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Luxury Yacht Owners Outfitting Ships to Fend Off Pirates

by Tim Stevens on July 14, 2009 at 09:40 AM

Expensive Yachts Get More Expensive to Fend Off Pirates

We've covered pirates of various types numerous times. Most of them have been the digital sort, particularly those belonging to the so-called Pirate Bay (some of whom are now doing a little time behind bars). However, it's pirates of a very different, rather more traditional type that are threatening wealthy cruisers, and many ship owners are spending millions to outfit their giant yachts with military tech in order to fend off these would-be boarders.

According to CNN, defense and surveillance company ProForm Marines offers many such defenses. Among them are non-lethal acoustic devices that produce piercing sound waves to disorient and deafen attackers, and infra-red cameras for detecting threats from miles away -- even in the pitch dark. Chartering company Fraser Yachts (one of whose yachts is pictured above) offers to equip its "super-yachts" with internal submarines that could double as escape pods (although Fraser's Clive McCartney told CNN that a submarine is merely "a leisure addition"). While there have been rumors in the British press of other, rather more lethal defense systems being used on yachts, no yacht-owners are exactly leaping to admit it.

So, if you want to go sailing the seas outside of Somalia and aren't too fond of ransom demands, you may just want to think about making a few upgrades to your vessel; it's the trendy thing to do. [From: CNN]

Tags: infrared, military, military tech, MilitaryTech, pirate, somali pirates, somalia, SomaliPirates, top, yacht

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