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back to article Vomit cannon to protect vessels from pirates, paparazzi

Seagoing Scottish mercenaries/security operatives say they have deployed a radical laser puke-ray weapon aboard shipping transiting the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden. The device may also be used on paparazzi by reclusive superyacht owners. The Scotsman reports that ProForm Marine, a company run by ex-Royal Marine commandos and …

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  1. Robert Hill
    Go

    I don't buy it...

    I don't think these things are for making people "sick". You're shooting a beam 4km in daylight - pretty energetic beam. Anything too much closer, it's gonna start burning retinas...

    But, you see, it's MARKETED as a "safe weapon"...so there is limited liability. The fact that the pirates/paps were temporarily or permanently blinded is a function of their persistence when faced with a non-lethal weapon - in short, it's their fault!

    And I bet that in a pinch, any scanning or pulsing technology on that gun can be overridden to produce a really, really powerful beam - not one that will burn, but one that will blind. And it doesn't take much - I lost my red eyesight in one eye from a couple of fast exposures to a weak Class III HeNe laser decades ago when building a laser show (damned mirror slipped its mounts when I was testing it and had the box open).

    I think that may actually be a much better deterent to piracy than any lethal weapon - the thought of becoming blind, in a society (Somalia, etc.) that has no provisions for the blind....

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Arbroath smokies?

    As the title :-)

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  3. the Jim bloke
    Happy

    not all that silly really

    Pirates need to get close to board a vessel, so a "less-lethal" weapon that can be used to warn them off at a distance, and melt their eyeballs if they persist, is a reasonable option.

    As for Paparazzi, they may be hanging further back, but they would be looking at the vessel through telephoto lenses etc. I can see (heh) laser camera/binocular blasters becoming popular accessories wherever celebrities actually do want to discourage paparatzis -as opposed to the ones who delibrately seek the attention.

    And as I mentioned in another post, if the laser itself doesnt scare them away, follow up with a laser guided missile.

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  4. AlistairJ
    Happy

    Sickest dude out there

    Sounds a lot like those fake "bomb detectors" they are selling so many of in Iraqistan. Would it be effective against jetski-jihadists?

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