Re:Bigger issue that needs solving

[rtb61]

The simplest solution is to place armed naval personal on each boat travelling through those waters. Once attacked they simply return fire with the appropriate weapons in order to ensure the attacking vessel is disabled, a rescue vessel could the rendezvous with the disabled vessel to pick up survivors. The merchant vessel continues on it's way and once out of troubled water's the sailors are transferred to another vessel travelling in the opposite directions. Taking on the military personal would be strictly voluntary due to the extreme response ie use of laser guided missiles.

Re:Bigger issue that needs solving

[Nidi62]

What is the use of this until a far greater problem with the Somali pirates is solved?

Capturing them does nothing. No African nation will take them and prosecute them, so after a few weeks the navy ships are forced to simply release them, after which they go right back to pirating.

You're right. We need to go back to the classic way of dealing with them. Capture them, convene Captain's Mast, try them, then execute them.

Seriously though, they engage in piracy because the risk is greatly outweighed by the reward. The Somali government cannot do anything, as they can barely keep control of Mogadishu. The shipping/insurance companies? It's easier for them to just pay the couple hundred thousand dollar ransom. The only way to stop piracy is to make the risk no longer worth the reward. This can be done in 2 ways, by raising the risk significantly, or reducing the reward(in a relative sense, ie make fishing/farming/whatever more profitable). And right now, the political/economic situation in Somalia makes the first way much more feasible than the second way.

Re:Bigger issue that needs solving

[Lumpy]

Many ships already are.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e2_1333668975

A lot of shipping companies are arming their ships with private security and they are killing anyone that comes at their ships.

Re:Bigger issue that needs solving

[infinitelink]

My history is shaky on this, but I very much doubt your assertion that armed merchantmen were known as privateers who later became stronger pirates; actually, I know it's bull, because all merchant vessels at the time were armed, and privateers' vessels were dedicated to their task; they also happened to consist largely of former pirates made legitimate by grant of letters of course or letters of marque and reprisal, although some distinguished those granted these letters from privateers... it gets technical, hence the shaky history, but some dumbass that used a merchant vessel would probably not fare well in that business, unless for some reason it happened to be militaristic in design. "Privateers" very specifically had the blessing of a nation to...go after other nations' ships (i.e. enemy nations). They weren't merchantmen of the sort that just conduct trade: they were the agents of "private war", hence "privateer". Of further interest to some, the U.S. retains formal legal power to grant letters of marque and reprisal, without subjection to any treaty (you may note that the U.S. government and legal system is constructed in such a way that they cannot be subjected or made secondary to treaties with foreign powers, hence why very often treaties it signs are signed only with certain stipulations and/or exceptions, or never fully ratified though arrangements may be made to comply extensively and voluntarily). But anyway, simple point meant: "pirate"=armed illegal marauder, "privateer"="legitimized-by-license pirate". The USS Cole was bombed, by the way, not attacked by a man on a boat with a gun. It was attacked by determined terrorists, not people wanting to lawfully defend themselves. Methinks the U.S. should apply extraterritorality as it has with the likes of speech rights and force the issue around the world, as simply defining someone with a weapon as "hostile" without intent or purpose is illogical and serves the interests only of statists. Law enforcement in the U.S. that encounters someone (such as on the roads) whose license plates or I.D., when checked against databases, indicates they have weapons permits, actually speaks of feeling safer, because they know the person is a lawful carrier, as opposed to some punk that's going to shoot them in the face for inconvenience: I would bet that assuming registered commercial vessels are armed for self defense would be a similar case, especially given that commercial entities would not wish to suffer liabilities over someone shooting the wrong people, and be quite strong on the discipline if their folks were armed. But you should note that arming vessels for self defense against pirates likely has little to do with small arms, and includes vaster measures which would in aggregate still be cheaper than deploying warships to sparsely monitor shipping routes, and with some thought about technology could use a couple thousand dollars of off-the-shelf parts to detect incoming small craft, and turn the larger arms in the appropriate direction to sink them.

Re:Bigger issue that needs solving

[theshowmecanuck]

Bullshit. From Wikipedia, and it is a good definition: A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. These are people authorized during wartime by a government. Some may have become pirates later, but often were just considered pirates by those on the opposing side in the war.

In fact some privateers are considered some of the greatest heroes in history. For example, Sir Francis Drake who repelled the Spanish Armada during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I was a privateer (but considered by the Spanish to be a pirate).

Armed merchantmen were also known as the Merchant Marine (or Merchant Navy) during World War II. They were one of the most important reasons that the Allies won the war, and they were on the front line for the entirety of the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest single campaign of the war. No matter what equipment we, the Allies had, no matter how many men or how great our generals, none would have made it to the fight without the Merchant Marine. Not only were they essential, they were true heroes. Until antisubmarine technology and tactics came up to speed, many were at the mercilessness of the German U-boat wolf packs that killed many of the seamen. And if they were not armed, many more would have perished and we would have lost the war before it began since neither Britain nor Russia would have been able to get enough food or military equipment and ammunition to hold off the Axis forces. And none of these men became pirates after. And as I see it, since they were private merchant vessels authorized by governments to be armed and attack enemy ships, they were technically speaking, privateers.

The way I see it, all shipping in areas where pirates are known to operate should be expected to carry armed guards and weapons. Why the hell should we be expected to spend money... let me rephrase that... why the hell should we be expected to waste money on trials and food and jail space for these thieves and murderers is beyond me. I think all the politically correct governments should get their heads out of their asses (including mine: Canada). If they see a pirate, blow him out of the water. Then let the survivors drown. Soon enough these thieving fucks will stop. It's not like they have the kind of resources to be able to take on anything of any size anyway. Nor will they be able to. They don't have the resources, so we won't see them attacking with Harpoon missiles or Excocets, or heaven forbid P-700, P-800, or Brahmas either. If that extremely unlikely day ever comes, they won't be attacking from small boats either.

Brochure for the Fire X

[skyshiro]

http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/fire-x/assets/Fire-X_Brochure.pdf Cool stuff, all of this was done in less than a year according to Northrop.

A big heap of cardboard boxes...

[paj1234]

...readily alter one's piratey-boat profile.

Dual purposes

[Shoten]

The technologies being developed by the Navy also have another use: the current battle plan for the Iranian Navy, should they decide to harass shipping traffic (again) or try to close the Strait of Hormuz would be to use lots of small boats, much as the pirates do. But unlike the pirates, they would tend to be more destructive instead of trying to board the ships. Being able to detect those boats from afar, recognize them as a threat and then destroy/deter them from a standoff distance is the key to maintaining open traffic there, and incredibly difficult to do.

You are being lied to about pirates

[thinker]

Piracy arose as a response by local fishermen from littoral towns such as Eyl, Kismayo and Harardhere to illegal fishing by foreign trawlers.[97][98][99] An upsurge in piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean has also been attributed to the effects of the December 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated local fishing fleets and washed ashore containers filled with toxic waste that had been dumped by European fishing vessels.[99][100]--Somalia

"What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor."--You are being lied to about pirates

AAARGH!, not LADAR

[colinrichardday]

Adaptive Aerial Antipirate Robotically Generated Holography!

Tried and failed

[Kupfernigk]

Armed merchantmen have been tried in the past. It has failed for a variety of reasons, but one of the main ones is that then pirates will shoot to kill the crews of any ships that pass. This is the law of unintended consequences that organisations like the NRA like to keep quiet about; if the good guys acquire guns, the bad guys simply acquire bigger guns, and become nastier.

Exactly as with American inner cities, the problem is that crime works because the alternative is not to have an income. The pirates are the products of a shit-hole failed State. The people who need shooting are the on-shore warlords. Once you have government, and law, and an economy, most people do not want to earn their living by risking being shot at.

Summary: piracy is a symptom, not the cause.

Re:Tried and failed

[ironjaw33]

Failed? I wouldn't call this failed. Furthermore, when considering piracy, in what cases have pirates come back with bigger guns? It's not just merchant vessels hiring PMCs to ward off pirates, but navies ranging from the US to India patrol the Indian Ocean. I can't imagine pirates would have bigger guns than they would. Make the risks of kidnapping too high and piracy will decline.

Re:Tried and failed

[Hatta]

Once you have government, and law, and an economy, most people do not want to earn their living by risking being shot at.

And yet the US military employs about 3 million soldiers.

Re:Tried and failed

[wagnerrp]

Why not reach out to those pirates and negotiate something? Like paying them a tax to let US ships through? Its kind of their waters after all...

Erm... no it's not. They're international waters, and the attacks are for their own personal gain. If they were acting under the auspices of a sovereign nation, they would be Privateers, not Pirates. Of course were that the case, Somalia would have been invaded and their government replaced years ago.

Re:India

[infinitelink]

Why would a nation in such a bad economic position (i.e. population total vs. productive population, defense capabilities in view, etc.) wish to present itself as a power of any kind? That would be silly, and make its neighbors nervous. Better to keep the hush on even if it were far more capable.

Re:Alternatively

[Black Parrot]

How about the US government stops listening to Netanyahu and the paranoid wing of the Israeli government, listens to its own intelligence (and the former head of Mossad), recognises Iran as a regional power that is no worse than Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, and starts using serious diplomacy on the slow process of getting Iran's head out of the sand? As Churchill remarked, jaw-jaw is better than war-war.

It's unpatriotic to think there's a better solution than bombs.

Sailing

[SimonInOz]

As a one time ocean cruiser - in a small boat - may I just say how terrifying this sounds?
There you are, sailing along off the coast of somewhere, minding your own business and wondering if you can stretch to one more warm beer from your fast-dwindling supplies, when a robot helicopter comes along and shoots the shit out of you.

As if rogue waves, giant fish, waterspouts and annoying customs officials weren't enough, now we get robot helicopters?
Come back Bender, all is forgiven. At least you could try to reason with him, um, it.