When Somali piracy became big news late last year, you just knew the world's arms manufacturers would try to capitalize on the trendy bad guys, to sell their latest gadgets.
Sure enough, in February, one defense exec said armed, robotic boats would make better pirate-fighters than traditional naval vessels -- a highly dubious claim. And now Austria's Schiebel Group is pushing its robotic, S-100 "Camcopter," equipped with advanced sensors, as a pirate early-warning for commercial vessels, plying Somali waters.
The three-year-old Camcopter design is popular with organizations working to "de-mine" old battlefields, and with oil companies, for pipeline monitoring. But the 10-foot-long, 200-pound bird, can also be flown from tankers and other large vessels, in order to search ahead for pirates, according to Schiebel. The company told Aviation News, in June, that a Saudi tanker operator has already "shown interest" in buying Camcopters for Somalia duty. But it's worth noting that the U.S. Coast Guard stresses alert watchmen, sailing fast, and pulling up a ship's ladder -- not some expensive technology -- as the best methods for beating pirates.
To be fair, Schiebel isn't just doing a quick search-and-replace on its marketing materials, replacing "oil leaks" with "pirates." The firm actually mentioned Camcopter's pirate-busting potential, as long ago as 2007 (source in German). And early warning is useful in the pirate fight. Still, basic, common-sense tactics are the best, and cheapest, defenses against pirates.
[PHOTO: Marine Buzz]
