Military

Marine Armor System rolls down the blinds on pirates

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A ship's bridge, with the Marine Armor System deployed
A ship's bridge, with the Marine Armor System deployed
The blinds sit rolled up in receptacles when not needed, located above the ship's various doorways, hatches and windows
When a pirate-boarding is imminent, however, the press of a single centrally-located button will cause them to all roll down within 10 seconds
The pry-resistant blinds are made from a proprietary alloy known as Kriptonia, which is claimed to be stronger than steel
Depending on what they're being used to secure, different levels of ballistic protection can be selected
The Kriptonia Basic blinds, for instance, can withstand shots from a .22-caliber handgun
At the other end of the spectrum, though, the Kriptonia 100 blinds are rated at FB6, meaning that they block shots from heavy military weapons
A version for luxury yachts is additionally in the works
Another look at the Marine Armor System for yachts
View gallery - 9 images

There are a number of systems out there designed to keep pirates from boarding ships, incorporating everything from lasers to acoustic devices to writhing water hoses. However, what happens if the pirates get on board anyway? If the ship is equipped with the Marine Armor System, a series of ballistic blinds will roll down throughout the vessel, blocking access to its interior.

The blinds sit rolled up in receptacles when not needed, located above the ship's various doorways, hatches and windows. When a pirate-boarding is imminent, however, the press of a single centrally-located button will cause them to all roll down within 10 seconds.

The pry-resistant blinds are made from a proprietary alloy known as Kriptonia, which is claimed to be stronger than steel. Depending on what they're being used to secure, different levels of ballistic protection can be selected.

The pry-resistant blinds are made from a proprietary alloy known as Kriptonia, which is claimed to be stronger than steel

The Kriptonia Basic blinds, for instance, have a ballistic classification of FB1. This means that they can withstand shots from a .22-caliber handgun, so they would be useful as an economic means of protecting cargo or machinery, but not crew members. At the other end of the spectrum, though, the Kriptonia 100 blinds are rated at FB6, meaning that they block shots from heavy military weapons – these are what would be used to keep the crew safe.

For dealing with things like rocket-propelled grenades and thermal lances, there are versions that combine the Kriptonia 100 blinds with a high-strength steel mesh, or that incorporate two layers of blinds.

Along with its use on cargo vessels and tankers, the Marine Armor System is also aimed at offshore platforms such as oil rigs. A version for luxury yachts is additionally in the works.

You can see the blinds in use, in the video below.

Source: Marine Armor System

View gallery - 9 images
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8 comments
MattII
Very nice, but AFAICS does nothing about the weak spots around the mooring decks, which would appear to me to among the most vulnerable positions on a ship given their relatively low level above water compared to even the gunwales.
Joseph Mertens
That's nice now how about you just shoot the pirates as they approach and be done with the whole problem.
science ninja
in addition to all this spray nozzles with liquid sodium hydroxide under a power sprayer at a 50% solution should convince them to leave by jumping in the ocean poste haste
Jay Finke
One man one.. pin on a grenade, c4 or other high explosive OR can of gas and some old tires starting the ship on fire. they should not be allowed to gain access to the deck in the first place !
Mike Donovan
preventing the crew from being held as ransom is a big deal - if a shipping company like Maersk provided it to all their ships the pirates would likely target someone else without protection.
Jay Finke
They need to remove the crew, no crew no ransom. the harbor master can meet the rig out at see and steer it into dock.
Ralf Biernacki
"block shots from heavy military weapons" That's kind of vague. There are heavy military weapons, and then there are heavy military weapons. I seriously doubt they meant the latter ;-)
It has been known from the time of the Assyrians that passive fortifications alone, no matter how heavy, are useless unless combined with active means of defense. The latest well-known case where that mistake was made was the infamous Ferdinand/Elefant superheavy tank of WWII, which had no machine guns, meaning that it could not engage infantry. Scores of these behemoths were destroyed by Russian infantry who swarmed over them, ripped their treads off with grenades, and poured burning gasoline down air intakes.
It appears that the makers of these blinds still haven't learned that fact after 4000 years worth of lessons. Or maybe they have, but cynically just want to make a buck peddling an illusion of invulnerability.
The only way these blinds could actually work is by combining them with _well placed_ firing ports, covering all avenues of approach. And they better cover _all_ of them; another case in point is the ignominious fall of the WWII superfortress Eben-Emael, which you can google for yourself. Again, this is nothing new; every effective castle or bunker ever built has followed this principle.
And for the Somali pirates out there, the best way of defeating these blinds is to get under the sealed-off bridge compartment, and light a big petrol fire there. The besieged will fall over themselves in their haste to throw the armored blinds wide open. This tactic has been used effectively against immobilized tanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elefant#Combat_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael
(disclaimer for the inevitable hard-of-thinking: I am not really trying to help out Somali pirates. I am writing about this tactic in the same spirit as people who openly publish software exploits---in order to get the makers thinking about countermeasures.)
Slowburn
Spray the pirates with ethanol and then offer them a lite.