So far, I like this model of anti-piracy more than anything else that has come up. I think what BW plans on doing, is just posting up in international waters so it can immediately cover down on clients when they enter the danger zone. And in the mean time, BW can recce the routes with helicopters and ferry armed guards onto the boats that they are contracted with. Although to do this safely, BW will have to coordinate with the client’s ships, so they are all within range of the McArthur.
And if you read the article below, deterrence and the right to self defense is BW’s ‘right’, according to their spokeswoman. That says to me that they will have weapons and they will defend self and the client. But because I am not in the loop, I am only making assumptions. I must say, a Mk 38 would look pretty nice on the bow of the McArthur. –Head Jundi
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The McArthur can carry helicopters and inflatable boats.
Blackwater Plans Effort Against Piracy
DECEMBER 3, 2008
By AUGUST COLE
Private security firm Blackwater Worldwide began holding meetings in London on Tuesday with potential clients for a new business venture — protection from pirates.
The Moyock, N.C., firm, which has grown rapidly through State Department security work in Iraq, has been courting shippers and insurance firms about protecting ships in pirate-infested waters. It’s meeting with more than a dozen firms this week and hopes to drum up its first contract.
There have been almost 100 attempts this year to seize ships off East Africa, fewer than half of which were successful, according to the U.S. Navy. On Nov. 30, two skiffs harassed an Oceania Cruises Inc. ship passing through the Gulf of Aden. Eight shots were fired at the cruise liner, which evaded the boats, according to the Miami-based company.