• Sweden builds a new Baltic Sea surveillance system

    After the mysterious disappearing of a Maltese-flagged cargo ship with a Russian crew in Swedish waters, Sweden decides to deploy a maritime surveillance system which will become operational in October

  • Compressed-air gun stops terrorist boats in their tracks

    Compressed air is used on the shoulder-held device to propel a line from a pursuing boat which drags with it a high-tech, high tensile net to disable the target craft’s propulsion system

  • International conference on piracy to meet in December

    Scheduled to take place 6-9 December in Dubai, the International Quality and Productivity Center says the conference will host a forum and feature case studies to address complex issues surrounding piracy

  • Coast Guards interdicts smugglers' semi-submersible

    Latin American drug lords now rely on semi-submersibles to smuggle drugs into the United States; the other day, the USCG interdicts one semi-submersible in the Eastern Pacific

  • Israel successfully tests anti-ship missile defense

    During the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, the Shi’ia organization almost sank an Israeli ship with an advanced Iran-made anti-ship missile; Israel has now successfully tested a sophisticated defense against anti-ship missile — a defensive system which should be of interest to U.S. Navy ships on patrol at the Persian Gulf

  • First six months of 2009 see double the number of pirates' attacks

    The total number of pirates’ attacks rose to 240 in the first six months of 2009 from 114 incidents in the same period a year ago

  • Autonomous submarine to patrol shallow waters

    BAE show latest in its Talisman line — an autonomous underwater vehicle specializing in securing shallow waters near or inside ports, coastal waters, and rivers

  • CBP tests new marine interceptor

    CBP Air and Marine currently operates a fleet of specialized, high-speed interceptor vessels that are approaching the end of their service life; the agency is testing a new interceptor in order to determine CBP’s next-generation fleet

  • DHS uses B-52 to monitor sea lanes

    DHS is using a B-52 to check out suspicious merchant ships approaching North America, often when the ships are still about 2,000 kilometers from the coast

  • Napolitano tours Project Seahawk

    Project SeaHawk was established by Congress in 2003 as a collaborative initiative designed to bring multiple agencies together to protect Port Charleston in South Carolina — and show-case the ability of different agencies to share information and coordinate maritime response efforts

  • Northrop wins U.S. Navy ray gun contract

    Northrop Grumman is the maker of the first electric solid-state battle-strength ray gun module; the company is awarded $98 million to provide a demonstrator Maritime Laser system capable of being fitted to U.S. warships of frigate size and up

  • New underwater laser robot network to protect U.S. coast line

    Co-operating underwater robots rapidly identify and communicate potential threats in murky waters

  • Drug smuggling becomes more sophisticated, II

    Drug smugglers now use semi-submersibles which are 60 foot long and 12 feet wide fiberglass boats powered by a diesel engine, with a very low freeboard and a small “conning tower” providing the crew (usually of four) and engine with fresh air, and permitting the crew to navigate the boat

  • Drug smuggling becomes more sophisticated, I

    Colombian drug kingpins still use old smuggling methods to bring drugs into the United States — aircraft, hidden in ship or aircraft cargo— but small submersibles can move the most cocaine at once, with the lowest risk; U.S. Navy, Coast Guard have detected more than 120 of these subs off the coast between Mexico and Colombia

  • Robotic ferret to secure cargo containers

    The U.S. maritime system consists of more than 300 seaports and more than 3,700 cargo and passenger terminals; more than 6 million cargo containers enter U.S. seaports annually; new robotic ferret will help detect radioactive materials, explosives, drugs, and illegal immigrants smuggled inside such containers