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AWACS And The Pirates
   Next Article → SPACE: French Eyes In The Sky
December 21, 2009: NATO is considering sending one of its 17 E-3 AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control) aircraft to join the anti-piracy patrol off Somalia. The E-3 can also scan the ocean, more than a hundred kilometers away, for ships. What the international naval patrol needs is more information about where the pirates are at sea, so that the pirates can be scared away. Currently, the anti-piracy patrol, with a few exceptions, does not attack the pirates, even if the pirates are caught attacking a merchant ship. But the presence of warships, or a military helicopter, usually causes the pirates to abort their attacks. The anti-piracy patrol also refrains from even capturing pirates, because few Western nations have laws for prosecuting piracy. All this would not be a problem if the pirate bases in Somalia were attacked, but no one is willing to do that, and be condemned for causing civilian casualties. So having an AWACS is seen as a useful aid to what the anti-piracy patrol can do; confront and scare away pirates about to board and capture merchant ships.

 

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shep854       12/21/2009 8:27:00 AM

How could AWACS crew tell pirate ship from other fishing boats, when they see them  ? Pirate motherships often look like, and probably are larger fishing boats.

 

DG




Presumably, the AWACS would be watching for, and reporting suspicious tracks, such as a "fishing boat" moving on an apparent intercept course towards a merchie.
 
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vhmbnm    NATO   12/21/2009 8:33:17 AM
"...few Western nations have laws for prosecuting piracy." I am getting tired of many of our allies' weak, tepid support of any unified effort to neutralize pirates, terroists, AQ or any other enemy of civilized societies. This is another convenient excuse to do little or nothing.
 
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WarNerd       12/21/2009 9:26:40 AM
In this application the AWAC's has got to be the worlds most expensive scarecrow, and probably will not be much more effective.
 
Here is an out-of-the-box idea to kick around:
What if we formed an anti-piracy alliance with Russia and China plus any other nations which are willing to actively put the pirates on trial (and, at least initially, willing to execute them if found guilty), according to a set of rules/laws that are part of the founding documents.  Trials would be carried out at sea, preferably within a few days of capture, on the local command ship by a panel of 3 judges chosen from a pool consisting of 1 representative from each member state.  A limited number of appeals would be handled by a similar panel.  All decisions would be unanimous.  The goal should be to be able to execute a captured pirate no more than 1 week/7 days after his capture if the court so rules.  Executions will be carried out at sea.
 
The Europeans will of course bitch, moan, and complain.  But, until they demonstrate a willingness to pass appropriate laws, put the pirates on trial, and follow through with effective punishment (death not required), they should be ignored or treated with disdain.  Just tell them that if they want to stop the deaths they need to qualify as members.  With the number of European countries donating ships to the patrols they would probably have at least one member on each any trial or appeal panel.
 
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RtWingCon       12/22/2009 4:46:33 AM

In this application the AWAC's has got to be the worlds most expensive scarecrow, and probably will not be much more effective.

 

Here is an out-of-the-box idea to kick around:

What if we formed an anti-piracy alliance with Russia and China plus any other nations which are willing to actively put the pirates on trial (and, at least initially, willing to execute them if found guilty), according to a set of rules/laws that are part of the founding documents.  Trials would be carried out at sea, preferably within a few days of capture, on the local command ship by a panel of 3 judges chosen from a pool consisting of 1 representative from each member state.  A limited number of appeals would be handled by a similar panel.  All decisions would be unanimous.  The goal should be to be able to execute a captured pirate no more than 1 week/7 days after his capture if the court so rules.  Executions will be carried out at sea.

 

The Europeans will of course bitch, moan, and complain.  But, until they demonstrate a willingness to pass appropriate laws, put the pirates on trial, and follow through with effective punishment (death not required), they should be ignored or treated with disdain.  Just tell them that if they want to stop the deaths they need to qualify as members.  With the number of European countries donating ships to the patrols they would probably have at least one member on each any trial or appeal panel.


sounds good, but a lot of cooperation from normally uncooperative nations would never get off the ground. The US or China/Russia or France should just implement the plan on their own while escorting their own ships. Let everyone else fend for themselves. THe pirates aren't that stupid and will figure this out and go for the weak nations ships. Then those nations decide just how high a ground they really want to be, or hand out justice at sea. 
By the way, don't laugh at the mention of France doing it, once they decide to take an action, they don't give a damn about world opinion(e.g. nuke tests)
 
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gf0012-aust       12/22/2009 5:01:05 AM
they've already got orions and the like running racetracks over various locs - the AWACs are an overkill when the maritime patrols have actually done this day and day out for years - and effectively.
 
its akin to gettting a log splitter to slice butter
 
btw, the orions etc are already fitted with FLIR and other sensors hooked into civilian commercial maritime tracking capability - ie ident transponders etc....
 
IMO, its a daft way to do the job, they're  better off with more P3's Nimrods and Atlantiques - not an AWACs which has got the wrong gear for this tasking.
 
 on the day that they elect to conduct a strike on the homeports - then they will have merit, but for general broad maritime surveillance??  woftam
 
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trenchsol       12/22/2009 10:34:26 AM


What if we formed an anti-piracy alliance with Russia and China plus any other nations which are willing to actively put the pirates on trial (and, at least initially, willing to execute them if found guilty), according to a set of rules/laws that are part of the founding documents.  Trials would be carried out at sea, preferably within a few days of capture, on the local command ship by a panel of 3 judges chosen from a pool consisting of 1 representative from each member state.  A limited number of appeals would be handled by a similar panel.  All decisions would be unanimous.  The goal should be to be able to execute a captured pirate no more than 1 week/7 days after his capture if the court so rules.  Executions will be carried out at sea.


Of course, executions are going to be implemented as plank walking and keel sliding :-)
 
 DG
 
 
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